Wow, that's scary and you're in a tough spot. 13 is too young to get a GED and take community college. You can't afford to let him not do school at that age because he's old enough it's starting to count. You're going to have to repair his ability and love of learning if you homeschool. Look at EPGY online. They are advanced and made for gifted kids and at least he'll have a good example and someone besides you telling him to do his work once he's at home.
I like CBT, cognitive behavior therapy in theory (hubby's insurance wouldn't cover that brand of counseling, but I have a cousin who practices it). It's not talk therapy where you talk about your feelings and the root of your problem, it's "rational thought" therapy where you learn to evaluate your own responses and regulate how your reactions affect your future. Here, this link is really more for teaching children rational responses, but I think it sounds like what I imagine CBT teaches.
http://www.heartmath.org/templates/ihm/downloads/pdf/e-books/teaching-children-to-love.pdflearn to: Stop. Pretend like you're breathing out of your heart for 5-10 minutes. Close your eyes. Ask your heart, "What response will help make this situation better". NOT- what's fair?..
but, what reaction can I choose that will create a better future?
This might be a good technique for gifted kids to learn, because they are KNOWN to have a high sense of Justice (they called mine a "high sense of entitlement"), but this technique of getting out of the brain and thinking with the heart when in high stress situations might make the old motto, "the best way to predict the future is to create it." and right now at your sons age it is critical that he begins to design his future, not because his choice will be set in stone, but because there are catipulting opportunities as an older teenager that if he doesn't decide he wants them and go for it then he'll be grown and living his life before you know it.
