Adventures in Homeschooling--part 1

Two weeks ago I found out that my children were denied the transfer back to the elementary school they had been attending due to "excessive, unexcused abscences". When asked what constituted "excessive" I was told that Mr. H determines what is excessive. For my kids excessive was 9 abscences BETWEEN the 2 of them. He informed me that because I had not notified the school they were absent or turned in notes or made phone calls he was basing his decision on that. I asked for the dates of the infractions and was able to tell him right then why they had missed those dates. Not only did I call in each one, but sent notes. Towards the end of last semester the school sent a note home that they were missing excuses for those same dates, so once again (for the 3rd time) I wrote why my children missed each date and then took the list to the school and handed it to the secretary. She assured me that they would correct the files. Guess what? They didn't and my children were denied a transfer BECAUSE SOMEONE DIDN'T DO HER JOB.

After talking to the hubby, and going back over all the problems we've had with the district, we decided that a year of homeschooling would be the better route for our kids. We're meeting lots of opposition from our families (who live over 1000 miles from us). My mother-in-law is a public school teacher in a fabulous district back home. My mom says "just put them in public school and stop being a snob". My question is: if we can't afford a private school, and the district here leaves much to be desired, what's the better way to go--bad public school or home?