to insist on doing 1/2 hr homework during summer hols...?

[RichTeas]

Is it really unreasonable to expect an 8 y.o. to do about 30 mins worth of study (daily) during the summer weeks away from school? The problem of course is not the 30 mins, it's the fact that the "study" which might include reading a chapter from a reader and/or a few pages from a workbook can take 1-2 hours to get done, as DS does his utmost to avoid it. I would be the first to say spending hours fighting over homework is not the ideal way to start the day, but it should only take half an hour (when he co-operates it can take 20 mins). So it's a battle of wills, but should I give in and save our summer?

RichTeas - what about the Wimpy Kid or Horrid Henry books, do you think he'd read them? Is he into the Marvel films? Our library has a fantastic collection of graphic novels - Spiderman/X-men etc. You can always ask the library assistants for help to choose something age appropriate.

not unreasonable! do some book work of your own at the same time so that he doesn't feel unduly put upon.
you're a good mum. he might never thank you, so i'll do it - thanks!

Write and read...fat fingers

I have an 8 year old. No, he is not doing homework in the holidays because he is not at school.

It's the summer holidays and tbh I do not feel the need to make up work for him nor do I think that an 8 year old has to always be doing something educational

Buts that's just me :)

I think the problem is that a workbook or whatever is a bad way to start the day.

I don't agree you should do no work in the holidays, I think it depends on the child. Both mine do extra maths (learning times tables/ how to add up) in the holidays as their school, a perfectly ok state primary, is great at english and grammar but really quite crap at maths. So, it is our choice to do a few hours a week, either on the computer if we don't want to do it ourselves (MathsFactor or some such maths games site) or in person, to keep their skills up. That's our priority as a family, but I would't sit there with a maths sheet at 9 am, I'd try to build it in as a fun activity, and failing that, try bribery!

Don't start each day off in a bad way, forget about it for a week, then come back and just focus on the thing you want him to do: so reading/writing in a fun and interesting way, so writing about a day trip, or filling out a quiz in a museum, or playing hangman or reading a comic he chose himself, that widens his experience of learning, not offers a kind of second rate school experience.

Having said that, I did put my foot down with my 6 year old recently, she didn't like reading and tried to get out of the nightly reading for school, and I did insist she did it for 15 min a day (I said the school asked us to do that so that's what we need to do before reading our own story). It improved her reading no end, I just stopped giving her a choice, and sat out the minor paddies, and now she loves reading and reads at night under the covers! It was her inability to do it that put her off reading.

But in this case, let him choose what to read, let him buy things with reading involved (instruction manuals for example) but I wouldn't sit over a book for 1-2 hours in the holidays going purple, all he's doing is learning to wind you up, nothing more!

I think it's important for them to keep reading even if that means just the newspaper or time on the computer. I don't think work books are worth pursuing or having a stand off over during the summer holidays.

Good point about willingness @Betty. That's what I'm trying to decide, if it's worth it given his unwillingness. I don't agree with the majority of "holidays are for relaxing comments". He can relax for over 12 hours a day even with doing a bit of homework, and it's not ruining a childhood to do a little bit of homework each morning.

Yes- but all the things you are saying 'homework' 'study' is making him rebellious. Why not incorporate reading as part of what you are doing in the holidays, like I say, visit a museum or day out and get him to fill in a quiz, get him to text or write an email, or write on Skype (mine love writing rather than ringing their grandparents abroad)? Get him to write on the computer, or make a video with text (all this stuff is available from the school). Get him to fill in the library quiz thing they always have in the holidays where they have to review a book.

You are not a teacher, but you are setting up a teaching-style task, even teachers don't use workbooks and stand over the children first thing in the morning!

I do agree that children go backwards in the holiday if they don't read etc. But he should be doing something fun, reading, museum, emails, language games on the computer etc.

I teach in a summer school and some children are there for 6 weeks, basically their entire holiday is taken up by learning. I feel sorry for them to be honest, I'm sure they'll be successful but where's the room for fun?

Don't call it homework or school work...it is just an extension of a lifelong education no?

First you and your DS need to decide what he would ike to do and what would be beneficial.

Then, if you have a kid who doesn't like sitting and studying (some do), find creative ways to achieve the same things.

Also make sure you model good practice yourself. Don't nag DC to read while you go on FB or watch TV.

If you form good habits while young, they will last. My two, now 13, set their own learning goals for the holidays, while there is more time and freedom to do it.

some boys just don't like fiction my Dh was one he would read books on castles, car tractors but they had to be facts not stories about once upon a time castles but more like how portcullis works, he is still like that thinks novels complete waste of time, he does read ( not as much as me)

maybe its the everyday thing seems too much like working week could you just do it 2-3 times a week

however I do entirely agree that you should decide what he does, most children only know what they want to do now what is in their long term best interests.

however i also think many primary aged children have way too much homework especially large project time work,

maybe 2 complete weeks off

My kids have a summer bridging book and have to do 20 minutes every week day. We have 11 weeks off and I know through experience how far they can regress in that time.

