A child who's bored and a child who's overwhelmed will both say the same sentence at the dinner table, "school is boring", and need completely opposite things. So before you react, watch for a week. Is it boredom (finishes the work fast, then checks out)? Is it anxiety (stomach aches on Sunday night, dread before tests)? Is it disengagement (can't connect what they're learning to anything real)? Is it social (a friendship gone wrong, or feeling invisible)? Or is it one teacher, one subject, one moment that stuck?
Sometimes the child is fine and the format is the problem
Here's the uncomfortable part: a bright nine-year-old who finishes three months of work in two weeks isn't a behaviour problem, they're under-stimulated. A sensitive child who shuts down in a room of forty isn't weak, they're in the wrong-sized room. We built StayQrious partly because we kept meeting these children: capable, curious, and quietly switched off by a system that has to move at one speed for everyone.
What actually helps, in rough order
First, listen without rushing to fix, "that sounds hard, tell me more" gets you further than a solution. Second, find the specific cause rather than treating "hates school" as one thing. Third, change what you can, talk to the teacher, adjust the evenings, protect their sleep and play. And if you keep landing on the same conclusion, that the format itself is working against your particular child, it may be worth looking at a different kind of school, one with a smaller group and learning that connects to something real.
That's not a pitch; it's just the honest end of the thought. Plenty of children who "hate school" simply hate that school, and do fine in a setting that fits them. If you'd like to talk through whether a small, project-based online school might be one of those settings, we're happy to have that conversation, no pressure either way.