I had heard a report on CNN today that because of all the closures in LA (esp), MS and AL that home schooling is getting a huge promotion (this came especially from the Catholic schools)... I was trying to find an article about it on their webpage, but I haven't found it yet. Just wanted to share that...
Major events do have an huge impact on homeschooling. For example when the horrific tragedies at Columbine occured, phone calls to the State Dept of Education skyrocketed and they where concerning "how to homeschool." I got this info off a documentary on violence in America. The homeschooling movement is making educators take notice because the yearly public school drop out of homeschoolers is up to 3-5% per year. Nowadays almost everybody knows someone who homeschools. Rarely do people bat an eye when we say we HS. Our local YMCA, Discovery Musuem have special classes just for HS'ers. It is a lot different than when I homeschooled and I didn't go out of the house during school hours.