If you are working ft, how much "school work" are you doing over the summer?

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

I know there's a loss of knowledge over the summer and the dc are in primary. If anyone works ft over Summer, what and how much practice stuff do you fit in over these six weeks?

They are going into y6 and y3 when they go back. Anything I should aim for apart from getting them reading lots (dc1 a bookworm so that's easy).

Wow that's brutal!

What?! I'd be looking at a new school if they need to do that much in the holidays. Absolutely ridiculous.

DD is going into year 7, hopefully she will read a bit over the summer. That's all.

My kids are age 16 and 13 and I've never made them do any summer holiday work, except on the rare occasions they've been set some. DS16 is going into year 13 and he's been set some work, which he'll do.
The autumn term is long and hard, so it's best for them to rest now, so they're ready for it.

None.

We read before bed as standard, a page each. DS likes arts and crafts so he'll do lots of that. He'll also do things like write little stories and cards but that's of his own accord. I don't enforce anything.

DT’s didn’t do anything academic in the school holidays but plenty of being lazy, watching too much tv and phones. When they were younger they did different holiday clubs depending upon their interests - mainly different sports. DH and I worked full time but school holidays were also used for travelling particularly as our families don’t live in the uk.

Sorry but when do your kids so 90 minutes work a day if you're at work?

Please rest assured there will be plenty of this

Apart from encouraging reading and visiting new/historic/cultural/interesting places, absolutely nothing and dc achieved good GCSEs and is predicted good A'Level results.

None really. One is going up to year 7 and has a book to read with an activity pack as part of transition, and a maths pack which we’ve already misplaced. The other is in primary. They read, colour, they’re in holiday club for much of the summer doing different activities, we’re having a day out in London, and we’ll spend time with family and friends we don’t see very often. Anything else feels like overkill unless there’s a specific reason for extra work, like an upcoming 11plus

We'll be doing the library reading challenge and that's it.

I tried journal writing the past couple of years and it's just too painful for a boy who dislikes writing. I'll get him a couple of activity books and a drawing pad so hopefully he'll at least hold a pencil at points 😂

Do you know where you children's gaps in knowledge are? I would concentrate on filling those. I work full time, but ended up home educating our two till the end of primary, because I witnessed poor teaching in lockdowns and thought I could do better.

Websites like theschoolrun have booster packs by year, and you can quickly see what they are weak at. This is just state school standard. If you want private school standard or higher, I'd get hold of a copy of the relevant year of Civitas' What Your Child Should Know. There are some lovely age-appropriate articles in there.

If your children have few gaps and you just want to improve general knowledge, you could also spend your time going over KS2 history, science or modern languages, all of which get a very poor coverage in primary school (one lesson every two weeks in our former school). Galore Park books are brilliant for that. If you have no time for one to one, WHSmith Challenge books are good for self-directed revision and practice. I work in the room with mine and they ask me questions when something needs explaining. It can be very stressful and doesn't work if you have conference calls, but the payoff is immense and you'll know that they truly understand something. If it's just for the summer, you can psyche yourself up for the extra work. Good luck, you sound like you really care about education.

Nothing structured. An abundance of reading material puzzle books and pen and paper scattered around the house. We still read to both (6 and 9) and both read to themselves. We’re currently abroad and will probably do one cultural thing a week here.

I take comfort from the fact that my (highly academic) DParents did the same with me and I managed Oxbridge and then a PhD…

My son is going in to Year 1. We are doing the Maths Factor summer challenge every day, got a few work sheets and some phonics books. Maybe 15 minutes per day. Hoping he won't forget how to count or read (both likely).

Dc1 - handwriting (leftie)
Dc2 - concentration (on basically anything over 5mins long)

It's standard practice that we do lots of board games, cards, outside play, reading, there's always drawing and colouring on the go etc

I genuinely didn't realise this was a thing! My daughter is 16 and just left a Grammar School to start an apprenticeship in Agricultural Engineering.

For her the holidays were just that, down time and a break from the everyday learning that our children have to do for a minimum of 12 years before starting further education or training. The thought of kids doing 90 mins a day learning in their holidays makes me sad if I'm honest.

We do absolutely nothing. (Both teachers)

DS is doing 2 hours a day work set by school in prep for A-levels. He is also doing a lot of computer programming type stuff that he is in to. When he was Yr 5 he probably did half an hour a day of the SATS book that was recommended by himself. In Yr 2 it would have been mostly reading to and listening to him read, writing a little bit about any trip or holiday we went on (and maybe making a book) and a bit of 'fun' maths on the computer. But I only worked part time so had the time for making books and stuff with him. I think it's a really good idea to continue some sort of routine with bits of more relaxed work - 4 weeks of full days is just cruel though.

*He did the work by himself, he didn't recommend the book himself!

I'm not relying in it as he's also a reluctant writer, but his end of year "next year I want.. M" was about his writing as he has poor stamina (soon as his hand hurts he's done), but he'll also draw a ton load of Sonic the God Damn Hedgehog over summer 😂

30 mins mathletics
30 mins handwriting practice

Everyday

It’s 1 hr out of 13/14 hrs she’s awake. Plenty of time for all hugs/movies/beaches/museums everyone else has mentioned

We do times tables contests in the car (kids actually associate car rides with this now and find it funny, reading books and I still get my kids to write postcards.
We are screen free in our house except for work and urgent things (paying bills,making bookings etc) so this makes it easier.

I'm a teacher and always notice how refreshed, focused kids are at start of September... They often have progressed since before the hols and this isn't down to holiday work but their minds/bodies getting a break
Although I am trying to gert my two dyslexic kids to do 15 mins touch typing every day (failing at this aim so far)

30 mins Mon-Fri (unless we’re going out for the day) of maths workbook for my DD (10) and GCSE study books for my 14 yr old. Then we do 30 mins of reading together. My 14yr old is dyslexic and needs the extra time to have a fighting chance of passing some GCSEs and my DD could do with the extra boost in maths. It’s only an hour out of their day and I believe it will help them more than hinder them. When we go abroad for 2 weeks we’ll only do the reading and it’s always a book they love.

Op what will they be doing whilst you're at work? Structured groups or left to their own devices?

DS has had a homey chill week this week, sports and crafts week 2, Coding week 3, football week 4,. Holiday week 5 so beach and day trips, then it'll be a chilled home week last week. It feels ike a good balance over all

when they return they will knuckle down full days for the remaining four weeks. My year 7 child will do 4 mornings a week of an 90 min so your 11 yo is doing 90 minutes every morning, how old is the child who's doing full days study? Are they that behind or are you trying to get them ahead? Are you marking everything and giving feedback? @Squeezedmiddlemoan

None.

However my autistic child, who hadn't read a single fiction book since Sept (Y8) has just started Harry Potter from the beginning. If "all" he manages is reading, that is fine by me. The pressure release of the summer hols is what's made it possible so it's vital we don't push him too much.