Hail Fellow Well Met!

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How do you know they’re educated?

Ah, so, you say, you’ve educated your children without benefit of textbooks or workbooks or class periods. What about their grades? Did they learn anything?

What a question. Of course they learned something. Every child learns something every day, as do you. It’s in what they learned that the rubber meets the road. Grades are only useful if you’re grading your children. Do you play favorites? Is this one a better child because he has As on his card? Those As may have nothing to do with his memory or his character.

So then, how do you know you’ve educated them? Are they finished products?

Another interesting question. Does education ever end? I’m still learning; they keep adding new computer programs and phone apps and social media platforms and somehow I’m supposed to be involved online and in real life—that is, in person.

So no, they’re not finished, and they’re never going to be. Neither am I.

Ooo-kaaaay… how do you know they’ve learned what they need to know?

Define “need to know”.

Um… Are they normal adults? Can they function in society? Do they know the square root of 36? Have they learned reading, writing, arithmetic? Do they understand how to get from here to there by bus or train? Can they read a recipe and start a fire?

They’re as normal as any random group; yes; six; yes; they make their own travel plans; they made supper last night and have eaten on campouts before. —but you haven’t asked the real questions: Are they good people? Do they help others? Are they secure in the knowledge that they are loved, valued, and cared for?

Where’s that in the curriculum?