From The Agricultural Education Magazine, October, 1949, p. 80.

Proper supervision of the home farming enterprise means more than a social call at the farm. If is a golden opportunity for the continuation of educational processes started in the classroom, the laboratory and the field trip. This teacher is making a careful check of the butterfat and breeding records of his Future Farmer, on a "project" visit.

No matter what the "type" or "kind" of project, its success will depend upon how good a job of supervision is done by the instructor. A successful project is one which makes a valuable contribution to the supervised farming program and to the total agricultural training of the pupil.

Instruction in vocational agriculture has capitalized the project as a training device but we can do a still more effective- and efficient job of training by making our farm visits more profitable. Effectiveness can be achieved by (a) planning and preparing for the visit, (b) making the visit worthwhile, and (c) Making an adequate number of visits.

Each visit should yield some immediate result. There should be a definite reason for the visit and a specific objective to be accomplished.

A visit made on the assumption that something will arise during the call which can be used as a basis for discussion or for individual instruction is about as reliable as a guess on the direction a flushed quail will fly.

The following are some brief "rules of thumb" which can be recommended as guides to preparing for a farming program, visit.

B. Review the pupil's farm account records.

C. Be prepared to do something forand with the pupil.

The primary purpose of the visit is for individual instructional purposes. Secondary but vitally important purposes are those of stimulating increased interest and activity by the pupil and maintaining desirable relationships and cooperation with the parents.

Here are some means of accomplishing these purposes:

1. Keep appointments which are previously made.
2. Make a point of visiting with parents of the pupil. Greater and quicker results would often be attained if more attention was given to informing the parents of current activities in the chapter doings, of plans proposed, and of things which can be accomplished by their son in his agriculture program.
3. Give the pupil something worthwhile. This may be a tangible "something," such as a new bulletin, a picture of an outstanding farm animal, a seed sample of a new or improved crop, a sheet for recording breeding dates, or a chart on rates of seeding. It may be in the form of suggestions or recommendations arrived at through a cooperative and democratic discussion with the pupil and parent.
4. Let the pupil and his parents know how he is getting along. Let expressed recognition of progress or of a job well done be a stimulation to still greater accomplishment.
5. Plan with the pupil for future events or operations which will occur in his farming projects. Planning ahead may well obviate the need for a second visit one week hence. -Make sure that plans made and recommendations suggested are fully understood by the pupil and agreed to by all concerned. Could a record of such items be placed in the pupil's farm record book?
6. Complete your own records and observations after you leave the pupil but before you make the next call. The form of the records should be designed by the individual teacher to give him the information he wants in helping the pupil to improve the supervised farming program and plan future operations, and to aid in correlating classroom and shop instruction with project needs.

Beginning teachers and some experienced teachers often ask the question, "How many visits should I make to each boy?" My usual answer is, "The number of visits necessary to keep the boy on his toes, his projects operating efficiently, and his farm records up-to-date."

This would indicate that visits should be made quite frequently and I do believe there is some advantage in frequent and regular visits. At the same time better planning and scheduling, and more complete and worthwhile supervision might well eliminate the need for an immediate subsequent visit.

The belief is often advanced that visits can best be made, and can be made most effective, when the pupil requests the visit as a result of a felt need for advice and help. This is admirable principle and undoubtedly can be followed, at least to some extent, with the more advanced pupils. Most instructors will agree, however, that the teacher must help the boy to recognize and discover many of his own problems.

There is some evidence to support the statement that better planned and more effectively organized class instruction can somewhat reduce the frequency of individual visits. If the course of study in agriculture emphasizes true vocational training and is designed to fit the needs of the individual pupil it will contribute much to the knowledge and skills needed by the boy in his supervised farming program.

Now, some of the latter statements would indicate a belief that the number of farm visits could be reduced. In some cases this may be true but I am, just as sure that visits can be made too infrequently, as I am that they can be too frequent.

There is ample justification for frequent and regular visits. For one thing, close relationships with parents must be maintained. Another good reason is the need of the teacher to keep up-to-date so that he will be in a position to guide and advise the boy in new problems and on further development of his projects.

In summary, there is only one way in which vocational training in agriculture can be most effective and that is when a considerable amount of individual instruction is accomplished. Much of this individual instruction must be conducted with the pupil on his supervised farming program. Home visits are essential. Therefore, one of our objectives should be to make them more valuable and more worthwhile to the pupil.