When Spencer was 12, almost 13 he came to me and said that he didn't want to go to school any more. I immediately said, 'OK, don't go." I was quite happy about this. He was not particularly happy at school and his mum and I both agreed that homeschooling where the child could make more of his or her own decisions about education and life was much more useful than cramming information down their throat.
We enrolled Spencer in a local theatre group, which he loved. I also gave him an old video camera that we had. The one with the VHS cassette. He did well in several plays over the next couple of years. Many of his weekends consisted of filming. He spent the days of the week calling his friend's moms to arrange dropping off his buddies. Saturday or Sunday would be assigning lighting and actors. He would shoot each scene from 2-4 different angles and edit till 3-4 AM. Or 5 or 6 AM. I would happily pay for editing software when needed.
I could go on about how much I have formal schooling, particularly public schools but I think much of the proof is in the pudding. I know that not everything works for everyone but in this case Spencer thrived with this kind of education.
There are numerous books and websites on the subject.
