If your child is happy and you don't see any negative effects, then I don't think it's as important to advocate. If a child complains of boredom, the work being too easy or silly, if they don't care whether they go to school (or worse not they DEFINITELY don't want to go to school), if they are developing anxiety or perfectionism, if they are becoming sloppy and not performing compared to their abilities (for instance making careless mistakes because they are racing through things), there's more of a need for it. sometimes a kid with a happy, laid-back temperament goes along with whatever happens in school and doesn't even realize things could be different or that the material is super boring, therefore they never complain. I think in those cases it's important to dig a little to find out how poor of a fit the curriculum really is and what will benefit the child. DD never complained about preschool or kindergarten, she was simply thrilled to be with other kids. But when I went in to volunteer and saw her forced to sit through lessons on how to sound out the word "cat" (she was reading well before kindergarten), I could see how inappropriate it was to make her sit through that day after day. Even if she never articulated "I'm bored", I knew she had to be.
DS is actually saying he doesn't want to go back to school. He says it's "babyish" and it's too much boring work and sitting still listening to the boring teacher. He says the only thing worth going in for is physical education. I said "what about being with the other kids" and he said that most of them are annoying. So he is one I NEED advocate for, as he is at high risk of simply refusing to go to school one day, giving up, developing major attitude or behavior issues, etc.
DD spent the second half of third grade finding passive-aggressive ways to get out of doing the work. She "lost" her math workbook a few different times, and I found a stack of blank homework in the front hall closet. As the teacher (a long term sub) became more and more negative with her she became more anxious and actually worse in terms of behavior. She's another one I had to advocate for.
