In high school, start with parenting classes, so kids have an idea what they are doing when they have kids, eventually, I hope. Teach young parents how important it is to read to their kids. My grand daughter is 18 months old and knows her colors and her animals and the sounds they make. She can also use an Ipad. She even picks her own apps. My 3 year old grandson uses a Kindle, and has a huge vocabulary. We are working on reading skills. Early education is vital. We need more preschool education and/or educationally based daycare. Kids need to enter kindergarten as readers.
Education does need to be more math and science based, but kids have to know how to read and spell. I think that kids need more drills in math. Kids don't do math facts any more. That said, they really need more technology education. We also introduce physics too late in their schooling. I don't think kids are learning geography early enough or well enough. They need more history and civics. I think kids have too much fru-fru stuff and don't spend enough hours in class.
As far as homeschooling, I tried it, and I realize I am not a teacher. I have taught adults, even taught a pharmacology class for nurses, but, teaching children is tough. I think kids benefit socially from being in a school.
I live in a town that values education. We have 2 school systems, one religious private school, K thru 12 and a similarly sized public school. We do not share any facilities, other than kids who attend the private school and live in our district get bus service. They also can take part in any public school program, such as the rec program. In the last 5 years we have built a brand new green LEED certified public middle school with incredible technology tools for the teachers and kids. We just passed a referendum to build a new elementary school, also to be green and LEED certified. We have broken ground on that project. We also remodeled our high school. We have a half day summer school program. 4K program, and our city runs a great recreational program that runs the gamut from flag football, to soccer to gymnastics, to swimming lessons. I know I live in a community that values its children. Our teachers get a living wage, with benefits that are fair, so we have had no problems attracting decent staff, despite severe statewide cuts in education. We have some significant challenges to overcome with statewide cuts, but, our community voted to increase taxes to build a new elementary school, we will continue to invest in our school. My town has just under 6000 people in it but also covers a large rural area in the district.
I would love to see somewhat more stringent core studies in math, science, geography, history, civics. I think kids need more than one biology, and chemistry class. I think the social stuff needs to be toned down. There is too much emphasis on extracurriculars. Physics should be required and so should 4 years of math in high school. Looking back, I would have pushed my kids way harder, and I have to admit I have accomplished kids. Three have masters degrees, one in engineering, one in health policy, and one in energy policy.