I understand that some do better in that environment and that others do not. I currently know a 3 year old who couldn't speak whole words, let alone sentences a year ago. Why? because her parents didn't bother to teach her or stimulate her mind to do so. She got by muttering, grunting and pointing. My mother has worked with this girl and she now speaks whole, clear sentences, but also clings to my mother. She needed attention that wasn't given and she will get in any type of school, public or private.
By the age of 3, I was reading and comprehending what simple things I read. My mother encouraged and taught me to read and by the time I was in grade school I was reading and comprehending 2 class levels above other students. That has since evened out and I am now on a relatively even playing field in college, when it comes to reading comprehension. Math is another case. I do not retain math information beyond the basics of adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing, and a few exponents. I have taken algebra class after algebra class and the only new thing I have gotten the slightest grasp on is factoring, which I'm still not all that good at.
My older sister is great with math, she doesn't like it a lot but she's good enough to be in the nuclear technician program in the Navy.
My younger brother, to everyone's surprise, is a whiz at math and he enjoys it. That shocked everyone because he resisted getting a job after high school, refused to try again in the military after being dropped for health reasons and was resistant to joining college. He has a very lazy, stay-at-home-mooching-off-of-mom-and-dad attitude.
My older brother is a phenomenal artist and loves biology, two subjects that aren't my forte. I can draw fairly well, but no where near what he can do, and my interest in biology is touch and go.
What I'm trying to say is that freedom to choose what you do in life is good. Freedom to study what you are good at is great. But you should learn the basics from someone who knows how to teach them. I understand their are rules and regulations to homeschooling and "un-schooling" but those that follow those rules also have them time and interest to spend on their children to make sure they grow up to be what they want to be.
Public schools can be terrible when there are more students than teachers, and staff that just doesn't care about anyone other than the top 5%. I faced that when I realized my schools counselor only offered scholarship information to those with a 3.5 or higher GPA. Anyone she deemed not likely to go to college was on their own and basically told "Enjoy working at
Wal-Mart."
Private schools can be just as bad, catering to only those who can afford to send their kids there, and teaching only the curriculum they feel is important. "We don't agree with higher mathematics, therefore we won't teach it.""You child must learn Egyptian as it is our only foreign language, and a foreign language is required" Ok so they aren't that bad, but there is some thing similar to that on a lesser extent.
Homeschooling, IMO should be left to people that know what they are doing, that will follow the rules and standards of the program.
"Un-schooling" is just plain unappealing to me. It reeks of a lazy attitude of not wanting to be bothered to educate your child with common educational knowledge, like math, reading skills, writing skills and basic scientific information.
I'm sure there are plenty of people who have been "un-schooled" and turned out well, or even better than people who have been through public and private schools.
But now that the media has gotten a hold of it I fear a lot of lazy people will grab on and drag their kids down because they don't want to be bothered to take an interest in their own offspring's education.
IMHO if I'm sending a kid to school with the intent of them getting a good education, I'll send them to a school that has year round schooling with small breaks between semesters, not a huge 3 month break in the summer. Public schools won't do that because too many people are against it, and too many schools won't make the change due to having no money to do so.
