Last year our parent-community held a talk on Montessori method of education, which is based on self-directed activities, experiential learning, and collaborative play.
The Montessori method reminds me a lot of parenting in pre-industrial societies that I learned from my mother. She grew up in countryside in northern China. During her early childhood, children were supposed to play active roles in household chores, gathering grass for cows, feeding pigs, or doing crafts, and babysitting her brother who is 10 years her junior. She learned to take care of herself and others from very young age.
The saying that it takes a village to raise a child was very much true at that time when the village was heavily involved in raising and socializing children with their values and traditions. There was no formal education. A lot of things that children did was to prepare them for adulthood and for their future roles in the family and community.
Montessori bears some similarities to parenting in pre-industrial societies, in that it emphasizes informal, hand-on learning, hand-free parenting, doing while learning. The major difference is the cost. While parenting in pre-industrial societies is FREE, here is over $40,000 for a toddler for one school year. I just checked one in New York.
There is a Chinese saying, 自己动手，丰衣足食 (Zìjǐ dòng-shǒu, fēng-yī-zú-shí) When you can work with your own hands, you can have plenty of clothing and food. This Chinese saying emphasizes self-reliance and hard work. That is, you won't go without food and clothes and comfortable life if you are capable of using your hands to create values.