I agree, also. We have achievement scores for DS7 from about 4 months after we started homeschooling at 6, after a very unchallenging K experience, and then again this past Spring at 7 (we use the WJ-III annually to satisfy homeschooling laws). The only place we saw a huge difference after specific instruction was his calculation score that went up by almost 20 points, all the other subtests were pretty much the same.
The first tester told me that he solved a division word problem by drawing it out on paper- and I *know* I hadn't taught him division. He didn't know how to calculate it, but he knew that if he had had x number of something and he needed to split it up evenly into y number of groups, then he could do it with dots on the paper.
We're pretty relaxed homeschoolers, with DS7 directing most of our work and the testing shows that I'm not actually increasing the rate that he learns- he's going to pick things with or without me. For him, the difference is that he's a happier person when he has easy access to information and ideas, rather than having to fight tooth and nail to get the things he needs.
