Ontario Teachers' Manuals: Household Management Part 6

(1) Food (buying, cooking, serving), (2) clothing (buying, sewing, mending), (3) education, (4) home nursing.

Tell the pupils that a housekeeper should be informed on all of these points, but little girls can expect to study only a few of them, such as questions of food, clothing, and cleaning.

SURVEY OF EQUIPMENT, UNIFORM, ETC.

Equipment.--Most of the time of the first lesson should be used in making the pupils acquainted with their surroundings and individual necessities, so that they will be ready for work the next day.

Give each member of the cla.s.s a definite working place, and let her examine the contents of the cupboard and drawers which belong to her place. Explain that the particular places which the pupils are given will be kept throughout the year, and that, while they have the privilege of using and enjoying them, they are responsible for their cleanliness and order.

Point out the remainder of the equipment--hot and cold water-taps, towel racks, cla.s.s cupboard with its contents, refrigerator, large and individual stoves.

Teach each pupil how to light her stove and regulate its heat.

Uniforms, etc.--Tell the pupils that you have shown them what has been provided for them, but you want them also to provide some things for themselves. It will be necessary for them to bring a large, plain, white ap.r.o.n, having a bib large enough to protect the dress; a pair of sleevelets; a holder; a small towel for personal use; and a white muslin cap to confine the hair while working. They will also need a note-book and pencil for cla.s.s, and a note-book to be used at home for re-copying the cla.s.s work in ink. The latter book is to be very neatly written and kept for reference after it has been examined by the teacher.

LESSON II

USE OF EQUIPMENT

The little girls who make up the cla.s.ses are not so far removed from their "playhouse" days that a survey of the dishes, stoves, and tables will not give them an eager desire to begin using them. This desire should be gratified, but as the use always necessitates the cleaning as well, it may be advisable at first to make use of the equipment only for the purpose of showing proper methods of cleaning.

A short lesson on cleaning may be given in a few minutes, and the rest of the period spent in putting it into practice. The teacher may proceed somewhat as follows in the development of a lesson on cleaning:

DEVELOPMENT OF A LESSON ON CLEANING

MEANING OF CLEANING

Take two dishes--plates or saucers--exactly alike. Have one clean and the other soiled with b.u.t.ter or some well-known substance. Ask the cla.s.s the difference between them. One is clean and one dirty. What substance is on one that hinders your saying it is clean? b.u.t.ter. What else could be on it? Jam. What else? Dust. What else? Gravy. Now instead of telling the name of the particular substance in each case, let us try to find one name that will apply to all of the substances which, as you say, make the dish dirty. Let us give these substances a name which will show that they do not belong to the plate. We may call each of them a foreign substance. And if I take the substance off the plate what am I doing to the plate? Cleaning it. Then what is cleaning? Cleaning is removing a foreign substance.

METHODS OF CLEANING

1. _Sc.r.a.ping or rubbing away the foreign substance:_

What would you use to remove the b.u.t.ter from the plate? A piece of paper or a knife. What are you doing with the knife or paper? Sc.r.a.ping or rubbing off the foreign substance. Then how was it removed? It was removed by sc.r.a.ping or rubbing.

Suppose some one has sharpened a pencil and let the pieces fall on the floor, what would you take to remove the foreign substance from the floor? A broom. What would you say you are doing with the broom?

Sweeping. How does the movement of the broom over the floor compare with the movement of the knife over the plate? It is similar. What would you take to remove the dust from the window-sill? A duster. What would you say you are doing? Dusting. How does the movement of the duster compare with the movement of the knife and the broom? It is similar. In all of these cases of dish, floor, and sill, how did we remove the foreign substance? We sc.r.a.ped or rubbed it off. Name one way of removing a foreign substance. Sc.r.a.ping or rubbing it away.

2. _Dissolving the foreign substance and then sc.r.a.ping it away:_

Show a much soiled towel and ask what is usually done to clean it. It is washed. Ask the pupils to tell just what they mean by that. The towel is put in water and soap used on it. What effect will the soap and water have on the foreign substance? They will soften or dissolve it. Then what must be done next? The towel must be rubbed on a board or with the hands. What effect has this operation on the foreign substance? It sc.r.a.pes or rubs the foreign substance away. Then we have another way of cleaning: By first dissolving the foreign substance, and then sc.r.a.ping or rubbing it away.

A number of well-known cleaning operations may then be given, and the pupils asked in each case to decide the method used--such as, whisking a coat, scrubbing a table, cleaning the teeth, or was.h.i.+ng dishes.

COMMON HOUSEHOLD CLEANSING AGENTS

Next, get lists of the common cleansing agents found in an ordinary home, and arrange them in order of coa.r.s.eness.

BLACK-BOARD OUTLINE

The black-board scheme, as the lesson develops, will appear as follows:

1. _Meaning of Cleaning:_

Cleaning is removing any foreign substance.

2. _Methods of Cleaning:_

(1) Sc.r.a.ping or rubbing away the foreign substance.

(2) Dissolving the foreign substance and then sc.r.a.ping or rubbing it away.

3. _Household cleansing agents used in the first method:_

(1) Duster (2) Brush (3) Broom (4) Washboard (5) Knife (6) Whiting (7) Bathbrick (8) Coa.r.s.e salt (9) Sand (10) Ashes.

4. _Household cleansing agents used in the second method:_

(1) Water (2) Hot water (3) Soap (4) Lux (5) Ammonia (6) Borax (7) Was.h.i.+ng soda (8) Coal-oil (9) Gasolene (10) Acids (11) Lye.

5. _Combination cleansing agents:_

(1) Bon Ami, (2) Dutch Cleanser, (3) Sapolio.

When the cla.s.s have these ideas, they are ready to put them into practice, and the remainder of the lesson should be spent in practical work.

If the pupils have soiled no dishes, it may be wise to drill them first in table was.h.i.+ng or towel was.h.i.+ng, so as to get them ready for the next lesson when tables and towels will be used.

LESSONS III, IV, ETC.

Gradually, in connection with the making of simple dishes, the pupils should be taught special methods of dish was.h.i.+ng, sink cleaning, and dusting. Each day as they are appointed to different duties in cleaning, these methods should be strictly followed until they become well known.

While they are still new to the cla.s.s, it will be a great help to have outlines of the kinds of cleaning which are necessary in every lesson posted conveniently in different parts of the room for reference.

These outlines may be as follows:

DISH WAs.h.i.+NG

Preparation for was.h.i.+ng:

1. Put away the food.