I'm so glad I stumbled on this thread!
I homeschooled our only ds from grades 1-4. It was our choice, not our son's, and he gave me *fits* about it. We returned him to school for the latter part of 4th grade and we all breathed a sigh of relief!
At first, he was glad to be out at school, but over time, he realized that it wasn't as great as he thought it would be. And dh and I became very disenchanted (very quickly) with the way he was being taught ("Best-Guess Spelling" and the like).
He entered middle school last year and was miserable most days. There was much bullying (the school has security cameras everywhere and bathrooms are locked during classes so students needing to use them must track down someone with a key!), we had to pay book deposits, and the children weren't even allowed to take their books out of the classroom, let alone bring them home to do homework or study; the list goes on and on.
Nevertheless we planned on another year in p.s. and assured him that although 6th grade was a hard adjustment, 7th would be easier. Dh and I were determined to make the best of the situation, since ds had wanted to be back in school. Well, three weeks ago, he announced that he desperately wanted to be homeschooled again! Dh and I were shocked; he hadn't mentioned it at all before. When we asked him why he hadn't brought it up, he said, "Because I didn't think you guys would do it again. But if you do, I promise I'll be good and do my work every day without complaining!"
Once we picked ourselves up off the floor, dh and I gave a lot of serious thought and prayer to the issue. We grilled ds over and over about the reasons for his feelings, and after examining our own misgivings over the education he was receiving at public school, we took a deep breath and withdrew him.
We're going to be using Switched-on Schoolhouse. I'm planning to begin next week, as ds is on vacation with relatives right now and their plans were made around the p.s. schedule, when we thought he was going back.
I hope things will go more smoothly this time around, as it is ds who wants to homeschool, not just dh and me. Ds hasn't wavered, even when friends have called to find out if he's in any of their classes! Wish us luck!!
Last year we went on an awesome field trip to the "educational forest" here in GA. The kids learned about how to tell the age of trees by the rings, they made paper, they "built" a log home(It was precut and the kids stacked the logs to make a house) and then there was a "talking" forest where there were buttons attached to the trees telling what kind they were and facts about them. That was one of the coolest field trips we had last year. Our next field trip is the fire station where the kids get to go in the smoke house.
It just feels better for us all to be here. I feel so much more centered. DS16 seems so much happier, too
It is easier in the cities. I should mention I want him to learn Castillian--which is what my mother spoke. My friend--half Zuni, half Mexican--& I used to joke that we & our children are the minority in our small town! However, we are the daughters of Mothers, growing up in the '20's, who suffered very much & wanted better treatment for their children, so neither of us were taught Spanish.
). But I was looking for more books to add to the mix--and tired of randomly picking books myself. 
