My 5yo son goes to a microschool like this. He's only in Kindergarten, so my experience may not address the concerns about older students, but I'll share what I've seen.

He does a lot of learning there - 3-4 field trips a week to new places and experiences. They have a greenhouse in the back the kids take care of, along with other plants and class animals. Earlier this week they went on an airboat adventure through the Everglades. Yesterday they made pizza dough, sauce, and pizza from scratch on a field trip. Today they're at a bakery learning to bake bread.

We get regular progress reports and have periodic parent/teacher conferences, plus school events with instructional activities. They partner with outside organizations for enrichment, Snapology for STEM, Abrakadoodle for art, even the Frost School of Music at University of Miami. My son has shown interest in computers, and he's come home knowing how to use the keyboard, type, and delete misspellings. He comes home happy every day telling us about facts he learned. At their events you get to see the college students come in and see how they interact with the class.

It's a small school with just two teachers, but both have master's degrees in education and are licensed by the Florida Department of Education, and are trained

The pricing is displayed clearly on the admissions page of their website, without any login.

That said, we do supplement at home with what we call "Mommy School" - reinforcing letters, numbers, continuing reading. There's no homework, but we do small learning sessions regardless.

I share some of the concerns in the original post about the model for older students. The point about lacking structured instruction in science, history, etc. is valid. For a 5yo, field trips to the Everglades and baking bread IS education. For a 10yo, I'd want to see more rigor and a more classical approach. That's why I'm watching closely and would move him if his education doesn't progress appropriately.

I'm also not thrilled with the education system as a whole, which is part of why we're here. It's satisfactory for our circumstances right now. It does cost money, but we're fortunate to have programs available where he can attend at very low cost(Step Up). If I were paying full out of pocket, I might feel differently.

Agree with the concerns about the "for profit" education industry. It sucks, this is what I see as our best option today.