HOME PROJECTS [Footnote 16: NOTE TO THE TEACHER.—One of the most insistent ideas of modern educators is that the pupil be taught not merely to get him ready to live, footnote: but that he be taught to live. It is thought that the processes of present growth will serve as the best training for future needs. If the school girl is living in her home, she is in immediate need of such training as will help her contribute her share to the workings of her home. To a certain degree, success in school activities can be measured by the way they function in the home.

Perhaps there is no more effective way of making the school work function in the home than by the educative process called the project. Stevenson defines a project as a problematic act carried to completion in its natural setting, while Kilpatrick says a project is a whole- hearted purposeful activity proceeding in a social environment.

In order to aid the pupils in their home work, it is necessary to know the needs of the home. If possible, interest and cooperation of the pupils' mothers in this matter should be secured. It is hoped that the afternoon tea suggested in the following lesson may afford means for the teacher to become acquainted with the mother to find out something of the needs of the home and to secure the mother's cooperation for her daughter's work in the home.

In order to assign definite projects to the pupils, it will be necessary to confer with the girl. By discussing plans for home work you can doubtless discover what type of work interests her and what she can contribute with profit to her home. You can thus assign a project which will be performed in a "hearty" manner.

Definite plans should be made for carrying out the work in the home. For successful results it is most necessary that the pupil understand that a project is an act which involves mental effort, and that the activity must be carried to completion. The fact that the project is to be performed in the home carries out one of the premises of the project, viz., that the act be performed in its natural setting or in a social environment. Reports concerning the progress and results of work should be submitted by the pupil. Home visitation on the part of the teacher is most desirable and in most cases necessary for satisfactory results.

The following articles regarding Projects are most illuminating:

Teachers College Record, Volume XIX, Number 4 (Sept. 1918), "The Project
Method" by William H. Kilpatrick; The Journal of Home Economics, Volume X,
Number 3 (Mar. 1918), "The Project in Home Economics Teaching" by W. W.
Charters; School Science and Mathematics, Volume XIX (Jan. 1919), "The
Project in Science Teaching" by John Alford Stevenson.]

WORTHY HOME MEMBERSHIP.—Each member of a home has certain obligations to fulfill. The course in foods which you are following in school offers an unusual opportunity for you to contribute your share in performing home duties. In a most definite way, it may help you to qualify for "worthy home membership."

APPLYING SCHOOL ACTIVITIES TO HOME WORK.—There is no more effective way of gaining skill in cooking and housekeeping than by applying the methods learned at school in your home. It is not enough for you to make cookies or cook potatoes once in the school kitchen. If you would become an expert in these processes, repeat them many times in your home. Your efforts will be more than repaid by your own growth and by the satisfaction your achievements will bring to the entire household.

Discuss your school work in food study with your mother. You will doubtless find many things of mutual interest and your mother will be glad to have your cooperation in housekeeping.

Household duties assigned by the teacher and performed in the home with a determination to accomplish a definite aim, we will term "Home Projects." To secure successful results, your home work must be done thoughtfully, and earnestly, and in a whole-hearted way. We shall suppose, for example, that your teacher assigns you the home project of setting the table of the evening meal for one week. She also instructs you to keep in mind the following aims:

(1) To make as few trips as possible from the cupboard to the dining table.

(2) To plan the entire number of dishes, knives, forks, spoons, and other things needed during the meal, and then place these on the dining table or other suitable place where they may be conveniently obtained when the meal is being served.

In order to accomplish these things, you must work with a determination to succeed at what you are doing and to keep your mind steadfastly on the work at hand. With such an attitude toward your work you will doubtless have accomplished several things by the end of a week. You will have set the table in an orderly manner, and thus have given real assistance and satisfaction to the members of your family; you will have become more skilful in spreading the table, and you will have made it possible to spend less time in setting the table in the future. You could not have accomplished all this if you had not earnestly thought as you worked.

You will find it interesting and beneficial to make each assignment of home work as complete as possible. If, for example, you are to make cakes, it will be most desirable if you not only mix and bake cakes, but, if possible, select and purchase the materials for them and compute their cost.

Suggestions for Home Projects:

Make the beverages for one or more meals each day. Wash the dishes of the evening meal. Prepare a scalloped dish or any of the foods given in Lessons I to V once a week.

Suggested Aims:

(1) To prepare tea or coffee so as to draw out as little tannin as possible.

(2) To wash dishes well but to make as few movements as possible. To note the time required to do the dishes each day and by means of efficiency methods strive to lessen the time.

(3) To utilize left-over pieces or crumbs of bread in preparing scalloped dishes. To prepare seasonable fruits and vegetables so well that the members of your home will find them most palatable.