There are several faulty underlying assumptions in an education poll I took online a few years ago. The most important of those faulty assumptions claimed that grades are a necessary and accurate measure of a child’s abilities and achievements. I discovered that my children learned best using natural learning, which is a form of unschooling. Unschooling is child selected learning. The child chooses where, what, when, with whom, and how much to learn instead of following a packaged curriculum.

What knowledge is essential for a person to be considered educated?

I ask this question even though it seems to fly in the face of the principles of freedom of choice inherent in home education. Although the journey may be enjoyable, wandering hither and yon is not a practical or effective way to get from here to Peoria. I am much more likely to arrive at my intended destination if I have some idea of the general direction I need to go to get there.

Many people do not define the purpose of education. Educating your child to produce a good citizen is not the same thing as educating your child to enter a general-labor workforce. Education should help your child overcome obstacles to progress and produce a person with a lifelong devotion to acquiring and using knowledge to make the world he or she inhabits a better place.

Essential questions of world history establish what history is and how we know it was so. This allows us to identify what people made the largest or longest-lasting historical impact, and how, when and why to apply historical knowledge to present-day challenges.

Remember every child in the room needs to feel valued – there are ways to ensure that you don’t always favour the best students, this article should help you use some of them in your teaching.