It isn't a battle though. At the start of the summer, they all decided on a treat that they would work towards, and they receive a point towards their treat for every day's page. If they were kicking off about it, I'm not sure the battle would be worth it. It sounds a miserable way to spend 2 hours a day in the summer!

YANBU I get my 8yr old ds to do one piece of work every day (well most days). I'm keen that he keeps up with his reading and practices his writing. I have trouble getting him to do it as well but I've found that keeping a daily diary has helped, he writes about what we've done, Olympics etc and doesn't see that as a chore. The reading we do at bedtime when he reads me a story or chapter of his book etc

See, for me it's not the actual length of the work you want him to do, or how much time he has to relax, it's the fact you are doing it at all.

Reading, yes sure. That's not work. But to say to an 8 year old that for every day of their holiday they have to do half an hours work is unreasonable. He doesn't have school work, it's something you are going to find for him to do. Like you said, it takes a lot longer than half an hour probably because he resents having to do it in the first place.

It's a school holiday, isnt it? A break from school? A break from formal learning? You can do all sorts of trips etc that are educational and fun without sitting your 8 year old at a table and making him complete a worksheet.

It sounds like a very negative experience to me and it seems that's the last thing you want. You sound like you want him to excel, love reading and learning and that's brilliant. The 1-2 hour battle over a worksheet everyday in the holidays does not sound like the way to achieve that IMHO.

YANBU to do 1/2 an hour a day, but it really should be 1/2 an hour not 2 hours! (no matter how little gets done because of resistance). I think you shouldn't do it in the am if it is casting a shadow over the day, but sometime later after you've done something more holiday-ish.

You're bigger issue is how to make it seem worthwhile / enjoyable / not something DS wishes to avoid at all costs. Maybe varying what you do, where you do it, whether it involves sitting down at a desk with pen and paper, etc.

Generally speaking, you wouldn't BU as it depends on the child, and there are lots of children who actually like working during the holidays.

In your specific case though I think YABU, as it looks like your 8 year old hates the idea of it ("can take 1-2 hours to get done, as DS does his utmost to avoid it"). Give the poor boy a break for the summer.

I wouldn't bother if it's as much hassle as it sounds. If you can try to disguise it as fun (mine started doing scrapbooks much to my surprise) then great, but at 8? Nah. I wouldn't bother unless they were struggling a lot at school and I was worried they might be forgetting skills. Then, I would be as creative as possible at coming up with non-work sounding activities to practise whatever skills needed practising. I enforce sport on all mine over the hols though - that's my priority task and it does involve lots of moaning and complaining at times.

I wouldn't bother if it's as much hassle as it sounds. If you can try to disguise it as fun (mine started doing scrapbooks much to my surprise) then great, but at 8? Nah. I wouldn't bother unless they were struggling a lot at school and I was worried they might be forgetting skills. Then, I would be as creative as possible at coming up with non-work sounding activities to practise whatever skills needed practising. I enforce sport on all mine over the hols though - that's my priority task and it does involve lots of moaning and complaining at times.

I think the kind of work you are making him do is all wrong. Read a chapter from a reader?! Who wants to read those horrible readers anyway, let him pick any book he likes and read it for pleasure.

I thought it would be good for DS to spend 15 minutes a day this holiday writing a journal as he did at school. DS was so anti doing this, I was shocked! After a couple of hours stropping and arguing and nagging, I gave it up. I realise it is something psychological about that particular task which he did at school... instead he does a bunch of other schoolwork and I don't mention 'the journal'.

YABU.

Wait until he is a teen then you will have your work cut out...

Some really good considered comments above. Thanks.

yabu in that its not worth a battle over, there is far more to learning than work sheets and enforced reading.

children learn in all sorts of ways, if you want to do learning activities with him then find something fun and enjoyable, what about a treasure hunt in the house or the garden or even out and about at a park where you can hide clues and rhymes for him to find, read and work out?

i said on another thread that the other day we had those potato letters with our dinner and ds4 had a ball learning how to spell words etc he is 4 so it was great for him to practise his phonics and my elder children competed with each other to see who could make the longest word. so they were learning but htere was no battle to it, we only bought the dam potato letters as ds4 saw them and is obsessed with letters, but they had fun and were learning at the same time.

any learning done over the holidays should be fun imo, take him out and about, do you have any museums or farms etc near you? we went to a wildlife centre last week and it was great for ds3 (7yrs) to practise his reading as he was reading all the signs about the animals, what type they were, where they were from etc, again learning but it wasnt enforced, it was a fun day out.

fwiw my boys have all been slowish to learn to read but once they got it they got it and flew, but they ahve always had access to a massive variety or reading materials, be it magazines, fact, fiction etc, they seemed to like fact books a lot as they were first learning to read and then moved on to novels etc.

i would let it drop but incorporate fun learning into the day, at his age he could help you cook, get him to choose a recipe, read it, write a shopping list and then help prepare the meal, cake or whatever? :)