hes for Rural Schools_: Parts I and II, Iowa State
College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts

_Rural School Lunches_: University of Idaho, Agricultural Extension
Department

_The Rural School Lunch_: University of Illinois College of Agriculture

_The School Luncheon_: Oregon Agricultural College

HOUSEHOLD SCIENCE WITHOUT SCHOOL EQUIPMENT

There is no school so unhappily situated or so poorly equipped that it
is unable to teach effectively the lessons previously outlined in the
"Care of the Home" and "Sewing". Now that a grant in aid is provided by
the Department of Education any rural school may procure one of the sets
of equipment for cooking suggested or some modification thereof. As a
stepping-stone to the provision of that equipment and as a means of
educating the people of the district in regard to the advantages of
teaching this branch of Household Science, it may be advisable or even
necessary, in some cases, to attempt practical work, even where no
equipment is installed by the school authorities.

It should be remembered that the present position of Manual Training and
Household Science in urban schools is entirely owing to private
initiative and demonstration, by which the people were shown how and why
these subjects should be included in the curriculum of the schools. It
is reasonable to suppose that the same results will follow if somewhat
the same methods are tried in the case of the rural schools, which form
such a large part of our educational system. Two methods of giving
instruction of this character have, in the United States, been followed
by successful results.

FIRST METHOD

In the first of these, the teacher spends the last thirty or forty
minutes, generally on Friday afternoons, in the description and
discussion of some practical cooking problem which may be performed in
the homes of the pupils. Before this plan is adopted, it should be
discussed with the pupils who are to take the work. They should be
required to promise that they will practise at home; and the consent and
co-operation of the parents should be secured, as the success of this
home work depends, in the first place, on the willingness of the pupil
to accept responsibility, and, in the second place, on the honest and
hearty co-operation of the parents.

A meeting of the mothers should be called, in order that the plan may be
laid before them and their suggestions received. At this meeting
afternoon tea might be