I think there’s potential for it to go well/poorly at any age, and I’d encourage shifting the focus on the specific way the kid can be unschooled, whether they want to or not, and how well suited to it they are. A lot of parents in my community saw their decision to unschool as protecting the early childhoods of their kids from the stresses of a culture of “academic rigor” that they saw as stress inducing, mind-numbing, and turning kids into cogs of a capitalist machine, and then later allowed or encouraged their kids to go to more traditional or independent high schools. Other parents had kids who did well in traditional elementary school, and were then severely bullied once their peer group hit puberty, to the point their parents looked into radical alternatives.
IMO the main consideration should be whether she wants it or not. If she’s happy at school, great. If she’s being bullied or is super bored all the time, take her out. But where to draw the line? I was reasonably happy at school I guess (it’s hard to remember) but I bet if someone asked me whether I’d rather stay home and play all day I would have said yes.
I think there’s potential for it to go well/poorly at any age, and I’d encourage shifting the focus on the specific way the kid can be unschooled, whether they want to or not, and how well suited to it they are. A lot of parents in my community saw their decision to unschool as protecting the early childhoods of their kids from the stresses of a culture of “academic rigor” that they saw as stress inducing, mind-numbing, and turning kids into cogs of a capitalist machine, and then later allowed or encouraged their kids to go to more traditional or independent high schools. Other parents had kids who did well in traditional elementary school, and were then severely bullied once their peer group hit puberty, to the point their parents looked into radical alternatives.
IMO the main consideration should be whether she wants it or not. If she’s happy at school, great. If she’s being bullied or is super bored all the time, take her out. But where to draw the line? I was reasonably happy at school I guess (it’s hard to remember) but I bet if someone asked me whether I’d rather stay home and play all day I would have said yes.