I have wonderful memories of the last classroom that I taught in right before my oldest son was born 21 years ago. I don’t think it would ever be replicated today because of the focus on mainstreaming. I had a class of 8 special day students with various learning disabilities, who were for the most part eager to learn, a fantastic principal who trusted me, and an outstanding teacher’s aide. I still remember one of my 6th graders turning to me, saying, “Mrs XXX, I can read!” And indeed, she could. It wasn’t that I was so great a teacher, but what I think I brought to the table was reading aloud every day and stoking their love of learning. This was back before the standardized test was the ruler, and special ed kids and curriculum was a lot more flexible. It was a pretty magical way to go out (of public education).
Things here in California have dramatically changed since those days, and I could not see myself back in public education other than as a charter school facilitator. But I do agree there are some great schools and great teachers in public schools.
People have said in the past that it was because I was a classroom teacher that I was able to transition into teaching my own, and that simply isn’t the case. There was very little correlation between a classroom experience and teaching/facilitating one’s own children’s education. I will say what I brought to homeschooling from teaching special ed was flexibility, and that has served me/us well.