Take your kids out of government school now. I don't care if you're a single working parent, poor, disabled, whatever. Been there, done that, so quit your excuses. Seriously.
Not sure of where to start or how to get there? Use the excellent free pedagogical resources out there: Easy Peasy for a k-12 general Christian curriculum allinonehighschool.com (high school version of easy Peasy) Ck12 for a secular resource (common core, though) Khan academy.com (again, common core) And most especially: Hillsdale online courses. HILLSDALE IS THE BOMB!!!!
Can't stand being around your own kids? Welcome to why their teachers can't stand your little darlings, either.. Man (or awoman) up and start PARENTING and you will find them much more pleasant to be around.
Join HSLDA...skip the state level groups.
Read "Weapons of Mass Instruction."
Don't wuss out and enroll them in a charter school. Many private schools are compromised, too.
Sign them up for your local conservative homeschool co-op for sports and social activities.
I'm not a fan of church youth groups, myself, but whatever on that. Just know that many are quietly churning out weak tea faith, socialist kids.
As soon as possible, start getting them cheap or freebie college credit and course certificates. It is entirely possible to graduate them simultaneously with both a college degree and a high school diploma. Stay out of debt and keep them out of college classrooms proper for as much of it as possible. Much can be done by testing and community classes. Help them look at certifications and trades rather than college, too, unless they are set on being in a handful of scientific fields such as medicine.
Above all, have fun and discover the joy of learning...but for the love of All That Is Holy, give them a solid classical education, not some pretended pablum. Reading, writing, arithmetic...and also Latin, Logic, Literature,Science and natural history, civics, music, history, art, government...the whole enchilada.
Take field trips to EVERYTHING. See the country. Watch great movies and read great books together. Teach them to cook and do chores and not be afraid to grow up. Help them see joy and enthusiasm for a country worth saving.
While you're at it.... Get RID of their access to personal phones and internet devices other than yours in the family room. Make it not be a big deal and it won't be. Let them use yours any and all for visiting with friends, and they'll have little excuse to complain. If they already have them and are older teens, God help you because that's not a genie you can easily put back in the bottle at that age.
And on the subject of older kids...it's not fair to yank them suddenly out of their school social nets. Craft the situation to where they choose homeschooling as more appealing than the government drudgery, as an opportunity rather than an ultimatum...and you will be surprised at how they will often jump readily on board with the idea.
My three cents'.
Do it. 13 years so far. Kids are good. Smarter than most and know truth.
Thanks for the info!!
It's really scary to make that leap to homeschooling (or at least it was for me). I realize my post is rather unsympathetic to that, but please consider homeschooling if you are in all but the most conservative of small schools. We conservative teachers have been frantically saying for years that this day of brainwashed enthusiasm for socialism was coming to the American voting system. You have NO idea how pervasive the corruption is...the best teachers retired or moved to specialized programs with more latitude, the good ones still in the trenches have their hands well-tied, and the rest are either working tirelessly against your core beliefs or are too lazy to care.
Homeschooling can be a disaster...or it can be the making of brilliance and an extraordinary life. Love your kids, make their education a delight, don't recreate public school at home but rather look to many of the Founding Fathers for what a true classical education at home might consist of, teach them to teach themselves, and you will be ahead of the game from the start.
Two more cents'.