A question parents ask

What should a ten-year-old be able to do on their own?

The short answer

Three things: focus on a hard task, carry a small project from start to finish, and teach themselves something they care about. In Sui Learning these are the abilities to build by about age ten, long before anyone needs a diploma to prove them.

The reasoning

That list is the book's answer. It isn't a settled research finding, so treat it as a target and not a test.

It comes from a simple observation. A bachelor's degree mostly works as a long warm-up that shows a person can turn up, focus and finish. That job was meant to be done in childhood. A ten-year-old who is taught well can already sit with a problem, carry a small project through, and teach themselves something they love.

What does that look like in a real child? She sticks with a puzzle that doesn't give up easily. She builds a birdhouse, writes a story or runs a lemonade stand and finishes it, flaws and all. She wants to know how something works, and she finds out from a book, a video or an expert without anyone walking her through it.

Ten isn't a magic number. It's a reminder of what children have done before. Colonial apprenticeships commonly began around fourteen. In 1910 a South Carolina boy not yet fifteen grew 228 bushels of corn on one acre, when typical yields were about 26. Today's American teenagers live under more than ten times as many restrictions as ordinary adults, and they tested as competent or nearly as competent as adults in fourteen areas. Children didn't become less capable. They became less trusted.

So start by handing over real jobs at your child's size: planning a meal, managing a small budget, finishing a project with a review at the end.

The research behind it

One-on-one teaching lifted the average student above about 98 percent of a conventional class. Benjamin Bloom, Educational Researcher 13, no. 6 (1984).
Colonial apprenticeships commonly began around fourteen and ran about seven years. Economic History Association, "Apprenticeship in the United States."
In 1910 Jerry Moore, a South Carolina boy not yet fifteen, grew 228 bushels of corn on one acre when typical yields were about 26. Contemporary reports; Purdue University Agronomy.
American teenagers live under more than ten times as many restrictions as ordinary adults, and tested as competent or nearly as competent as adults in fourteen areas. Robert Epstein, Scientific American Mind 18, no. 2 (2007).

Try this

Pick one thing you do for your child that they could do themselves. Say out loud that it's theirs now, and tell them why. Check in on it once a week.

Where this falls short

Children differ, and ten is a rough marker. The research behind the claim is about one-on-one teaching and project learning. It doesn't give a test with a pass mark at age ten. And none of this is a case for going back. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics counts about 1.75 million American children aged ten to fifteen at work in 1900, many in mills and mines, and some of that work maimed and killed them.

Also asked as

What should a ten-year-old know how to do?
What is a reasonable level of independence for a child of ten?
How do I teach my child to learn on their own?

The ideas behind this answer

The primer belongs in childhood
The ability to focus, carry a project through, and teach yourself should be built by about age ten, not purchased at twenty-two.
Running projects
Small projects first, in sprints of one to four weeks, shipped plain and reviewed at the end.
Not less capable, less trusted
Children did not become less capable. They became less trusted, and the years they were built to learn in were moved to a desk.
Freedom
Grant every freedom they can carry. Withhold only major risk: moderate risk of permanent or long-term harm.