I home schooled my two grandchildren for 4 years but they both had friends, previous friends from when they were in school, as well as neighborhood friends. I'm in Ohio and I followed the same public school schedule, including days off, holidays, even snow days, etc. for my grandchildren so they didn't feel isolated just because they were home schooled.
Now I don't know how it works in North Carolina but in Ohio, when we were home schooling, once you formally state that you are home schooling your child, the Board of Education for the school district you belong in are no longer allowed to contact the parent or person providing the home schooling. The only rule we really had to follow was the child had to attend 900 hours during a school year, and the teacher had to be either the parent or a person who was a High School graduate. But every year we submitted a progress report, and attendance chart to the district school, along with a form letter stating we planned to continue home schooling the following year.
Home schooling is a responsibility, not an excuse to pull your kids out of school or never enroll them. JMO