So an 11yo boy was asked to write an essay about a depressing coming-of-age girl's book in his own voice, he did as he was asked, and he was punished for it. Did you suggest that perhaps the teacher could pick something he's less likely to detest next time? Or could she communicate the message, "Write in your own voice, but voice my opinions" more clearly next time?
I agree with minnie here... since you're talking about a de-schooling period anyway, there's no better time than the present.
On 2gift's comment, my DD homeschooled last year (she's eligible for the gifted program this year, though we're not very happy with it so far, and a return to homeschooling is currently back on the table), and Wednesdays were art day, where that was the only thing they did (apart from an outside Spanish class, because that's when it was offered) all day. One of the projects they did was a color wheel, where DD was presented with blue, yellow, and red paints, and got to mix her own colors to fill in the rest of the color wheel. It's still on the wall in our entrance hall, along with a few other color-mixing projects.
Fast forward one year, and DD's 1st grade class did a color wheel. This one involved a sheet of paper with different circles, which gave instructions to color this circle red, this one red-orange, etc. Ye gods.
