And re: homeschooling - DS would be happy not to ever get out of the house, so I'm not so sure it would be so good for him socially.
I won't go on and on, but I have to comment on this!
It's generally a lot easier to find home schooling opportunities for making friends and getting out of the house than you'd think it would be. My son and I are both introverts, so I feared we'd be socked in the house in our fluffy slippers and jammies all the time. Not so! We find lots of ways to get out of the house and be social.
It's all about finding a good home schooling group and some good extracurricular-type groups (gym/art/foreign language classes, Scouts, places of worship (if applicable), etc.). Seriously, it's SOOOOO much easier than I thought it would be! We're out of the house a lot and DS6 has more time and energy for friendships than he ever did in those crowded halls. Why people think THAT'S good socialization is beyond me! All that time in line being shushed...
Again, I'm not the home school pusher or anything, but I've found that my introverted DS is FAR MORE SOCIAL now that he's home schooling. He plays with kids much more often than he did when he was worn out from school and pestered with dumb homework. We go to lots of group activities and fun "field trips." We see lots of people! We're making lots of new friends! (Plus he has more time and energy to spend on his old friends, so even those friendships have deepened.) And this improved social life seems to be the rule rather than the exception in home schoolers according to what I've seen and read.
So, if I may be so bold as to give you unsolicited advice...
Please don't rule home schooling out solely/mainly for the social reason without doing some research on home school groups in your area. Okay? You might be pleasantly surprised!
Shutting up now...
