All This Flap Over the Flip.

There's been a lot of talk recently about whether or not the flipped classroom is good, bad, of the devil, etc.  I usually keep my mouth shut about things like this, but I'm having a hard time coping with all of the flap going on over flipping, mainly because I feel that a lot of people talk about the flipped classroom without ever having actually tried it with a group of younger humans.  Call me old fashioned, stupid, or crazy (I've been called a lot worse), but I'm a big believer in the phrase, "Don't knock it until you try it."   
A lot of the posts I've read have talked about how they don't like assigning the videos as homework for students, it being the equivalent of sending home any other assignment for students to do.  Most of these posts operate under the assumption that homework is a bad thing, so any type of homework, whether it be on paper, computer, traditional, or video, is straight out of the pits of hell.  Some have suggested that they already flip their classroom with these things called "books" which they assign readings out of for homework, implying that the flipped classroom neglects teaching students to read by watching videos all the time (I used to feel this way until I realized that videos were just a small part of the learning that goes on, and reading is still essential to a flipped classroom). While I haven't decided how I feel about the issue of assigning homework in general,  I feel it's an issue being used to draw focus away from any of the benefits of the flipped classroom.
I am a recent flipper, and I have been modifying the basic flipped classroom concept to fit the needs and realities of my students.  I don't assign the videos for homework because the vast majority of my students do not do homework that is assigned (not trying to be negative; just being honest.  When you have 5 out of 27 students do an assignment on any given day in one class, you tend to get very realistic after awhile).   My students work through their lessons at their own pace.  The videos are there so students are more engaged during these brief digital moments of direct instruction, because when they're watching me live and in-person, I am usually met with faces that are there but not there, if you catch my drift.
But you know what's been happening since I started flipping?  Learning.  Not perfect learning, but real learning.  
My students aren't sitting around watching videos mindlessly all period (some of them try--classroom management is still a necessary component of the flipped classroom).  They are learning how to construct good, useful notes. They are using that information and creating their own meaning by making mindmaps, blogging, or screencasts.  They are talking to me and to each other about concepts that I mentioned briefly in my videos but they had to go and dig deeper after the video in order to make connections to other concepts. They have to be responsible for their own learning, working through the activities and asking questions when necessary of myself and/or of other students.  I have had more time to have one-on-one conversations with students, which has been more valuable to me than any formal progress check I give.  
Have I perfected my version of the flipped classroom yet?  Absolutely not--as with anything, this will be an ever-changing work in progress, adjusting the process to adjust to the needs of my students.  I would eventually like to adjust it so my students are making the videos rather than making them myself, but they're not ready for that yet--not after years of being standardized when there is no "standard" student and having their learning reported as an oversimplified single test score and filled with information they quickly forget.
But, you see, that's the reason I started flipping in the first place--because I believed it could be tailored to help improve my students' learning and start them on their path in taking ownership of their learning.  Let's look past the videos and the homework and focus on what's happening with regards to how students are learning in a flipped classroom; that should be the focus, and nothing else.