Can't judge for you, but I can share what I know:
My area is known for really poor public education, so my mother went to the trouble and expense of putting me in private school for most of my basic education. I did fairly well, tested high, but I also had social and physical challenges, and learning capacity that some teachers weren't able to handle. Despite being near failing at younger ages, I actually tested into a private 'school for the gifted' for my 7th and 8th grade years. While there, I tested, using state-standard generic tests, registering in the 98th percentile of a student two grades higher.
Expense and other issues kept me from continuing there into high school. (At that and the prior school, we always had one or two teachers who would say that I was very intelligent, but that the other teachers didn't know how to handle me, and that the treatment I was receiving was unfair.) I went to a local public highschool, but it was more due to my own begging to try it, combined with family pressure. My mother swore that at the first 'parent-teacher conference' she was called in for, she was yanking me and just doing it herself. This happened after about a month.
My homeschool experience is likely very non-standard, as we didn't use any kind of standard program or organization. As I understand it, most homeschooling is organized through an outside agency by mail, etc. Stuff like students in a region being able to get together for study groups, or other social activities.. I didn't have any of this.
If anything, THAT is my greatest regret for my education. My social contact was practically nil. (It's also my mother's biggest regret, as it put me behind the curve in a lot of ways socially.) I did have the internet, and my art. I learned computers, some early programming, and explored artwork, which eventually became my main focus. But it was a very unfocused, free-form education, and I know my irregular work habits and difficulty keeping to a schedule now are a result of this.
Now, education-wise, I did pretty well for myself. Tested into starting community-college classes a year in advance (our county allows high school students to take college classes with the principal's permission. When teacher, principal, etc, are one person, this is easy permission to get.) and maintained a decent A-/B+ average. (My english, art, and computer classes were top, but math and lab-science classes dragged me down.) Eventually, I moved up to university classes and only lost a half a grade point for that first semester. Two years ago I graduated with a bachelor of the arts and a 3.4 GPA.
