The American Journal of Play presents data that show that letting kids have time for free play, especially outside and with kids of various ages, is much more psychologically healthy.

Ok, its not proof but there’s a strong “correlation between the decline of free play in developed nations and the rise of depression, suicide, feelings of helplessness, and narcissism in children, teens, and young adults” according to Peter Gray who is a research professor of psychology at Boston College.

And in typical schools today, kids sit all day, for years, in the same room as kids exactly their same age. That just doesn’t sound like a good idea, and it didn’t happen in the past. And there is now evidence that when kids are able to play in groups with kids both older and younger than themselves, they all benefit. Younger kids pick up skills from the older ones and older kids learn to nurture and teach.

I think it is possible to have more structured activities for kids and still have time left for them to just play. Of course that can be easier if you are homeschooling since you can teach your kids all you need to in less time than a typical school. And most homeschooling groups will have kids of different age groups participating for your child to interact with.