In my case homeschooling my son wasn't something my husband and I considered. We only had negative thoughts. However, things changed this year when we decided to give it a try.
The backstory as to why we home school now. My son has a learning disability and in the 4th grade was placed in kindergarten reading levels. His penmanship and speech was at best the same as a 3 year old. His grades overall were failing. We did all the homework, extra credit, reading 30 minutes a day, etc. At home he was reading grade level books and had decent penmanship. Everyday I would pick him up and he would complain about how horrible his classmates were. We tried ADHD medications to help him focus, but it wasn't working.
We had discussed the possibility of a secular online school with him. He really liked the idea and wanted to try it out. I told him it may not work out because I attend school full time and his dad works too many hours per week.
About a week later I go to pick him up and he has all of these bags packed with a huge grin. I waited in the pick up line and his Principle walks with him to my car. I am confused because this is not normal behavior. She confronts me in a threatening way that it was my sons last day and here is his things. I ask her what she is talking about that it is not his last day. I then got told my son could borrow a desk in the classroom until I figure out what to do with him. I received no phone call and never once contacted the school about what options we were looking at. They took my 4th graders word on it being his last day. They all had a party and packed his bags for him. He said his good-byes to his 43 classmates that afternoon.
After the smoke had settled and I wasn't crying my eyes out lost on what to do I contacted the online school. We got him enrolled and things have gone better than expected.
In 6 months my son has daily contact with his teachers, reads at grade level(although slower than they want), handwriting is perfect, and is passing all core classes/electives with a 3.5 GPA. His speech pathologist just did a review and he is now at a 95% vs. 30%. He volunteers every Friday building PC's at a awesome charity. He is surrounded by brilliant adults helping him learn about the IT industry. In his spare time he is learning Java Script and Kids Ruby. He also plays football, basketball, soccer, swimming and track.
My sons Pediatrician as of last week was encouraging me to continue down this path. He was impressed with the complete change that has happened with my son since our last visit.
I think if the child wants to be home-schooled it's not bad. I do find kids that are forced into it is not as well rounded as my child. We don't do this for religion purposes or to help with his disability. We only do this because he knew he could do better in another setting.