Excerpt from The Baldwin Primer
The lessons in this book have been prepared in accordance with well-established principles of mental science and child study. In addition to the ideas common to most primers have adopted the principle of progressive expansion, whereby the more complex notions of language, number, and form, are built up by successive steps from elementary ideas. In teaching words the synthetical and analytical methods are followed simultane ously. The letters of the alphabet, as set tasks, are deeply impressed on the mind, while at the same time the child learns to read by recognition of words as wholes; finally he instinctively unites the results of both methods to a complete and detailed understanding of the words. Another recognized principle is that of proceeding from the known to the unknown; in a primer the most familiar objects should form the basis of the lessons.
The script alphabet is as important as the usual Roman alphabet. The child should learn to read both from the start. Do not begin the writing lessons too soon; they should be preceded by a considerable amount of free-arm movement at the blackboard or with the brush. The first lessons in writing must be on a large scale, with movements free from the shoulder; a brush dipped in ink, a piece of chalk on the blackboard, a good sized pencil and the like are the proper materials.
It is not yet sufficiently understood by teachers that the movements of writing cannot be successfully learned until the child has gained control over his arms, hands, and fingers. The stick laying, paper folding, modeling, and the songs have this end in view in addition to the particular facts they are designed to teach.
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