What is important? What are your values? I am not a wise old sage by any stretch of the imagination, but after having been allowed 54 years on the earth and raising 5 children, with some margin of success I hope, I think I do have some experience.
I have a BS with hardly any solid math but several courses in hands on technology. Now, I work as "number cruncher" or "bean counter" for the Army. The math we use is simply logic, give the kids lots of that. Teach them how to think for themselves and reason things out.
We have home schooled our youngest three children. The oldest one of them graduated from Georgetown College (NOT University) on May 8th, Summa Cum Laude. She is now heading off to graduate school with a full (label that 100%) scholarship and a healthy stipend for expenses. How much math did she have? The minimal, we used Saxon and she loved it. It laid a solid enough foundation that she made it through with a 4.0 GPA and attended Oxford for a semester as an exhange program, where she also received an "A" in all courses. When we ask her how she did it, she gives credit to being able to think for herself, to reason things out.
BTW, the recent college graduate started a College Republicans Organization at the local community college while still a High School Senior and was active in the organization while at college. Guess these conservatives are out to take over the world.
I think your post is a great example of something that I mentioned as important in a previous post -- critical thinking skills. You taught your kids to love learning and to think for themselves, and it paid off! Congratulations on your success.
That ability to think for yourself is the kind of ability I think is most important, in tandem with sound values. For instance, as a parent I need to be able to research and reason out which doctor I will trust and which medical choices I will make -- as a car owner I need to figure out what I need to know myself to get by and which mechanic I will trust for the more difficult stuff -- as a lawmaker, I need to have the common sense to make sound financial decisions and, in those cases where I need to rely on the technical expertise of others, to evaluate not only the data provided me, but which people are most trustworthy and/or make the best argument. Critical thinking skills (including questioning, reasoning, and researching) are key in all areas of life.