New-York tribune., 1912-02-25
Ten LITTLE FOLKS
Ho5c They Came to Haze
Their O7cR kindergarten.

Give dollars a week may not seem
vc-y large amount to sneak Of In these
davs when women are earning thousands
but II gives me what ! look upon as
comfortable amount Of min money de-
c,arod woman Of the Middle West whose
husband is employed In the one bank OF
tho small town in which they live.
II have kindergarten class OF ten htue |
children besides our own two There was |
10 kinFCrgarteu in town, so when my !
eldest child came to kindergarten age l
tad 10 teach her. No, l had never Studleu
the k!ndergar;en but l bought seVeral
Frcebel books and managed to keep my
daughter interested in the work. year
later my son was OLD enough to join the
class and The fact that neither oi my
children was ever seen playing In the
street attracted the attention of our neigh
tors When they found out that l was
conducting a kindergarten for them ! al
once had several applications 10 take other
children in ny class
"Vitrlp a week after ] consented 10
take the first outsider my class numbered
I'VE beeldcs my own babies. From then on
the number has steadily increased or al
least II would increase II | would take
moro than ten. feel that is as many as
can attend to without Deglectns my
household duties Our house IS small, and
have only my dining room for my kinder
garten work. or course. such an arrange
nent requires manPuvring, but as we
arc early rlsers in our town it is man
aged without any particularly hard work.
A soon as our o'clock breakfast IS over
g,fa mr.
ner the chairs are removed and the kinder
garten chairs ard table placed In position
.Fv,rythiae is ready by o'clock. at which
time tho class begins.
"The first session lasts until 1880 then
we have recess Of half an hour, during
which the children eat the light luncheon
which they have brought from home and
play. either in my hack yard when the
weather is fine, or in the hall and dining
room when II is not pleasant enough for
them TO so out Of doors. At noon they all
60 home the chairs and tables are packed
into the closet under the stairs. the dining
table pulled out Of the corner, and every
thing is iu readiness for dinner at o'clock,
when my husband gets home.
"As the majority Ct my class have sisters
or brothers IN the public schools, I have
arranged my hours so that these older chill |
dren may bring the younger ones and call |
for :hem on thcir way to and from school |
This is a great convenience, especially
where there is no servant In the family.
on. In the West many women in the small
towns do their own work. | never had
maid until after tho birth Of our fourth
baby and my husband got promoted in the
bank Women with servants are not, as a
rule, so eager to send their small children
10 a kindergarten, because the servants
take the care Of them off their hands.
When a woman has her own work to do
she is glad to get her child looked after,
not TO mention being taught, during the
hours that she is forced to give her atten-
tion TO other matters. II there had been a
kindergarten connected with our public
schools, or even pay kindergarten where
the charges were not too high, l would
have sent my own children and never
thought of teaching them al home.
My charges are so cents a week and
the parents pay for all materials used. At
first / thought of increasing my charges to
meet the cost of material. but after sew
eral experiments found 1t best TO buy ma
terials and then divide the cost between
my pupils. including my own children.
This has proved entirely satisfactory |
give memorandum of the amount TO the
baby to take home with IT, and the next
morning It usually brings me the coin in
ils chubby fist. In the same way ! collect
my weekly charges. Every Monday morn
ing each child brings ME a 50-cent piece
IN payment for its week at play class.
That is what I call Tiny play class never
school
1T was because my little daughter en-
joyed the work so much that l determined
to keep II up with my younger children af-
ter she was old enough to go to public
school / have never found it difficult to
keep the little people busy, once they get
Interested in the work. keep strictly
within the kindergarten rules until dis
cover that a child needs something further
Then IL is my task to find out what. ! sup
pose that is what so many teachers call in
dlvidud1izing the work II is only an ap-
plication of what a mother Of more than
ono child has to do.
Several classes similar To mine have
sprung up in other parts of our town, and
in the majority of cases the teachers have
all used my Froebel books to begin with.
You see, it is not possible for me TO take
a larger class and do my duty TO my own
family, and besides. such little tots cannot
walk very far. Such kindergarten classes
should be formed in every neighborhood.
All except two OF my class live on the same
block ! was glad enough to have other
classes spring up. because / knew how
helpful the work had been to my own chill
dren. TO say nothing of the amount of time
a
working contentedly in the dining room in
stead Of running In the street, since 1t Is
next 10 impossible TO keep them cooped up
all the morning in the backyard. In the
afternoon, when a mother has more time,
OF course. the proposition is not so hard.
Though S. a week is not very large
sum. when recall that 1t is earned by
playing with ten children instead of two
IL seems almost like picking It up in the
road This year ! kept the class going all
the summer. not only because other
mothers wanted me 10, but for the sake of
my own children. II is really the easiest
wsy OF looking after them, and much
cheaper than paying a nurse
II wouldn't care 10 keep the work up II
I weren't teaching my own babies along
with the others. but ] know OF no better
way for a mother In small town who has
little children TO earn small amount than
holding such a class.