[fragola]

My parents believed in "radical unschooling", i.e. they didn't formally teach us anything at all. I had to ask to learn to read.

I entered the public school system for high school and did not find myself at all behind. Much of the history kids had learned was wrong (Columbus, anyone?), I was reading better because I basically read fantasy novels 24/7 for the last seven years, and I caught up in math in one semester even though I started high school not knowing division. I have a BS in CS from Georgia Tech now.

I am not surprised that students are bored in elementary school. I am also skeptical of everyone commenting here to say things like "but in Russia/Singapore/China/Norway school is so much harder!" etc. Any motivated kid can catch up pretty easily. The big fear, IMO, is that you will burn your kid out, bore your kid to death, and crush their curiosity. I am pretty sure all school systems are capable of doing this, albeit in different ways.