I don't know what the article was that you're referring to, but I would recommend being VERY wary about accepting at face value anything anyone says about unschooling--even me!--particularly if they aren't unschooling themselves. There are a lot of highly biased and/or uninformed people with a dog in that fight. One source is not going to give you a fair take.

I'm highly suspicious of any family who would recognize the problems with what they were doing, would not change what they were doing, and would publicize those problems on Yahoo. That makes me wonder if there's some axe to grind there. It doesn't sound like something a reasonable family would do.

There are neglectful/abusive homeschoolers, of course, just as there are neglectful/abusive public and private schoolers. The problem is not with the method of education; the problem is with the individual execution.

It is possible to do very advanced, hands-on physics and calculus and genetics (etc.) at a farm. It all comes down to execution. I'm not saying it's the best way--and it's not the way we've selected--but it *can* be done.

As we noted back in January, it is possible to unschool and not have a kid watching TV all day. One solution: don't have a TV. I know a number of families who fit this profile!

Kriston