Sorry feel like I've thrown the thread OT. There is a little bit of data driven stuff going on in Australia as well but on the whole most mainstream schools are really really good at inquiry based, fun, real life learning as opposed to teaching to a test and out of a text book. I am primary so have no idea what high school is like. I agree that this way of teaching is really based on "living" which makes it easy for homeschooling parents to implement in daily life with whatever other curriculum they are teaching. Unfortunately I think some would go down the path of teaching out of a text book though for ease of teaching a subject they themselves are unfamiliar with.

I am a bit torn I guess, as I would love to home school my kids but know that it just wouldn't work for my mental health, I am torn because I teach in a mainstream school and really dislike some of what goes on, but also know there are so many wonderful teachers in schools that do a much better job than even I as a teacher could do, and also love the way many alternative schools like Steiner approach education.