I'm trying to reset my macbook to factory settings, but when I try, the recovery hard drive is not showing up. How can I do this while still at home?

Try the Command-R method described in the HT4718 article you attached:

Recovery System

OS X Lion or OS X Mountain Lion includes a built in set of utilities in the Recovery System. Restart your Mac and hold down the Command key and the R key (Command-R), and keep holding them until the Apple icon appears, indicating that your Mac is starting up. After the Recovery System is finished starting up, you should see a desktop with a OS X menu bar and a "Mac OS X Utilities" application window. Note: If you see a login window or your own desktop and icons, it is possible that you didn't hold Command-R early enough. Restart and try again.

In order to reinstall OS X Lion or OS X Mountain Lion, you will need to be connected to an Ethernet or Wi-Fi network. The Wi-Fi menu item is in the upper-right corner of the screen. Click the icon to display all available Wi-Fi networks. Click your preferred network name and, if needed, enter a username and/or password.

What version of OS are you running? The recovery option is only available with Lion and Mountain Lion; you need your install diks if you're running Snow Leopard.

Presumably you are running Mountain Lion since you posted your question in the Mountain Lion community.