DS, who has just finished his GCSEs, is due to start A Levels at a 6th form college in September. However I'm very worried about his lack of drive. I don't know (obviously) what his GCSE grades are going to be - 7s/ 8s/ 9s were well within his capabilities, but whether he'll have got that remains to be seen. He doesn't do any extra work unless someone is actually standing over him, and didn't appear to have any actual aspiration to get the grades that he could get.
He's chosen to do music, philosophy and politics for A Level. For music, he ideally needs to be Grade 8 in his primary instrument by the time he takes his final exams. He's currently Grade 6 - and does zero practice, and now claims to dislike the instrument (clarinet) - but his teacher has quite firmly said that he's not good enough on bass guitar to make that his primary instrument, besides which he's self-taught on bass guitar and is insistent he doesn't want lessons. For politics, his teacher has said that the only thing he needs to do is actually read a newspaper - this never happens. He doesn't have to do these A Levels - but he's insistent that they're the ones he wants to do/ doesn't appear to have any ideas for any others.
I want him to do well - we all want our children to do well - and I'm wondering if it might be worth his taking a year out before he starts his A Level courses. I'm not sure what he would do (plus we live in a seaside town with high unemployment) - but to me it seems almost futile to send him off to continue his education when he seems so disengaged. He's young for his year (end of July birthday) so I don't think it would disadvantage him.
If it's relevant, he's also been diagnosed as having ADHD and autism (and takes medication for the ADHD on school days). He had cancer as a child, which necessitated nearly 4 years of chemotherapy between the ages of 6 and 10 - and there is medical evidence to suggest that it will have exacerbated the symptoms ADHD and autism, and caused other cognitive issues.
Or do I just send him off to college, and hope? Various people keep telling me that this is normal for a boy - but is it? (I only had sisters. And I'm quite type A myself.)