My children were home schooled and were never in the public school system. My children were also never truant. You may have seen them someplace during public school hours but they were not truant. The public does not own me or my children.
My children are all homeschooled, too. I’m never asked why they’re not in school. Often people assume we’re homeschoolers (probably because we’re discussing Greek parts of speech in the line at Wal-mart). Also, our local public school schedules are variable, and there are many private schools that set their own schedules. People just don’t assume “it’s a school day” or “school hours.”