Max Mednik
  • Home
  • About
  • Interests
    • Angel investing
    • Magic
    • Scuba Diving
  • Blog
  • Contact

Readings and musings

Notes on How Children Learn by John Holt

11/12/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
I recently finished a classic in child development: How Children Learn by John Holt. It reminded me a lot of Richard Feynman's writing, like Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman!, because it was written as a collection of observations, stories, and lessons learned in very straightforward language. I loved the references to typewriters (which sound like really good objects for kids to explore) and other somewhat dated/classic items.

It seems like he was one of the first proponents of the natural abilities and curiosities of kids and giving them the opportunity to lead their own educational explorations. I can see how a lot of other more recent parenting authors have built upon his foundations.

​My full notes on the book are below.

Preface
Follows how children fail
Trust children
Trust yourself

Watching children learn

Games and experiments
Better to let kids improvise
Keep around objects in household kids can touch
Small kids just start and try even if get wrong immediately and then fix by repeated trials. Older kids wait and use mind to make sure right on first attempt. Lose willingness to just try and improvise. 
Instinct for workmanship. Not about just being done but to do as well as can or for personal enjoyment of the process. 
Inventing games
Practice doing it wrong for fun
Diary entries of watching kids learn
Doing things for sake of doing
Patient and persistent experiment to learn speech
Not being afraid of sounding or being wrong
Successive approximations
In time kids work out correct speech themselves without anyone correcting them
Stop correcting kids mistakes. They will figure it out.
Kids as intelligent from early age and to be respected. 
Don’t make kids realize how little they know or how much u know or what u can do
Don’t check up on what kids learned. Stop testing them 
Let kids detect and fix own mistakes. Find out for self if correct. Don’t create dependence on teachers. 
Read books too complex for kids so can learn from them also
Signs around house with words naming objects and places
Don’t make a fuss over timetables for reading or learning progress

Sports
Don’t force if afraid

Art and math
Use real paints and tools
Unstructured explrations with things
Keep curiosity well supplied with good materials

Fantasy
Fantasy allows understanding of real world
To test reality
Don’t force trying to fantasize
Kids ok with not having all answers

Learning and love

References
Growing without schooling
How children fail
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    November 2023
    August 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    January 2022
    October 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    April 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010

    Categories

    All
    Angel Investing
    Cacti
    Cars
    China
    Community Service
    Culture
    Design
    Djing
    Dogs
    Education
    Entertainment
    Entrepreneurship
    Family
    Finance
    Food
    Google
    Happiness
    Incentives
    Investment Banking
    Judaism
    Law
    Lighting
    Magic
    Marketing
    Medicine
    Networking
    Nolabound
    Philosophy
    Professionalism
    Psychology
    Reading
    Real Estate
    Religion
    Romance
    Sales
    Science
    Shangri-La
    Social Entrepreneurship
    Social Media
    Sports
    Teams
    Technology
    Travel
    Turtles
    Ucla
    Venture Capital
    Web Services
    Weddings
    Zen

    Subscribe

    RSS Feed

Picture
Picture
  • Home
  • About
  • Interests
    • Angel investing
    • Magic
    • Scuba Diving
  • Blog
  • Contact