Most of the homeschoolers I know in Austin were basically hippies who found the public schools to be too authoritarian and intolerant of diversity (for example,

Most of the homeschoolers I know in Austin were basically hippies who found the public schools to be too authoritarian and intolerant of diversity (for example, banning dyed hair). I don't know which homeschoolers you were seeing, but it doesn't match what I saw here.