1. When bell rings, the kids go to their room.
2. I look out the peephole.
3. If it's someone I know, and want to see, I open the door.
4. If it's someone I don't know, but they are in a electric company uniform or something, I shout through the door, asking what they want!
5. If it's someone I don't know and they don't have any visible ID, I don't answer the door at all.
Even my friends know to call before dropping by. The only people that can get away with just dropping by are my parents. When the "coast is clear" the kids come out of their room and I heap all kinds of praise on them for doing what they're supposed to do in that kind of situation. We practice it just like a fire drill!
We seldom go in the front yard with the kids because the street is really busy out there and the back yard is surrounded by a privacy fence. I feel very confident that there will never be a "surprise visit" to my house. If any organization wants to come over to my house, they'll need to make an appointment with me and my attorney, or get bent.
L
I was homeschooled thru most of grade school, switched to a public highschool (they're pretty decent around here).
Many of the teachers, when they learned that my sister and I were homeschooled, were intrigued. I have yet to meet someone actually hostile to the homeschooling, and I live in liberal NY. I know many skeptics (heck, I'm sorta one myself), but no one hostile.
And I know many NEA memebers.
But then, an argument based on anecdotal evidence is not especially strong.