I'm the grandmother of 14 children. 5 of them went to school, the rest are, or will be, home educated. The eldest of these is 17, and currently is considering applying to go to Oxford University. Reading your posts, OP, is like a breath of fresh air to me.... and I was a conventional mother who sent her kids to school where they were bullied and didn't do very well. Now I see these delightful children, who are interested in the world, who are interesting and engaging. One of my grandsons taught himself to read at age six because "You see, Nana, I realised that G (big sister) was getting a lot of good information from books, so I thought I'd better learn to read so I could get good information too". His parents were following the Scandinavian idea of waiting until the child is 7 before starting to teach them to read, I think that a lot of people on here are not understanding that a child's thirst for knowledge, when unfettered by school timetables and sometimes disruptive classmates or even, sadly, sometimes poor teaching, can lead to that child really blossoming. My youngest grandchildren may not realise they are being taught, but when they help compile a shopping list, go to the shop and pick out items, help pay, come home, weigh and measure ingredients, have Mummy tell them they have to add a raising agent and why, time their cakes being cooked, they are learning. When their mother gives them kitchen scales and loads of pots and pans and utensils and they play in their mud kitchen, they are learning. I think at their ages this holistic way of learning maths, to tell the time, science, is wonderful. And there is time for them to concentrate on anything that they are really interested in, and develop those interests.