Hello Treecritter,
On the topic of homeschooling, I say, "Go for it!" Admittedly, I am biased toward homeschooling. We've been homeschooling for years and love, Love, Looooove it!
The most difficult part is deciding what to use for curriculum and what to do for fun/social activities. This is because there so much to choose from! What a great predicament to be in! There are also plenty of free curricula options and you can build your own, too. So the monetary investment can be as little or as much as you choose for this.
The same goes for social activities. Depending on where you live there may be a variety of homeschool groups, co-ops and other community based activities. I recommend finding a group and connecting for a regular Park Date, as a starting point. Also, you don't have to stick with *just* homeschool activities for "socialization".
For example, my kids are involved in community sports and choir and those two activities meet four times a week (between the two of them), and are not part of a homeschool group. For homeschool based activities my daughter attends a homeschool Girl Scout Troop, both kids have group piano lessons, a co-op, arts & crafts, and at least one park date a week. Then we spend time at museums, visiting with friends, on field trips, and just being "out" doing "stuff".
The best thing of all is that *nothing* is set in stone! If the curricula isn't a good fit, we change it. If my kids finish their math for an entire year in a few months, we move on. We don't have to stop and wait or feel awkward doing two or three years of subject in one year. My kids can dig as deeply into a subject as their interests take them.
The same applies to social activities. We can change things at any time. It's harder if it's a "for fee" class/sport, (only because we've spent money) but sometimes, if it truly isn't a good fit, we'll move on. (We'd, probably, do this anyway, if our kids were in a regular school.)
If something doesn't work, we can change it, create our own, etc. We don't have to wait for someone *else* to decide that things are *bad enough* to change/accelerate. As the person primarily in charge of my children's education, I can adjust it as needed based on my interactions with them and their input.
I say try it for a year and then go from there. You may decide that it's what you want to do for the long run. Or you may find a better placement/school for your son after that year. Who knows? The beauty is that *you* get to decide.
Hope this helps,
MM
