I had a thirty year homeschool program teacher lecture me on allowing my kid to be a kid when I went to look at her program. I never even got to ask about the program really. I went home crying. It was the last in a long line of walls I had hit concerning Wolf (then 4).
Then I called a program in a different district, explained my child, and said we wanted to start 1st in the fall. The woman said it sounded like a great fit. Then I told her how old he was. Her response? "So?"
The school makes a difference. In fact it makes an enormous difference.
Now I take the "let your kid be a kid" thing in stride. Both boys are learning at home (logging in the minimum hours on actual "work" to tell the gods honest truth) and play all day long. They are both at least at grade level in every area, mostly years ahead. I've actually grown to feel bad for the kids trapped in classrooms with hours of homework to look forward to when they are finally released. My poor cubscouts are so over worked and frazzled that I'm really starting to view conventional schooling as a societally accepted form of cruelty. When people pull out the "let your kid be a kid" thing, my response is, "Yes, yes we all should. They should be allowed to run, play and build things. Their imaginary worlds should be given as much respect as getting work done is."
In your case I would add, tongue in cheek, "I feel so awful when I have to take Skespeare away from my daughter and force her to color in the letter L on the coloring sheet. It always makes her cry."
