Excerpt from California The new series of Elementary School Geographies of which this volume forms a part has been worked out along lines entirely different from any other American text. The two-time-over plan has been abandoned for a progressive course in which each country is studied but once. The descriptive method in which the memory plays the chief role has been replaced by one in which reason and thought, based on experience, are the moving forces. The aim of this, the second book in the New Series, is twofold: first, is to give the child such a conception of his own state as will be of some real use to him in daily life; and second, to afford a foundation for an intelligent study of the world at large. When the child understands how people about him are influenced by their environment he has acquired the ability, with the aid of a good physical map, to form conclusions as to how people in distant lands are affected by their environments. This view leads us to look upon facts not as the aim but rather the tools by the aid of which true geographic understanding is reached. To accomplish this aim, a readjustment of emphasis is necessary. Instead of giving a few weeks here and there in the course to the home, state or natural region in which the child lives, and thus making the home region incidental to world geography, the method employed in the present series assumes that an understanding of the home is the indispensable prerequisite to a real knowledge of the world. Working the above out by means of the problem method, the study appears to the child to take on a definite purpose. It becomes intensely interesting and leaves a permanent impression. From the point of view outlined, no apology need be offered for putting within reach of the children of California this book, which is intended as a basis for a year's study. Such a study naturally falls in the fifth year and before formal world geography is commenced. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.