The concept of non-negotiable or required skills seems wrong. I unschooled my three children, which meant letting them choose what to study and when. They all learned to read early on and managed to get enough education to function in the world, including going to college if they chose to do that. Children naturally exhibit lots of curiosity, you probably don’t need to force subjects on them.
Homeschooling with a rigid curriculum, something I associate with religious homeschoolers and parents trying to protect their children from the “real world” while simulating the classroom at home, seems like the wrong approach to me.
