Yesiree bob!
My daughter received a gift certificate for Barnes and Noble. After choosing a few books she offered the certificate to the store clerk. He looked us up and down and asked why my daughter wasn't in school. My daughter piped up that she was homeschooled. He then proceeded to ask questions relating to the 50 states..which she answered correctly. He shrugged his shoulders, mumbled something about socialization, and put the books in a bag.
Then it was my turn. I think he now has a better understanding of home education and hopefully, *hopefully*, his critical and ignorant attitude toward homeschoolers will be changed.
Needless to say, we'll not visit B&N in the future.
On the other hand, Borders (in my area anyway) has been a wonderful experience for homeschoolers. They happily compute my discount for books and make certain I know about upcoming 'teachers discounts and teachers appreciation days'. :o) I lead a homeschool support group of 34 families so this is received well. The managers of Borders have commented on how well behaved and respectful our group's kiddos are. big smile.
We were not always classical home educators; we made the switch a few years ago. I also have "The Well Trained Mind" book by Bauer and Wise. Now that the children are older (13 and 16) they have taken to it, and my son is going to start debating this year. There is a Christian debate group- NCFCA (National Christian Forensics and Communicators Association) that is linked on the left side of the home page of HSLDA.org Scroll down the left side, you'll see it- it is on a black background. They can link you to groups that are debating, if you are interested.
We are so pleased that we chose HSing. My daughter is an English Lit/Writer gal, and we've found that her courses over the internet, cannot be matched by public nor even elite private schools. I think it is the future, for you can take it and your children anywhere, and they can do their school anywhere, anytime.