What Should Children Do All Day?

They should learn. 


How and what should they learn? 

What have I learned from all this? That children love learning and are extremely good at it. On this matter I have no more doubts. . . . When they are following their own noses, learning what they are curious about, children go faster, cover more territory than we would ever think of trying to mark out for them, or make them cover. ~ John Holt, How Children Learn

It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation stands mainly in need of freedom; without this it goes to rack and ruin without fail... ...It is a very grave mistake to think that the engagement of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty. ~ Albert Einstein 

According to John Holt and Albert Einstein, curiosity should be the guiding factor in how Learning happens. 

The keys to [learning] are study environment, study habits, course of study, and high quality books. The goal of our home schools should be to teach our children to think - and to think faster and better than we, ourselves do. The student who masters a subject on his own learns more. ~ Dr. Art Robinson

According to Dr. Robinson, training for independent thinking should be the guiding factor in how Learning happens.

Unschooling is a range of educational philosophies and practices centered on allowing children to learn through their natural life experiences, including play, game play, household responsibilities, work experience, and social interaction, rather than through a more traditional school curriculum. Wikipedia 

According to the Unschooling philosophy, learning should happen by the child's choice in everyday experiences such as games, work, and social interactions. 


What other definitions are there for what and how children should learn?


What do you believe are the guiding factors in what and how children learn? 


How are they different for adults? 


~vbb