Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 262, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 November 1915 — WORST MONTH FOR CHILDREN Assertion Made That September Is the Most Trying Period That the Teacher Has. [ARTICLE]

WORST MONTH FOR CHILDREN

Assertion Made That September Is the Most Trying Period That the Teacher Has.

What is the stormiest month of the school year for teacher and pupils? Some will say the month of May, because the children are so eager then to get out of doors after their long winter imprisonment. Others will say February is the hardest month because nature is so unkind at that time that everyone feels irritable. But if you will ask a thoughtful teacher this question, she will say: “The month of September is the most difficult of all, because then the pupils are restless, uncontrolled and mischievous. It is almost impossible to make them do any good work during this month.” The best way to solve the problem is to bring pupils slowly to the full school day within doors. None of them ought to spend more than two hours a day in the schoolhouse during the first week. They may add a half-hour to this each succeeding week until the regulation program is attained. The very young tots should spend not more than an hour and a half in school each day of the first week, and they should be brought more gradually than older pupils to the full school day within doors. Taking the school year as a whole, more work will be accomplished by following this program than if pupils are plunged the first day into a complete schedule of studies. —Prof. M. V. O’Shea in the Mother's Magazine.