DAD saw this recent article.
How Homeschooling Helped Propel Simone Biles to the Olympic Gold
"At age 13, Simone Biles broke down in tears. She had decided not to attend a normal high school, opting for homeschooling in order to practice her gymnastics."
...
"In 2013, she became the United States champion at the U.S. National Gymnastics Championships, and then went on to win the 2013 World Championships in Belgium."
"At the global event, she won four medals — two of them gold — and became the first female African-American all-around world champion. In 2014 and 2015, she held on to her title, and racked up 10 gold medals from those three world championships. At the Olympics, she has already won the gold medal with the women's Team U.S.A."
https://pjmedia.com/parenting/2016/08/09/how-homeschooling-helped-propel-simone-biles-to-the-olympic-gold/
Competing at that level incurs opportunity costs. The more time spent preparing for competition reduces time available for alternative pursuits.
Homeschooling can be a better alternative than traditional public school for exceptionally gifted children, even if that "gift" is mediocrity or even a disability.
For Olympic athletes, child stars, and many other non-traditional children, homeschooling is the overwhelming option because it allows the student the flexibility to pursue non-academic excellence by adapting education curricula to the student's schedule. Traditional schooling, both public and private, is largely inflexible because it requires students to adhere to its timetable for instruction, study, and other activities.
At the other end of the spectrum, for students with disabilities like autism, highly involved parents with sufficient motivation and resources can provide a more suitable and highly tailored environment to meet their child's needs than can be found in a traditional classroom. It is not easy, but it is possible.
But homeschooling merits little consideration for some, otherwise very caring, parents. For them excellence, of either the educational or non-academic variety, is not the primary purpose of schooling. For them the primary reason is structure. It is the requirement to adhere to a schedule imposed by authority. This, they reason, prepares the student to perform well at employment later in life. Non-academic and academic excellence is a nice supplementary goal as long as it is confined to the rigors of standard school days and hours. It must not interfere with the child learning rules and routines - the characteristics of a reliable employee. To them success in life is not defined in becoming a celebrated exception, but in attaining the mean. They tacitly believe that in pursuit of mediocrity, while their child(ren) may never achieve greatness, they are also immune from failure. They perceive that there is security in being within the range of + 1 standard deviation from the middle. However illusory this security actually is or is not is irrelevant to the much more frightening possibility of failure from non-conformance to socially accepted norms of traditional education. Hence, learning to be on time and prepared to work day in and day out is of far more important than lofty dreams or alternative pursuits.
Dad believes the traditional schooling model is adequate for the majority of students and their parents. Most students are not going to compete at Ms. Biles level of proficiency. Many parents lack the ability or desire to provide a non-traditional school environment. A smaller number of disadvantaged students are actually better off in the structure of a school environment than at home. However, he believes differently for his own children.