Homeschool Fever

Outline History of Education By Felix Arnold

Rules of Practice

1. Appeal to the experience of the child.  Choose such materials of knowledge as lie close to the child’s experiences in general.
2. Arrange the materials of instruction so that each step prepares for the next. Each topic should form a strong aid for the apperception of the following topic.
3. The various parallel subjects of the curriculum should be arranged in such a manner that in each grade as many allied topics as possible may be associated so that what is related in experience and in fact may be related in the consciousness of the child (Law of concentration and correlation of studies).
4. Proceed gradually so as to allow of proper assimilation.

Value of Apperception

1. Former knowledge is made use of.
2. The use of an acquired stock of ideas involves a constant working over of the old ideas and so fixes them by repetition.
3. Experience is unified and organised by the formation of mental systems and series.
4. The child gradually acquires a stock of ideas upon which the teacher can draw.
5. The general plan of lesson is based upon the notion of acquiring knowledge by the assistance of accumulated funds.
6. There is a consciousness of power due to the ability to make use of knowledge.
7. The apperceptive process works towards the development of general notions.
8. The teacher is able to supervise and guide apperception.

Source: Outline History of Education By Felix Arnold (1911)