I think that most kids don't truly "learn" by being told "this is what we're
going to learn today". I think if any learning will take place there needs
to be a genuine interest in that topic. I can suggest learning topics or
interesting things, but most of the time if I do that, my boys give me a
look that seems to say "please don't make me learn what I'm not interested
in".
Just because kids are being "taught" in school by teachers, or in homeschool
by their moms, doesn't mean they are learning. Especially if there's
resistance to being taught, by the child.
So, how can they know how to learn all they should know? I think they do
know all they should know at this moment in their lives. They don't need to
know more than they do right now. If and when the time comes that they need
to know more about certain things, maybe to obtain a higher goal, then
they'll have a good reason to learn it. And any information they learn will
be relavent to their circumstances at the time, and hopefully they'll be
interested in it.
I also think that it's impossible to learn everything there is to know. And
who's to say what my kids should or shouldn't be learning? Some school
district officials? They don't know my kids or their unique interests.
Everybody's different and has different talents. I think learning should
look different for each individual child out there, not the same.
Karin