I had a bit of both. I had about 3-5 hours of book work to do average, after around the age of 5 it was mostly on my own in the books, and my mum checked the work and we reviewed it if things were tough. Maths and science stuff was with my dad - and we often had hands on experiments, crafts and art. Lots and lots of art - the outings were mostly with other families doing the same thing, including sports, fairs, and museums and workshops - and other things like that. In New Zealand the community for it was tight - had a good time. In Colombia now, during my teens.. it was a different story, so for the arts and things, it was more book work than usual, but I finished around 18 going through the curriculums - and got into 3D during that time in my teens. Alos.. games. But the 3D artwork was really thanks to the extra time of not knowing spanish, no social events really - so a lot of time in the computer learning what I could with limited internet and physical books and manuals of the 3D software I was learning at the time. I think.. thanks to that, it drives my career today.
Throughout it all, one of my favorite subjects was storytelling, where I could do art and make stories for free reign as one of the subjects - otherwise it was all the usual. The social sciences I liked a lot too - there were many subjects. Most of my siblings usually had customized and had it more laxed than mine, I was the oldest of the 5 kids, and my mum was a stay at home one - so.. that made things different. Each of my siblings have a very different experience.
But.. with such little achademic time, weekly or regular visits to the local library and a tonne of lego and toys was a lot of my past time, later got into technics, which... may or may not have influenced why and how i do 3D today too. I am not sure if my parents condemned me to my career, or freed me to do it! My other siblings either went into primary education, machine learning and economic trading, music, or.. lucked out animating 2D memes daily over the quarentine and getting millions of followers on Youtube, earning more than any of us just for existing from Patronage.
3-5 hours per day or per week O_O I think I would have been lucky if mine did that per month never mind per week XD
Sounds amazing and what I've been trying to do with my kids, though they may remember things differently XD
I don't think I would be calling it a condemnation if you're enjoying it XD and I think you're pretty lucky that you arrived at it in your teens, I was in my 20s and late into a uni degree that I'd transferred into before I discovered it and there was many years on top of that of trying to figure out what the hell I'm doing. I kind of wish I'd gotten into it earlier but I'm probably too old to have been able to get into it too much earlier XD
Sounds like a wide variety of interest in you and your siblings! If it's any consolation I've got one that is going into trades (he's doing a construction elective this semester, but the actual apprenticeship he's going for has fitting in the name and involves big machines), one that's going into childcare and one that's aiming for hospitality (specifically anything to do with alcohol, and he pours a mean drink but is not allowed to sample his own work for another four years XD and can't get into the course he wants to get into til next year due to a minimum age requirement).
Guess learning what you need with the shorter academic time and having more time to discover and explore interests really is a thing, possibly even a good one ;D
New Zealand to Colombia is a pretty big move O_O
Thanks for sharing that, given me a few more insights :)