Being TOO overprotective

I put up a post a while ago about being protective (click here to read it). You can definitely be too protective and deny your kids the opportunity to grow and have good experiences and gain new insights and learn from good people. I don't want my kids to be so "protected" that they never get a chance to practice defending themselves and their beliefs when it's little things, so that they know how to handle it when the big things come along. I'm not homeschooling my kids to "protect them from the world." But I'm not going to let them stay in a class that makes them miserable 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, to make them "stronger." . I want to teach them to be proactive and change their situation instead of staying in it and being miserable. I homeschool because I don't want my young kids going to school for most of the day, coming home and going outside to play with their friends, eating dinner with me and then going to bed. I don't want them to be 6 years old and spend most of their time away from me at school and with friends. I would feel that my role as a mother would no longer be the teacher, but the maid, cook and chauffer. The week that my kids were in public school, that's what they did. I had no idea what they were learning, how they were doing in school, how they were doing socially, etc. I tried emailing the teachers many times, and left messages at the school, and they never responded. Not only was I not my child's teacher, but I had no part in their education whatsoever. In kindergarten I signed up to be in the PTA and asked several times to help out in the classroom, etc., but I never could. Because every child's mother in the class was in the PTA, they said they assigned different mothers to help with the holiday parties. When they are 6 they are so young and still learning right and wrong and forming their identity, etc. and I want to be the one to teach them that, not school and friends.

I also think that my boys are pretty smart, and I really didn't want my boys to be bored and not be challenged. That's such a waste of a great mind, which is a gift from God. Todd hated school because he was so bored, until they put him in a "gifted" classroom with 3-6th graders. Our school has no gifted program. I also love to teach my kids, and I want them to love to learn. I don't want my kids to say, "I hate school." Ok, I have heard my kids say they don't want to do school before, it's not all fun and games, and it's hard, but in my kids' prayers they say, "thank you that we could do school today." Yesterday my Alex woke me up and said, "Wake up! Time to do school!" After taking our summer break early because I had a baby, Nathan started saying in his prayers, "Please bless we can do school again." I remember that most of my school years growing up, I would get frustrated because the teacher spent SO much time on classroom management, that we couldn't just learn. I don't think that all of public school is bad. I don't think all of homeschool is good.

I also don't want my kids to not have the opportunity to be an example to others. When I met Todd, he made me (and still does) want to be a better person just by who he is. It's important that I give my kids the opportunity to strengthen others, without dragging my kids down at all. This is a balance, and different for each child. Some kids may be stronger than others.
That's what I have in my head right now. I may add more later.