Home schooling pros vs cons?

Question:
My 14 yr old son has been asking for home schooling since the start of 8th grade. He's identified with resource room time and mainstream classes. He just cannot get a handle on his classtime, he says it's "just too noisy" to absorb anything. His grades would have been failing last semester, but they allowed the removal of numerous missed assignements which would have lowered his grade point average. Thus c's and d's. I don't call that a successful education. I fear his couselor and resource teachers are out of options at this point. Has anyone any suggestions concerning home schooling-tutoring-etc? He's on effexor, new to this med so not at full dosage. He had been taking clonodine for 5 yrs. but we saw it become not very effective this past year. His pediatric psych. is not full of ideas at this point, besides dealing with his suicidal talkings 2 months ago. Tics are mild, but recently it's been picking the outer edge of his nose till sores develop, he's already formed scars on both arms and hands by this picking. At wits end, just want him to feel successful once in his life.

Answer:
- Homeschooling is hard work. It is wonderful It is insane. It is like, well, parenting! We homeschooled all our kids at various times and it has been a worthwhile, esteem-building, fruitful effort. The hardest obstacle to overcome that I've seen for 'newcomers' is an unwilling student -- and it looks like you do not have that problem. Try it. You will probably wish you had done this sooner!

- We have wrestled with this same problem, primarily because of distractions in the classroom that impair learning. We have chosen for now anyway to leave our daughter in public school for the following reasons: she gets tremendous benefits from the additional activities that the schools offer. She has been class officer, sung in competition choirs, acted in plays open to the community, etc. She has learned to be herself, tics and all, in front and within large groups, with confidence. She has been in a wonderful position to educate others, teens and adults alike, about TS and the results have been rewarding. This has been the greatest "medication" to combat depression. She has developed multiple coping skills, including the ability to concentrate, tuneout unwanted noises and input. In earlier years she was allowed to leave the classroom, if she wanted, to go to another, quieter room when her tics or the distractions got to her. She would go to the teacher after school to findout what she missed and we would review the material at home. We always looked at this as Part-time Home Schooling. Our final reason had to do with my energy level. My daughter also has very high energy despite the magnitude of meds she is on. In order for me to have the reserves I needed to respond to her needs through the afternoons and evenings, we could not be together all day,too. I also have a high intensity husband and second daughter. That is just my problem meeting my child's needs. We have many friends who have chosen to home school for reasons stretching from religious to social to achedemic to medical to professional musicians and actors (that's the children not the parents). They have all been successful no matter their reasons because the parents are committed to that lifestyle. We sometimes envy things in their life because they are homeschooling. They have said that they sometimes envy things in our life because we are not homeschooling. Just be sure to make an honest assessment of your motives, personalities, and energy level. Then you will make the best decision. I don't think there will be a wrong decision.