Living in Homer since 1991 and having a child raised in public school of which in the 4th-6th grade I had her in private school that is modeled on "home" school. Those 2 years had no "testing" and I was told that she was working hard at her "assignments" in math, language and science and progressing. I looked at her work and when I was concerned it was not enough I was told that she was "past" her grade level. I thought that the students had a lot of "free" time and having them "choose" how to do their own work was suppose to be helpful to them and I was concerned about the apparent lack of direction I saw. I enrolled her back in public school in the 7th grade and she was far behind her grade level. I got her a "real" teacher who I am still thankful for today. I have seen the home schooled do very well but it is a system ripe for fraud for those who take advantage of it. Each student is individual, some can learn with less direction than others and others need more help.