[wybo]

There are alternatives to home-schooling if one wants freedom (& without making every parent a teacher & both my parents had been teachers - not at my school when I was there -, so they could have).

Montessori, or Jenaplan (a Dutch/German thing, which was the one I went to).

There was a bit of 'prison' in that there was a certain number of fixed tasks to complete each week in areas such as Math, Dutch and English. But one could pick which, and mostly even check them oneself. Once done, the rest of the time was free to work on projects and things just like you described above (the carrot :-). Often by Wednesday afternoon I was done.

It thus worked wonderfully for me, though it may not be for everyone. But when I have kids they are definitely going to a Jenaplan-type school. As it never felt like a prison to me and instilled a love of learning, and ability to plan and reward myself (besides other positive things such as a sense of equality towards others, including bosses & profs)

School != School. Shop around before you reinvent.

[tokenadult]

School != School. Shop around before you reinvent.

I've studied the Dutch regulatory model of schooling quite thoroughly since the early 1990s, when I first learned about it. Few Americans have the pervasive power to shop for different varieties of schools that all Dutch parents have by the Constitution of the Netherlands.

http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED316478

[wybo]

True. It is a nice system we have (no school districts + full government funding for all schools based on nr of pupils they attract; also for denominational & other types of education on an equal basis (as long as test-results are okish)).

Allows 'the market' for good education to operate, without bringing money into the equation.

[JulianMorrison]

"Unschooling" beats home-schooling (and is less work for a parent, they are a facilitator not a teacher).