How much is a good education worth?

That is the title of this article here

But in my opinion it isn't the main focus of the article (which is that homeschooling is shown again to achieve higher grades on standardized tests, for a lower cost.)

The question " How much is a good education worth?" is one deserving of a bit more space.

What would you pay to know your child will learn everything they need to learn, have a safe environment to try, succeed, or fail new things, have opportunities to test out new theories, activities, and responsibilities without fear of reprisal?

I would pay a small fortune, but instead over the past 6 months I have paid $160, the cost of piano lessons for the older two.  No we haven't spent the last 6 months doing nothing but piano (that is less than an hour a day for two).  Nor have we been surviving purely on past money spent.

Instead we have been using free resources off the internet (which we would have regardless of the number of kids, though if you really like we can up the 6 month total to 430 - but if you honestly think a computer geek would live in an house with no internet....).  Ok so back to how we educate 4 kids for (almost) free.

Internet resources, games, printables, videos, and the ever  popular Wiki (or howstuffworks.com)
Talents of friends and family, music, math, nature, writing, just to name a few of the talents we have tapped.
Library, I love my library!
AmblesideOnline, along with their links to great free online reading

And the number one most useful item: The Natural Curiosity of our children.    When given time they simply explore the world, and this world needs explored.

I have written of my children's writing ability improving on it's own (actually more than once), of their search for bridges, and tender care of nature.  From intense study of ants, to drawings of flowers, they have learned more on their own than any amount of fancy graphic filled text books could hope to achieve.  (side note my son brought be an adorable drawing of a flower, because he knows I am allergic and do not allow the real thing in the house!)

So is it worth the average 10K a public school spends per kid?  Sure is, but it doesn't have to cost that much.  (and another side point, why will the public not share their tax supported resources with me?)