John Holt | How Children Learn
Synopsis : the author sets out to demonstrate to parents and teachers alike that learning is as natural as breathing. They ways we learn to talk, to read, to count and to reason, even before we start school, should make the adult trust the child's innate ability as natural learners. This book also features a critique of methods of learning "about" children, and a chapter of "learning and love".
Some words from people who have bought it (I just ordered it on Amazon myself after reading the reviews!!!)
“Its surprising (and somewhat daunting) to realise just how many people (including my own parents) have been misguided so deeply in thinking that sending their own children to school is the best way for children to grow up learning and becoming smarter, useful people in the society. What's worse is that some parents think that school is *the* only proper way of educating kids, and they would never entertain any thoughts of educating their own kids themselves - with care and attention. They just leave it to the school teachers in school (who by the way, are often too overburdened with work to provide enough individualised attention to pupils. In a school system, it is often impossible for any teacher to teach each child according to their own learning pace - so children who are quicker to learn can get bored if the teacher's going too slowly, and children who are slower to learn try desperately (in many cases, in vain!) to catch up.”
“ This book's educational value is unsurpassed”.
“With this book - it may well change your life forever. I read this some years ago while on a teacher training course, and it told me things that the trainers weren't sharing. I reread it this summer, and as a result, our family are reconsidering the educational options for our children. School is not top of our list of priorities. This is one of the most approachable of Holt's books, although many of them are worth the effort.”
“I discovered "How Children Learn" when my own children were already on their way to their teens. I wish I'd had it when they were born, or soon after. John Holt opens our eyes to the absolutely astonishing efficiency with which pre-school children learn so many things. And he does it without any of the language of "educationese," the gobbledygook that so often clutters books about educational issues and makes them opaque and unpleasant tasks to read. Everything he says is immediate, concrete, and down to earth, drawn from specific observations of particular children, working effectively to learn whatever interests them. This is a book that I regularly now give as a gift to my friends when they become parents for the first time. I know of no other that will fill THEM with wonder over the ensuing five years or so, as their children learn to come to grips with the world.”
