Dear 2nd amendment mama,
Congratulations on the wonderful way in which you fulfilled your vocation as a mother! I'm sorry for the difficulties you encountered, but it seems that they made you and your son better folks.
"And, oh yeah, I was told by the school psychologist who had to evaluate him that she'd never met a more well-adjusted boy that age, especially since he'd lost his father in the previous year!"
Having met a couple of hundred homeschoolers so far in the last seven or eight years since we began to research the idea, I can say that your son was just a typical homeschooler.
Homeschooled children are almost invariably a joy to be around. Not segregated off with 20 or 30 or 40 kids of precisely the same age, they get along well with folks of any age. They're helpful and kind to younger children, enjoy their peers, mix easily with older children, and are respectful of adults and obedient to proper authority.
In our circle, it's a real joy when a few homeschool families get together, and you see six or ten of twenty children or mixed ages all having a great time together. I'm the "chess coach," and today was chess club. We had eight children (it varies from about six to 20), ages 7 to 14. A very good, happy, trouble-free, raucous time was had by all (yes, our chess club gatherings can get a little... boisterous, LOL).
"Fortunately, my son NEVER had a teacher with the arrogance/attitude of meandog."
Fortunately, I think that total misanthropes like meandog are rare, even among public school teachers. I spent three years in public schools as a child, and only remember two teachers as mean and abusive as meandog. Most of the rest were lazy, stupid, jaded, condescending, ill-educated, fearful of intelligent students, burned-out, or otherwise wrecked, but only two where truly abusive. And I had two teachers who were genuinely good teachers.
I really think that meandog is the exception.
sitetest
You'll enjoy this....a couple of years ago I applied for a part-time "instructor" position at the local technical college. The position was teaching adult-ed/corporate customers computer programs. Although I don't have a Master's Degree and never took any "teacher prep education courses", I was hired because.......I homeschooled my son and was also totally self-taught in the computer programs they wanted me to teach. I'm still teaching there and have also been picked-up to teach at the local university in their adult-ed program. They wanted someone who could be a self-starter in creating curriculm and could answer questions "on the fly" not just follow a book or lesson plan. Adults ask questions and don't want to hear that it's not in the chapter or some such. They need real world answers to their questions.
I second that emotion. There are a bunch of homeschooled kids in our church choir (about 25% actually). They're so much fun to be around.