Evening star., 1925-02-15
Mother Taught Sleeping Children,
She Says, Describing Her Method

me at that time? They can hear me
because the sense of hearing, though
not controlled by the subconscious
mind, is also not suspended during
sleep. 1t only seems to be because
| the conscious mind keeps no record
! of what is heard then. But the sub
| conscious mind keeps a record. 1t is
q vast storehouse of memories. Every
| experience of the body during life,
| every idea, impulse, hope, desire or
repression is recorded there. The
conscious mind may be forgetful, but
| the subconscious mind cannot forget
anything.
That, at any rate, is my under
standing of the workings of the
brain and of the mental machinery
which is set in action at my very
| private little night school
After experiments had COMPLETELY
| convinced me of the possibility and
efficacy Of teaching my children while
they slept, 1 decided on the course of
instruction suitable for their needs
The curriculum" does not include
foreign languages. There is other
knowledge which is more important
to them during the habit-forming and
character-molding period.
X x
IONE of the first things 1 thus
~ taught my little girl was the
multiplication table, which had been
proving a gigantic task for her.
There she would sit with the eight
times" table, trying to commit to
memory. Hear me, mamma" she
would appeal to me, reaching out for
help. Such intangible things had no
counterpart in her life. No wonder
it was hard for her to remember
so at night | came to her rescue
oh
her, repeatedly, that times 8 is
"a Next night 1 impressed the
truth about ) times upon her.
and the third night the identity of
times and 64 Each morn
ing she knew instantly what / had
told her, though she did not remem-
Der or guess that had done any such
telling. And, To- the table of IS
was conquered. For the three num-
bers had been chosen strategicalIv 10
serve as mental pegs for the others.
After knowing 3 times s, for in
stance, she could get 9 times or
times by simple subtraction or
add1tion--a much easier and less ab-
struse mathematical operation, to a
chlld's mind, than MULTIPLICATION.
Other tables were then dealt with
similarly and with very little diff
Guilty she acquired permanent mastery
of them.
Ihen my son came home from
school one day under orders to learn
the preamble to the Constitution of
the United States. I went over it
with him very carefully, defining the
unfamiliar words and explaining the
meaning Of the phrases till he really
understood the preamble. But to
commit 1t to memory was another
thing So after he had fallen asleep
rected it very slowly to him sew
eral times 1--WE, the people of the
United States, in order to form
more perfect Union
When he got up in the morning he
knew 1T, and recited it to me before
he went to school
Sometimes, however, progress is
not so rapid. Believing strong bodies
are essential to strong minds. 1 had
been much concerned because my
daughter disliked milk. Only by tax
ing my patience and ingenuity to the
utmost could / get her to drink any.
Finally / began lecturing at night
on the merits of the beverage, enter
ing the room noiselessly and begin
ming in an audible whisper, milk will
make You grow. Please drink milk
every day" After few nights she
began drinking milk with less diff
Guilty, and then one morning she
woke up; actually asking for it,
With automobiles and other urban
perils on the increase, another pri-
mary need of children is carefulness.
So one of my skeletonized diseourses,
repeated at frequent intervals, runs: ::
BE careful at all times. Look on
all sides before crossing a street."
Words which my daughter persists
In misspelling I also teach her at