There are other reasons to homeschool your children than those of the anti-homeschool ilk might think about. I am certainly not pompous enough to believe I am qualified to give my daughter an education, but we are doing it out of what we believe is necessity.
When we moved to this podunk community four years ago, a place where almost no one comes and goes, my daughter was the only new kid in her grade and instantly type-casted as a freak because she's an artsy type who loves to write, read and sing no matter where she is. She'll read a book while walking down the hallway. I love that she's like that, but in fifth grade, it's not cool, I guess.
Her not being able to break in was tough to deal with for her, but that wasn't the reason we decided to pull her out. From fifth through seventh grade, she would be taunted on a daily basis. "****! *****! *****!" From multiple kids. She said she couldn't walk across the room at study hall or at lunch because she was afraid that any movement would draw taunting. When the teacher would leave the room for a second, whoever was sitting behind her would lean forward and say things like, "Hey, I know you want to suck my balls." She went to her guidance counselor and nothing happened. We went to administration. We were told there was nothing that could be done. So we tried to toughen her skin at home, telling her that in 20 years, she'll have made something of herself, giving something back to the world while those losers, administration included, will be draining from it.
But the last straw was when she was attacked from behind by two of those classmates while walking home from school one day last spring. She couldn't identify them because by the time she was able to look up, all she could see was their backs while they were running away. If they wanted to do more than just rough her up and knock her down, they probably could have. My daughter is not that big. I was covering state track a couple hours away when I got a call on my cell phone with a quivering voice on the other end telling me about it. Imagine how helpless and angry that would make you feel.
It was only when we told the school that we were pulling our daughter out, because we didn't believe it was a safe, learning environment any longer, that the administration started to act. But it wasn't much. The school board didn't care much either.
We didn't want to do it. She craves social interaction and homeschooling takes a lot of time for us as parents. But she isn't just my "precious flower," she is the legacy of my wife and I. For the record, though - and I hope Moddy's wife would find this a little easier to deal with - we are in a program where we get DVDs from an academy in Florida and my daughter watches their classroom sessions. If she doesn't get something, she just watches it again. If she's really stuck and we can't help her, there's an e-mail address and a phone number. We administer all the tests, then send everything back to the academy for grading.
But to get back on topic, I don't cover any homeschool teams. There are homeschool social groups, but I've never heard of any teams in this state.
