Copasetic Flow

"So, How do you measure outcomes?" The engineer meant well, when she asked the question and, to be fair, she'd never heard of unschooling.  Still, I had to double-clutch several times as the gears in my mind shifted to traditional schooling terminology.  The kids and I were at a small company in San Francisco where they were testing a new game package that was supposed to teach coding.  While the kids were testing, another engineer was asking me about the coding work we did at home.  I mentioned that the kids had been working through Google's CSFirst for the last several months.  This inspired the outcomes question. I went with the not so elegant, but oh so pragmatic initial response of, "What...?" Buying myself some time while I boggled at what the hell an outcome was... Wait, I had it!  That's right, other schooling methodologies measure what's 'taught' by 'testing' what the kid has learned compared to 'the expected outcom...

Just a little note to concerned ‘grownups’ everywhere.  If you look at a kid—and I mean really look—I don’t mean notice a person shorter than you, I mean make eye contact, notice their facial expression and observe their body language—If you look at a kid, don’t assume they need your help unless they’re obviously distressed, or ask for it.  You might think this is difficult call to make.  You might think, not having kids of your own, that you’re unable to make this determination.  You are.  You do in fact, already have the skills even if you’ve never been around kids  It’s a remarkably simple call to make, just use the exact same criteria you would for determining if an adult was in distress.  Because, guess what, kids and adults are in fact the same species of animal and communicate in the same way.  Honest.  If someone—adult or child—doesn’t need your help, feel free to say hello, give a wave, give a smile, but don’t—do not—try to force hel...