The Parents' Review

A Monthly Magazine of Home-Training and Culture

Our Work

Conference.--The Annual Conference will be held on May 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th, at St. Martin's Town Hall, Charing Cross. Full particulars as to further arrangements will be announced in due course. Local secretaries are requested to note these dates.

Parents Review School,--Members can have examination papers returned upon receipt of postage.

In ordering books from the Educational Supply, please put P.N.E.U. on the envelope, as it will hasten the dispatch of the order.

Examiner's Report for the Examination, Christmas, 1899.

"Although there is a slight increase on the previous examinations in the number of papers marked weak and below the average, the term's work generally shows steady, careful and systematic study. This will be clearly seen when it is noted that almost 50 per cents of the papers are marked good or excellent, whilst about 6 per cent fall below the average.

"Historical subjects again show the best results, whilst Arithmetic, Euclid and English Grammar are almost invariably the weakest. In Class IV, Most of the students failed in Arithmetic through not being able to work out the results correctly, Square and Cube root being the chief stumbling blocks.
"A very few papers are written so carelessly and hurriedly, on such small scraps of paper and so badly arranged, as to give the impression of complete indifference to the result and to make it difficult to give credit for the knowledge acquired. Algebra generally was very well done and Latin shows improvement on last year's examination.  Composition generally is very good, but in a few papers the Composition of the essay compared unfavourably with that in the other papers, e.g., History. Spelling too in some cases is perfect in the piece set for Dictation, but weak in the other subjects. The French papers teach a better average than in the last examination, especially in Classes III and IV. German is mostly well done except by beginners.
(Signed) J.B., Examiner"

[The Examiner adds a list of names of those who show marked intelligence throughout and deserve special mention, but we suppress these because the idea of Parents' Review School is that the pupils should work for the pleasure of acquiring knowledge and should not be distracted by any form of competition. For this reason, though the examiner has given some plus marks for this examination, it is probable that he will not do so again.

May we again repeat what we have said before about English Grammar and Arithmetic. Many of the teachers in the Parents' Review School are mothers whose intelligence qualifies them well to teach all but technical subjects. In such cases it will be very well to secure the help of some master or mistress of an elementary school in teaching these subjects.

We are pleased to notice a considerable improvement in writing in many households, which is evidently caused by the use of Mrs. Bridges' New Handwriting; nor is the improvement confined to children; mothers too have taken the opportunity to learn these beautiful characters of mediaeval manuscript. Ed]

The Easter examination papers will be sent out for Monday, April 2nd.

Proofread June 2011, LNL