Interesting point, however, I believe that a good school setting can offer more than homeschooling on two fronts.
1) It allows the parents to have a different, purely supportive role in the education.
2) If offers numerous "character building" experiences to the non-self starting kide who, when they finally get a reasonable placement, learn how to push themselves. Last night was tantrum time over homework that looked overwhelming. It was one of those growing-tantrum that I was so glad we could be together for - DS11 was (eventually) really pleased to hear that I had to go through this when I was alone at college without support and that he gets to go through this with me. Obviously, if your kid is wonderful at joining competitions or setting big goals for themselves and following through, this isn't going to be an issue. But I suspect that most kids are more like my DS, wanting to quit when the crunch comes.
I've seen wonderful homeschooled teens that don't quite trust themselves to be able to handle themselves when times are tough, because they hadn't had so many opportunities to face that particular struggle. Learning can be a joy, but often, the joy comes after great struggle, when looking back at the accomplishment. This is the biggest problem with underplaced kids - then never have chances to build self esteem by trying something that they had initally judged to be 'too hard.'
Am I saying that you shouldn't homeschool? I am not. If homeschooling is what's best for your family you should do it. If homeschooling is the only way to heal a damaged child, you should do it. If homeschooling is the only way to get a "reasonable fit" academically, you should do it.
But I think that there are better arguments to make for a reasonable-fit school than the "learn to deal with difficult people" argument.
Is there any argument to be made for a poor fit-school? Yes. There really are times in life when things other than the child's best interest have to "win." Lots of us grew up this way, and many of us have found ways to thrive. It's just that the social, emotional, and intellectual price is high - I wish none of us had had to pay it.
Thanks for giving me interesting things to think about today.
Trinity
