Failure is not an option

Recently I was asked in relation to Sophie's homeschooling: can she fail? My first reaction was: Sophie? Fail? Not an option for her (and that's not my perscription, that's just who she is)
We were talking about whether or not I test or grade Sophie's work. I explained that we checked all of her work for mistakes or "wrong" answers and she corrects them before we publish the blog or "save" the day in Word. When her work is without errors or mistakes that need correcting, I write a satisfying 100% at the top of the page. I tell her she got everything "right" and good job.

At the end of our unit Sophie studies for and takes Reviews, consisting of varying templates (e.g. Who am I?, fill-in-the-blank Vocabulary Reviews, complete blank maps with key information, Timeline matching dates and key events), and she cannot "fail"the reviews.

She takes the reviews after studying and preparing--I explain the process and give her examples of the kinds of questions asked--in a comfortable seat by the window, with me in the room or nearby, and she has a first run of the Review on her own. If she has questions, she can ask them, and I will clarify or use guiding questions for her to answer her own question. If she doesn't know the answer after thinking about it for a short while, I encourage her to move on and get back to it. When she feels like she's done her best and the Review is complete, I look over it. If there are any unanswered questions (Sophie actually has not turned in a Review with an unanswered question), then we spend time discussing the best resource to find the answer. If after checking all her work there are "wrong" answers, I make a mark and hand the Review back to her and we go through the same process: 1. Clarification, 2. Guiding questions, 3. Best resources, 4. Use resources to find correct answer.

This question of failure resonated with me and I considered what it would mean for Sophie to fail homeschool. She has plenty of opportunity with her skating to fail, albeit she does not fail typically. I asked myself: what is the lesson in failure? So that you know you can...fail. Maybe you have to fail in order to learn to try harder the next time. Or to learn that there are consequences to your behavior, i.e. not studying or paying attention results in failing a test or class. That model--testing who is paying attention, who deserves credit and who does not--is not relevant to homeschooling. I give Sophie Reviews as a way to encapsulate the unit and all she's learned and to give her the opportunity to feel accomplished and proud.

The goal to Sophie's homeschool is simple: to teach her how to learn, not what to learn.
So what's the sense in failing how to learn?