I agree, your son could check out the teachers, and much depends on his ability to learn languages. My older DS opted for Latin in grade 5, although or perhaps because(!) I could help him with French and Spanish, but the Latin teacher was much more engaging than the other two were. All of his classmates had been taking Latin since 2nd grade, so he was a bit nervous. He caught up quickly with a teacher's support and did very well with it in middle school. Since then he's taken living language, but not faring as well as with Latin.