I didn't read all the posts so this may have been said.

I hired my 12 year old home schooled neighbor to help me a few hours a week in my childcare. She stayed off and on until she was in college.

She told me that she was struggling in traditional school. As she was falling behind, her parents tried a private school and that didn't help much either. She was just miserable and also her self esteem was suffering. Her parents did it to catch her up academically and it worked. In fact, she eventually not only caught up but surpassed the grade she would have been in. When she became high school age she wanted to go to traditional high school so did. She did great and went on to college. She became a teacher and then went on to specialize in being a speech therapist. I am so proud of her! We became very close.

It also gave her real life job experience. In fact, she credits working with me as her reason for becoming a teacher. She was always telling me she was going to be an accountant but changed her mind.

She had 12 or so hours a week to come to my house because she worked at her schoolwork at her own pace and could do it anytime. It left her time to do other things. Most of all though it caught her up and greatly improved her self esteem. She told me how bad she felt when she wasn't able to keep up.

Reply