Should primary aged children study over the summer?

[Summerholidays1]

Split over this. On one side want to give DC (8) a complete break and just let them have fun and learn by seeing/doing. Will go on holiday, to museums, live rurally so lots of outdoor play.
Also don’t want them to slide back and have to catch up in the Autumn. Nervous as I know a few parents who hothouse.

What is a good/healthy amount to do over the summer? I bought them a holiday journal they are excited to fill in and will take them to a bookshop to choose some books - would rather encourage a love of reading than forced continuation of school work. Will probably do the MathsFactor summer challenge as they are in the habit of spending five/10 minutes a day on this. Art has been an issue at school (just not engaging) so I think Draw with Rob could be good as they do enjoy this.

Interested to know what others do/recommend.

I encouraged mine to write a few notes in a diary. Over the summer, but that was it. They'll be fine either way 😊

The child is eight. Let's not get carried away with GCSE results just yet.

OP, the natural stuff that occurs in daily life like reading for fun, looking up bus timtables and working out ticket prices and change for days out etc should be ample over the summer holidays.

We'd usually have a summer challenge as suggested by the DC - a Beavers or Brownies badge project, a 'come dine with me' challenge of menu planning, a film festival at home with posters and tickets and coloured-in paper tubs for popcorn... whatever they were interested in at the time. That ticked both educational and holiday boxes.

I mean...they are 8! I have an 8 year old and will probably realistically manage a bit of reading, TT rockstars and the odd postcard...! I'm not convinced homework/summer holiday work makes a huge amount of difference in the scheme of things at this age.....

We did regular reading and times tables (on a computer games).

I'd consider doing more if they are behind but not otherwise.

Mine used to do 15 mins of math and English a day as you truly forget and 30 mins reading at night. An hour hardly impacted their day.

I love how people say nothing just reading for pleasure, fun things like bus timetables etc. One of mine didn't really read for pleasure until y6 or so (turned out to be dyslexic), and would not have found bus timetables, or random apps fun either.

Everything they do is learning really. I used to get mine to make a holiday scrap book of things they had done (writing), with collages of photos and stickers from things we’d been to (mixed media art!), going to the park on a scooter (PE), baking a cake (maths and science), calculating shopping (maths) - all just unstructured and fun built into the day without them realising they were doing any learning at all.
Mostly though I just tried to keep everyone active, beach trips, going to the park, walking up to nanny’s, sometimes even a walk to a pub garden! Paddling in streams, picnics, whatever.

I've never made any of my dc 'study' over the summer, the eldest 2 are predicted all A's at A levels, and 8/9's at GCSEs next year, youngest still at primary and won't be made to do any extra work this summer. It's not impacted how they've learnt and achieved evidently. I'm quite relaxed about them doing homework also and don't enforce it at primary age, obviously secondary is different as they have to do it. I think back to the summer holidays when I was primary age and recall how care free and happy they were, there's enough time as adults to feel extra pressure.

I have an anxious 8 year old and we will be doing time some chilled tables practice over the summer because I know it will reduce the pressure on her next year.

Reading (although for older one reading is not a chore) maths factor (because habits are useful) and music practice...

Try to do some fun craft stuff around the sports camps.

If we get out of the practice habit we get a lot more stress getting back into it, plus fear of failure rears its ugly head again.

No school work at all. Encourage a love of reading, encourage them to spend time with their friends running about outside. If you can, take them out a few times too.

Kids need a break. Constant pressure just creates anxious or rebellious kids in the long run.

On the other hand, reading is a wonderful way for kids to educate themselves and have fun at the same time. The summer holidays are also a time to take up new hobbies and sports, which can only be a good thing.

Kids that age don't study - even at school. Mine are 8 and 6. We'll be reading, drawing, writing, crafting, going to the beach, museums etc. it's all educational but not studying iyswim. A couple of years ago they decided to do a project on seaweed after our holiday in Cornwall.

@TeenDivided No one needs to start worrying about this stuff when their child is 8, unless they have SEN.

Please don’t make them do anything they don’t want to.

They are children. Let them be

I never made mine do any kind of school work in the holidays, until they went to secondary and got set a bit of summer work by their school. I always read to them, we went to museums, days out, lots of trips to the park, playing in the garden etc. Unless your child struggles academically, or has anxiety about being prepared for school, there’s really no need for school work in the summer holiday at primary school age.

Mine certainly didn't. They read, but that was because they wanted to. I'm a secondary school teacher. I don't expect my students to do school work over the summer either.

I had a maths computer game that gave me rock solid foundations - I'm very good at daily used mental maths as a result.

But otherwise, they should be having fun using their learning without a second thought at that age. Journals, reading, imaginative play, outdoor time, physical activity... It shouldn't need to even be encouraged, just provide the opportunities and let them choose.

Yes I thinking keeping up with reading, writing (something fun eg summer holiday journal) and some maths is important. I think it’s good for kids to keep to a rough routine and develop the discipline for regular study. Doesn’t have to be intense etc, just 10-20 mins a day/every other day.

We’ll be doing the summer reading challenge, we go to the library a lot anyway and DD bloody loves a certificate 😂 This summer we’re going to do Write From The Start as well, because her handwriting has been flagged up at school as needing attention and my OT friend recommended it

Depends. No need to go overboard but imo you'd be a fool to let the reading and maths slide. It doesn't have to be much. If your kids are already ahead sure. But most aren't.

What..like clean their teeth? Tidy their room? Brush their hair? Load the dishwasher?

No way would I do homework during summer. They need to enjoy themselves and more importantly learn practical life skills. Go to the shop with cash and figure out what treats they can afford with X amount of money, read a baking recipe and make a double batch - two practical applications of maths there. We've been off 1 week and have already had a cake sale (lots of maths there) and there's an ongoing art project taking over our kitchen table. I will bring 2 youngest on the bus into the city in the next few days to show them what to do, then they will travel alone next week where their Dad will meet them at a bus stop. Eldest has learned to power hose and done some gardening. 11 yr old has spent a lot of time hanging off a tree and messing on a local makeshift swing. We are doing some painting of skirting boards etc over the Summer so I'll show them how it's done and let them help. We've also been on discussing an upcoming holiday and kids are doing 'research' online to get some ideas. We have a duolingo subscription so whenever we go abroad we spend a couple of weeks learning or practising the local language. For me, these are much more important skills and experiences than school work.

We continued reading our own books before lights out at bed time unless unpractical/we were out late, and encouraged some counting/fractions/clocks etc when doing things like baking. I don't remember doing much around writing as such.

They need a break and it is only 6 weeks they are away, they pick it up again quickly once back.

I should add we have reduced YouTube time and when they have screen time on Netflix they have subtitles on to help reading. They have reading time before bed too.

We had reading time everyday after lunch when we were at home. Friends who came for lunch were told to bring a book. DC wrote a holiday diary every evening even when we’re away. This meant they had to sit down and calm down. Maths was used in cooking sessions and when out shopping, for example, Oh, and I read to them every morning - The Wind in the Willows one year, then Lord of the Flies and finally To Kill a Mockingbird. Great family memories. DC say whenever they look at TWITW they hear my voice reading the characters and we all cried when we finished TKAM. It’s generally recognised that children go backwards during the long holiday if they don’t do any reading and writing.