How do you know they're learning?

A friend was asking me about unschooling yesterday. She wondered how I knew if my kids were learning enough and if they were "on track". I think this is a great question, and one that all us unschoolers get asked all the time. Basically, I know what they're learning because Im with them all the time, and I see and hear what they know. Amazingly they are learning a ton without any required workbooks or "learning time". I don't know if they are exactly on track with their school-going peers. And honestly, I don't care. I know they are ahead in some areas, and possibly "behind" in others. But it is obvious they are growing and learning. The really cool thing is they remember what they learn because they are discovering things they are interested in, on their timing. Isn't that how we all ultimately learn?



Last night we had a perfect example. Most of the day was spent playing with friends and watching a movie. Which could be seen as non-educational (although I believe they learn a lot from both of those activites). But that night we went on a family walk around downtown Encinitas. After a successful trip at a funky thrift shop, we went into a store with kid's toys. Outside they had a chalkboard and chalk. After playing inside for a long time the kids headed outside, and colored with the chalk for about 30 minutes. Charis started by writing 1-20 on the ground and hopping on the numbers. Which helped Paxton learn some of those higher numbers. Then she wrote out "10 plus 10 is 20". Why she wrote that I don't know. I didn't even realize she knew that. And since I haven't taught her formal math, she didn't know the short cuts. So I asked her if she wanted to see the shortcuts for "plus" and "is". So she learned how to write simple equations on the ground of downtown Encinitas at 6:00pm. Paxton kinda copied the equations and Jonas doodled. Caleb and I stood back and marveled.



Once home we ended up having a discussion about different country's governments. For some reason she wondered which countries have Kings and Queens. That lead to a talk about our government and the president and democracy. I explained how our country is run. So, now she knows about that. And that is how I know they are learning. And why I'm not concerned about them being on track.