I have four children, an in their public school days, I taught them to get along with schoolmates, put a stop to bullies, become leaders, and report non-compliant instructors to me. Then I took care of any bullying teachers in a way that they never tried it with me or mine again. In the end, the high school principal called me in to help solve some problems with his staff.
My childrens' schooling did not start and stop at the doors of the public school. I did my home-schooling of them in topics my public school could not or would not do, assisted them in finding ways to effectively execute their homework without doing it for them, and sent them back with encouragement. I taught them how to fish, make radios, sing competitively, analyse the sermons they heard, do photography, camp out, cook meals, bake, sew, fix engines, and a dozen other skills as an addition and embellishment to their public education.
In athletics, my sons were aggressive ball-players and good wrestlers. My daughter was a tough basket-ball player, shot-putter in track, and won a field hockey scholarship to help fund her college. One son became an engineer at Perkin-Elmer Instruments, without a college education, before his death.
His younger brother is now the MIS Director of the US division of a large Japanese technological corporation, also without a college degree.
His youngest brother graduated as the highest-ranking in his engineering class at IIT, was invited to take his Master's at the college expense, and eventually formed his own engineering company.
Their younger sister earned her way through college, and now after 30 years, is a core vice-president of a very large national banking corporation.
You need to face and conquer the underlying problems, not avoid them by invoking home-schooling. That requires a willingness to continue through until your son graduates and is able to be accepted by better-equipped mentors than yourself. By all means, don't even think of undertaking this unless you know you can and will carry it through to the end, with flying colors. To take him out , then fail and put him back in will o more damage to him than he already experiences.
You say that you're "disorganized." That approach to life has no place in the home-schooling paradigm. Perhaps part of your son's problem is that he has no example of how to get and stay organized himself. That will draw all kinds of unwanted attention from both schoolmates and teachers.
If you're not prepared to at least make up a "to-do" list for the next day, and prioritize it, you can't home school. I've seen what happens when this happens, and it is not pretty.
Is your son able to find a job to buy his own clothes" does he like or avoid contact sports? Does he like to be in the thick of debates and at least express his own opinion, if not convince others? Is he getting actually bullied by just one or two of his acquaintances, or are several of his schoolmates rejecting his style of relating to others, caling it "bullying" when it is only showing dislike? If so, he needs to learn something about relationships, and so do you.
Buck up. Make some decisions, and get ready to change, whether or not you home-school. Hate to tell you this, but clearly, if you have to come to FR for this kind of home-schooling advice, you're not ready for it.
My FR "friends" are going to excoriate me for scolding you, but they also will be dodging the underlying issues that cause your son to act like a sheep instead of a fighter to reckon with. Your son doesn't need to be aggressive, but he needs to be assertive, and so do you.
OK, hit me if you can.
Why?
1) In many respects I agree with imardmd1. I believe you should carefully read his/her post and carefully consider the points he/she made.
2)It is my observation that **all** ( yes, ALL) academically successful children are homeschooled. This is true regardless of whether they are institutionalized for their schooling or strictly homeschooled. Why?
Answer: Academically successful institutionalized children have parents who are highly disciplined and dedicated to the education of their children. They have parents who are doing **tons** of pre-schooling and after-schooling. Their home habits and study routines resemble those of parents who are successfully homeschooling.
3) You mentioned social problems with your son and the institutional school. Are there also academic issues?
If your son is also struggling academically, them please re-examine your **home** routines and **home** study habits. If they are not matching those found in the homes of academically successful children ( either homeschooled or institutionally-schooled) then these will absolutely need to change.
4) Finally, I do wonder. Your son is in the 8th grade. Why have you waited so long? Is the only research you have done on homeschooling is to ask a neighbor and to post a request on Free Republic? It makes me question your decisiveness and ability to problem solve.
Academically successful children ( either institutionalized or schooled at home) have parents who are **aggressively** proactive in solving problems at their first appearance.