Uncle Roberts Geography | Page 3

THE FLOWERS
X. THE THUNDERSHOWER
XI. THE VILLAGE
XII. A DAY ON THE RIVER
XIII. A RAINY DAY
XIV. THE WALK AFTER THE RAIN
XV. THE BIG BOOK

TOPICAL ANALYSIS OF UNCLE ROBERT'S VISIT.
NOTE.--The direct study of earth, air, and water involves the study of
plant, animal, and human life. Popular opinion has given the name of
geography to these correlated subjects.

CHAPTER I.
--UNCLE ROBERT'S COMING.
The value of the children's knowledge of the farm is warmly
recognized by Uncle Robert. The children feel his sympathy for their
work, and through it are led to closer study and investigation. The
feeling that everything they may see and do is of importance, exalts
their daily life.
Encourage children to describe the farms on which they live. In such
descriptions should come plant and animal life, and the means and
processes of farm work. Extend these descriptions to other farms and to
any landscapes which the children have observed.

CHAPTER II.
--FRANK DRAWS A MAP OF THE FARM.
All children love to draw, and they will draw with great confidence and
boldness unless their critical faculty outruns their skill. Modeling and
painting may be very profitably introduced at an early age. Frank's
efforts in drawing strengthened his images of the landscape.
Arithmetic has a very important place in farm life. It may be used in
many ways in forming habits of accuracy and exactness.

CHAPTER III.
--THE NEW THERMOMETER.
The children have their first lesson on the agent of all physical
movement and change in organic and inorganic matter. The simple
experiments suggested should be continued and enlarged, thus
beginning a life study of a subject which is practically unlimited in its
importance to man.

CHAPTER IV.
--WITH THE ANIMALS.
Children look upon animals as their particular friends and
acquaintances. They talk to them and believe that the animals
understand them. A desire to know the habits and habitats of animals is
among their strongest interests. By a little wise direction, this interest
may be so enhanced as to form a substantial beginning of the study of
zoology.

CHAPTER V.
--IN THE FLOWER GARDEN.
Children worship flowers. Probably there are no objects on earth so
universally loved by little folks as buds and flowers. Children seek
eagerly for flowers by the roadside, in the pastures, fields, and woods.
This love, like all instincts, should be carefully cultivated.
Children may easily be led to study the forms, colors, and habits of
plants. They will always take the keenest interest in the mystery of
seeds and shoots, of roots and growing leaves, if there is a teacher to
direct them.

CHAPTER VI.
--SUNLIGHT AND SHADOW.
We have heat again, and now as an elementary lesson in the
distribution of sunshine. Children love to observe continual changes.
The shadow is an object of interest. It has an element of mystery about
it which borders upon the supernatural. Children observe spontaneously
the long shadows of morning and the lengthening shadows of the
descending sun. Most farm boys can tell the moment of noon by their
shadows.
These are all steps in the more difficult problems of lengthening and
shortening shadows that mark the changing seasons, and that lead to the
theories of the earth's rotation and revolution. Day by day children
should note the changes of slant upon the shadow stick which they can
easily make for themselves.

CHAPTER VII.
--THE BAROMETER.
Our little friends have their first lesson concerning one of the three
great envelopes of the earth-the atmosphere. The knowledge that air has
weight does not often come by unaided intuition. The initial
experiments may be made very interesting and profitable. The United
States Weather Reports are an excellent means for the home study of
geography.

CHAPTER VIII.
--A WALK IN THE WOODS.
"There is pleasure in the pathless woods" and "The groves were God's
first temples" are lines which appeal strongly to those who have spent
hours in the shadows and flickering sunlight of the forest. Trees well
arranged make many farmhouses beautiful. Trees by the roadside add
much beauty to the landscape and afford places of rest to the traveler.
Forests mean moisture to the soil. Their leaves and roots make the best
reservoirs for water, to be given out when needed by the growing crops.
The forests are full of lessons for the children and the experienced
scientist.

CHAPTER IX.
--THE BIRDS AND THE FLOWERS.
The knowledge of a farm child is quite extensive, and generally neither
the child nor the parent has any suspicion that such knowledge is of any
appreciable value in education. It is clearly within the bounds of
possibility for every farm boy and girl to know every bird that lives on

the farm in summer or winter, and those who rest