Your studies and research you have are not of children from NM, TX, CA or AZ. These are the states I work with on run ways and "lost children"
How distressing! You mentioned in your other post that you work with gifted kids in high school and middle school. I'm wondering what proportion of those children seemed to be 'well challenged by school and enjoying themselves.'
Please keep in mind that the majority of families who post here, are the facing the most extreme needs. I'm glad that Montessori schools, for example, have worked well in your situation, but keep in mind that the kids here have very individual needs, and although many have enjoyed the Montessori program, many have been through very difficult experiences in that type of program. In fact, what is really needed for the families here, is flexibility. There isn't any 'one size fits all' combination for kids at this level of 'deviation from the norm.'
One thing that I value about this forum is that there is a deep understanding and respect for families who have walked all the various possible paths, trying to figure out what is best for our children. Sadly, most of the folks here don't have the luxury of following 'what works for most kids.' So, even if 74% of missing children in your states were homeschooled, the general situation for homeschoolers in general, and those statistics have very little to do with the reality of our children's lives. ((BTW - in some locations, a child who is having a lot of trouble may be classified as 'homeschooled' once they refuse to go to school, so my hunch is that the homeschooling may be a result of the difficulties, not the cause, but that's neither here nor there. Like so many Gifties - I couldn't resist!))
BTW It's normal for Gifties to want to argue and warn - my DS got in trouble for 'antisocially' yelling at his agemate in kindergarden because the friend was chewing on the computer's cord, and my DS was afraid for him. So if you want to start a seperate topic called 'Dangers of homeschooling' then go ahead and use the General Discussion area (or another Forum all together - Gifties tend to worry about everything, so that may be the kind thing.)
Love and More Love,
Grinity
