Where We Live | Page 2

plans of his schoolroom, schoolhouse, streets and city. The suggestions
regarding the study of things foreign to the child are based entirely
upon his experience in the study of the types with which he has become
familiar in his study of his surroundings.
Milton C. Cooper, Superintendent of District Nine, Philadelphia.

INTRODUCTION
Geographical knowledge should progress from the known to the
unknown, from the familiar to the unfamiliar. The world is the home of
mankind. We can best understand the larger world by a preliminary
consideration of our own small intimate home. We therefore begin to
study geography with an account of the child's immediate environment.
The school stands for the common home of the class. From the school

we gradually widen out our teaching to include the immediate
neighborhood with its buildings, and finally the whole town or
community.
We study the various types of people whom we meet every day, and the
industries in which they engage in their efforts to obtain the three main
necessities of human life,--food, clothing and shelter. The animals and
plants sharing the world with man and contributing to his sustenance
next focus our attention.
The home neighborhood has its physiographical features distinguishing
it from other places and influencing the life of its inhabitants. The land
and water divisions in the immediate environment are studied as types,
while those not closely related to our home are reserved for
consideration as each one occurs in its local geographical place in the
course of study.
We must know something of direction in order to conveniently locate
the streets, buildings and physiographical features near our home.
Finally, we will try to realize the great size of the earth, of which our
home is but a small portion, by a consideration of the relationship of
our community to the rest of the world and to some of this world's great
diversities.
As geography is a study of cause and effect, the early lessons should be
mainly oral. Later, in order to obtain a broad knowledge of
geographical data, not one but many books should be read. This little
book aims to serve as a bridge between the oral lesson and the
descriptive text-book. The presentation of many questions leads the
pupil to think out cause and effect, and to connect his present
knowledge with the realm of the unknown. Special care has been
exercised to present facts only when facts are absolutely necessary, and
only after allowing the pupil the opportunity to first exercise his own
reasoning faculties in obtaining the information.
The excursion is an essential part of every geography course, and every
effort should be made to use this effective means of teaching.

Four types of valuable exercises may be suggested in the use of this
book:
1. The pupils may read the questions orally and give the answers orally.
2. They may read the questions silently, answering them orally.
3. They may read the questions orally and write the answers.
4. Finally, they may silently read the questions and write the answers.
All definitions have been carefully avoided as tending to hamper the
free acquisition of ideas.
PART I
TOPICS
1. Our School. 2. The Streets and Roads. 3. The Buildings. 4. The
Town as a Whole. 5. The People. 6. Industries and Occupations. 7.
Animals and Plants. 8. Transportation and Communication 9.
Physiography of the Neighborhood 10. Direction.
PART II
1. The Earth as a Whole. 2. The Seasons. 3. The Zones. 4. North
America. 5. Countries of North America. 6. Trips.

PART ONE
[Illustration: THE CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON.]

WHERE WE LIVE--A HOME GEOGRAPHY
CHAPTER I

OUR SCHOOL
1
What is the name of our school?
Where have you seen this name?
[Illustration: A TOWN SCHOOL.]
Why was this name given to our school?
On what street or road does our school stand?
How long have you been attending this school?
See how much you have noticed as you came here each day. Tell what
you can remember of the different parts of the building which can be
seen from the street or road. Describe each of these parts:
Walls Roof Windows Chimneys Doors Fire-escape
2
As you look at the school from the outside what materials do you see
that the builders have used? Where have they needed stone, slate, glass,
tin, iron, steel, wood?
Now let us think of the garden and playground. Tell about the different
parts and the materials that have been used in making them.
What great numbers of workmen were needed before a school like ours
could be built! Who procured the stone and the slate? Whose work was
needed to obtain the iron, the steel and the tin? Who made the glass?
Which workmen shall we thank for the wood?
Can you think how the bare