12 yrs, Grade 6

We’ve dealt with school refusal for 6 years, all of my son’s primary schooling. It wasn’t until last year, when he ended up dropping out of grade 5, that I understood school refusal to be a thing. That we weren’t alone. That he wasn’t the only kid unable to attend school at times. School refusal would present itself as severe meltdowns that have even led to very scary panic attacks. My son suffers from anxiety (that most teachers can’t see and therefore refuse to accept as truth), but otherwise does very well in school and has many friends. I’ve asked him multiple times if perhaps we should homeschool but he LIKES school, and so we continued. It’s been a huge challenge in grades 5 and 6, and now he’s unofficially labelled as “chooses not to attend”, and some of his teachers have been impossible when it comes to help. I feel very strongly that our school cares little about the actual education of the child and more about the falling-into-line piece. We have high hopes for the high school he’s chosen for next year.