How was knowledge passed on to children?
Knowledge was passed onto children by education, only if you could afford it, which most people couldn’t in Ancient Egypt. So generally the mum would teach the girl and the dad would teach the boy. It was the parent’s duty to educate their children.
There is almost no information about the educational system. Most children were educated at home. They were taught the knowledge that was necessary to become a good housewife, farmers, craftsmen or scribes, by their parents. Only a small amounts of privileged children, that are sons of scribes and noblemen are destined to of fill their fathers' positions, receiving a school education which included reading, writing and arithmetic.
As Egyptian writing and number systems were so complex, so many young students would be distracted, or even wanting to abandon school altogether. This would infuriate their teachers. As texts were so hard to write, schoolboys would make lots of mistakes. So texts had to be learnt off by heart, copied time and time again. They leant on any available material possible. The material had to be flat and smooth surface, silvers or stone, pot shreds, pieces of wood, and/or papyrus.
Egyptian boys learned how to craft or trade from their fathers, the girls learnt the same but from their mothers. Only the richest girls got an education at school. Otherwise whatever they learnt had to be learnt from home, from their mum or dad or from and private tutor (usually a slave). Although some learnt how to read and write and the few that did, sometimes even became doctors, only the richest ones. When parents passed away, the land that they owned would go to the boys and the jewelry were given to the daughters. If the family did not have any sons, the daughters would inherit everything.
The girls that didn’t go to school learned how to take care of babies, and how to spin/make clothing, and how to weed the fields, how to take care of goats and cows, and how to harvest grain. The boys learned how to plow and plant in the fields, how to irrigate the watering system, and how to make tools. Some boys only a few learned how to become butchers or shoemakers or weavers or any other jobs like that.
The parents also taught their kids about their outlook on life, about their religion, ethnic principles, and correct behavior toward others.