I was an undiagnosed autistic growing up and I begged my parents to homeschool me. Thankfully my two best friends were already doing so and we were in a liberal

I was an undiagnosed autistic growing up and I begged my parents to homeschool me. Thankfully my two best friends were already doing so and we were in a liberal area where we could make this happen and my parents (less so my dad) were reasonably open to it. His main objection, "You'll never get into college" was put to rest when I found data showing that being a homeschooler puts you in a smaller pool than "Random highschool grad" and college admissions people are smart enough to keep an eye out for home schoolers, so in all my chances actually went up. I don't have my GED but I do have a BA which broke German bureaucracy when I went over there to continue studies. Anyway grade school was tough enough for me and I very much believe that I would have ended up hospitalized or suicidal/dead had I gone through highschool. Giving options to children who are non neurotypical (I don't envy ADHD kids) and suffer from behavioral issues is crucial. A lot of people without these problems have very serious psychological scarring from high school so put a kid suffering more challenges in the mix and it becomes clear what you're dealing with. I was able to study what I wanted, at the level that was appropriate for me, on my own time. I ended up taking a number of distance learning classes as well as community college classes and got college credits for them. I was really held back in middle school with this. A lot of people ask "weren't you lonely" but I didn't have anything in common with most other kids and the school environment was toxic and overstimulating to me. I hate that people's knee jerk reaction is "You must have been soo lonely" and it really shows you the truth about high school honestly..it's NOT about learning..it's almost some hazing ritual that people are stockholm syndrome'd into. I don't have the link now but I saw some surveys and it's something like 99% of home schooled students wouldn't take it back for the world.