I can cite 2 cases of public schooled students who were passed along, making good grades, but who are far below grade level.
Can you tell me how a 10th grader who reads at a low 6th grade level makes A's and B's? Or how a 9th grader, making overall good grades, can be failing math, because she is 4th grade level in her math skills. They put her in college prep algebra with 4th grade math skills!!!!! Big surprise that she is failing, huh?
I have known all types of homeschoolers, including unschoolers, who are successful. I have also known public and private school students who are successful. Then again I have known some from each of the above groups who are below where they ought to be. I don't think it's a good idea to paint all students from any group as good or bad based on a small subset of any group.
Personally I think the mother of the 2 children I know should remove them from the school system and homeschool. She couldn't do any worse than has been done to them.
As for my family, our daughter graduated from a magnet school in Dekalb Co. GA. Our son was in a magnet school until our move and then we homeschooled. I do not believe homeschool is for every family, it requires a strong committment of time and energy. For those committed it can be a wonderful experience.
No one reads at a "6th grade level." 6th to 8th grade levels entail a range that kids bounce back and forth in. It is too close to really measure accurately. (In reality the only grades that can be measured with a great deal of accuracy are primer, 1st, 2nd and 3rd. There is overlap everywhere else.)There is some wiggle room there. So if she is in 10th and the reading materials are around the 8th grade, then she has a fair shot at understanding. Plus, I would imagine that her receptive vocabulary to spoken materials is high. Therefore, she can take notes from lectures and study those and do fairly well.
The reason she is in an algebra class is probably a county decision. Many counties now are forcing kids into algebra whether they are ready or not. The idea being that if they fail, at lease they should have learned something, then take it again and pass. I don't agree with this approach, but then I'm not in charge.
If you will refer back to my post, you will notice that I said I had seen successes in every area of schooling and that in my experience as a special education reading teacher, I'd seen about 25% at a failing level. That's out of about 20 kids I've come in contact with. Therefore, that is about 5 kids in the last few years. Hardly a stinging indictment of the homeschooling system.
Who knows, in the next 5 years maybe I'll see more successes and that number will change dramatically. But if parents buy into the "unschooling" concept, I think I'll see more. As I read the article, unschooling is a chance for the child to direct his own learning. That is a constructivist approach I reject in my classroom as would many here. It sounds so nice, but without guidance, what keeps it from becoming a front for truancy? Therefore leading to yet more kids in my classroom who know the TV schedule better than their alphabet.
Obviously, this is my little corner of the world. Your's may vary. :)