I think there's definitely nothing wrong with it, and I think that for most kids it's better.
But here's the best way I've found to explain it... I've used this on other forums before and I figure rather than trying to figure a new way to say the same thing I may as well copy and paste:
My education was almost entirely self-motivated. I say almost entirely because as a very young child my mother did do some actual teaching of reading and math skills. I'm not sure whether her interference was necessary or not, but at any rate I didn't mind it since even when I was needing help with learning I loved every moment of it. Since then I have educated myself, on the topics that I either enjoy or that I know I ought to learn more about. I imagine I will go on that way for the rest of my life, since I feel that life itself is meant to be educational.
Advantages:
1. If you can find an emotional bond to what you're learning - which is essentially what self-motivation is - you are far more likely to remember it for many years, if not the rest of your life. Forced learning may teach people well enough that they can pass the next test about it (more on test-taking later) but in my experience it with surprising frequency causes their minds to throw it out once it becomes 'unimportant'. Since this is about education, not the inner workings of the mind and the way that memory is stored, I won't go into great detail about the science behind this process; I feel confident that everyone will grasp the basic idea without me ranting about it.
2. Self-motivated (and self-chosen) education is actually more likely to be relevant to later life, especially in the teenaged years when interests are getting more refined. People ideally wind up with a career that is connected to their interests, and the topics they chose for education is therefore likely to come in handy with their dream career; not only will it help them be good at it once they have it, but it can often help them get it. I, for instance, have always loved literature and other book-related subjects, and therefore liked to spend time at the library; subsequently I started volunteering there, and I now have a job there which I love and which if I so choose I can keep for the rest of my life (I may not choose, since I would really rather live somewhere different than I do now, and also since if possible I plan to make a living as an author... but in the mean time it's a great job.) Most of my life people encouraged me to stop reading so much and learn more math and such, but I think that so far evidence has shown that they were wrong.
3. I have never in my life experienced stress about any factor of my education. Honestly. Taking tests (especially multiple choice, probably just because they're easier although aside from that there is something I love about the elimination process) is something that I do for recreation, and even when I'm taking a test for serious reasons I don't stress out about it like some people do. This may be just a part of my personality, but I think a lot of it was my education. There were never any serious consequences if I hadn't learned something properly; I just had to try harder. My education focused on learning things and enjoying it rather than not failing the class, and therefore that is the way I think of things. I know that with any question I either know the answer or I don't, and I can conclude which it is and deal with it appropriately when the time comes.
4. Self-education is bound to be much more unique than public school educations, and therefore promotes diversity in thought and encourages children to stand up for their beliefs.
Socialization, friends, and other commonly raised issues: my views
I feel that too much socialization can be a bad thing. Group mentality is rarely a healthy thing, yet in public school it's hard to avoid that. Children spend all day with children their own age, all of whom want to fit in so that people will get along with them (a reasonable desire, but a decision that children shouldn't be forced to make.) Wouldn't it be far better if children could spend a moderate amount of time with people of all different ages, and either listen to what they have to say or actually converse with them? That would allow them to get used to associating with other people, while understanding that it's all right to have your own opinions about things. Children don't need to spend a lot of time socializing in order to have good social skills. School doesn't even teach good social skills, it teaches how to have petty grudges and jealousies. Likewise, children don't need to be forced to make friends. As long as a child is given enough opportunities to meet people roughly their own age, they will make friends if they encounter one with whom they can have an enjoyable friendship. They may not have as many friends, but I for one would far rather have a few great friends than twenty mediocre ones. Homeschooled children, like adults, make friends through circumstances other than school.
Other issues raised - how will they learn to raise their hands when they want to talk, how will they learn about standing in line, how will they learn to respect authority, how will they learn to share, how will they learn to get along with people who are different than they are, et cetera - are explained by a point I made earlier: Life is educational. Some author (I believe it was Robin McKinley, but I'm not sure) said that the only thing she learned from high school was how to go to high school... I think in many cases that is true. The majority of non-curricular things learned in school are either unnecessary or you will learn in later life. Standing in line is very self-explanatory, and they will probably learn by going places with their parents where you have to stand in line. Raising a hand when you want to talk is not something that comes up a lot of out of school, but regardless most children do learn about the practice and realize when it is appropriate to do so. Respecting authority is something they will learn from their parents, and therefore will probably realize in later life that rather than blindly respecting authority it is best to respect anyone who you feel is worthy of your respect (although they will still have an understanding of what authority means, and therefore won't get themselves into trouble by ignoring it.) They will learn sharing with friends and siblings, not that the concept is one that takes a lot of drilling in; even without a lot of contact with other children they could pick up the habit from books and such, the same source from which I'm pretty sure I got most of my personality. The accepting differences argument makes no sense, considering the fact that in school children often seek out a difference between the majority and a specific child in order to give them some bullying ammunition. Children are more likely to learn about accepting differences from adults who set a good example and from not having those differences pointed out at an early age.
Conclusion
Self-motivated self-education not only works, but can (in my opinion) prove to be an asset in later life. Children, when not pressured to do otherwise, always have an interest in learning. Schools, although in most cases well-meaning, are often counterproductive to actual learning; not only do children feel the need to rebel from the authority of the teachers, they feel compelled to dislike it in order to fit in with the rest of the students.
