Learning All the Time

Holt ( How Children Fail ; Teach Your Own ), a leading figure in school reform who died in 1985, believed that ``children learn from anything and everything they see.'' This book, compiled posthumously from his writings, demonstrates his beliefs, showing children at ease at home and in other natural environments, being helped to explore their world by parents and other non-specialists. Far different from the plethora of manuals prescribing ways to ``teach'' toddlers, the book is non-polemical as well as instructive. Holt's ideas, which have been successfully, though not widely, tested, empower parents and should make them wary of structured early schooling as they make use of this excellent resource. (Nov.)