I'm torn about this, I left public schools at 12 and followed a radical form of homeschooling which is extremely similar to this system. I even had friends that were in schools like these. I gained an amazing liberal arts education, much better than most do in highschool. However I am a technical mind at heart, I love reading philosophy now but my degree in mathematics sucked because of so much that I should have learned in highschool I didn't get. This also leads to huge practical problems in getting into college. While letting kids cultivate their own interests is great, I also feel that kids need to be pushed on subjects they might not pursue individually. This is an area I think on a lot and I can't really say that I have completely come to a decision on how I feel about this. If you're interested in the homeschooling portion look up unschooling. Sorry I'm on my phone, that's why I didn't go looking for links. Feel free to ask questions and I can try to give you my perspective.
I agree. I switched to a semi-structured form of homeschooling in 7th grade because of bullying, and I've had some amazing experiences because of that. I was able to cast a very wide net and pursue what I loved. I've had the chance to be a part of some really interesting and influential things, and I love that I have those experiences. However, I also lost out on many of the fundamentals that would be extremely valuable to me now that I'm in college. I didn't take very much math in high school, but now that I'm pursuing a computer science degree I'm having to put in tons of time to catch up to where I need to be. It's a series of trade offs. I don't know if I'd say I regret my decision to get an alternative education, but I often wonder what would have happened had I chosen a different path.
Quite well! I grew up in Redmond and have been surrounded by computers and computer science for most of my life. I actually love math and logic, so I'm taking to it quite well! It's mostly just dealing with a system that requires me to fill prerequisites.