You raise all good points. I think my point in writing this was simply to say that sitting kids at desks for 7 hours a day is not a great plan. The hands on activities my daughter does with my grandkids (she's now schooling the 4 year old as well) are much more effective at teaching concepts.

I know there are hands-on learning charter schools. There was one in Denver when we lived there that catered to kids with ADHD and the like. So I know it's possible to create a learning plan that caters to kids natural desire to learn through play.

There are countries like Finland and Denmark whose focus is children's happiness. I'd like to see us go to something structured more like that here in the states.