I must say, that Texas must be a very different place. Sure, my kids get their base at home, but school -- public school -- is a wonderful and nurturing place for them, warts and all. If they had to switch schools, they would be upset, which is as it should be.
School, like the world, can be great. Sometimes, like the world, it is not. By and large, though, for most kids in America public school provides an enduring, valuable and lifelong base. In the end, it largely is what family makes of it.
Home schooling leaves out so much, it seems to me. I know this, if I were still a kid I would miss what I was missing. A lot.