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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that ds's school shouldn't give projects over school holidays

180 replies

Glassofwineneeded · 21/12/2015 16:18

My ds 9 has a project to do over the Christmas holidays. 10 + pages are expected.
My thoughts are that school holidays should be for relaxing and not for doing massive projects in year 4!
As this is the Christmas holidays we have lots planned including 3 days spent with family and then my ds is going to his dad's. As well as other days out etc it makes it hard to find time to fit project work in and make a decent job of it.
He is currently working on it now when what I want to do is curl up on the sofa with him and watch a festive film!
So AIBU ?

OP posts:
starry0ne · 21/12/2015 19:38

It also depends on your 5 year old I suppose - the majority of 5 year olds I know would be much happier cutting and sticking pictures onto a poster than quietly reading chapter books in a corner - but there you go, it takes all sorts I suppose.

My 8 year old would definitely pick the reading..He is good at reading and rubbish at art.. He knows it and that is why....

He struggles with self confidence due to difficulties writing and drawing so sometimes you need to give them a break and let them learn what they want to..Draw what they want, read what they want.

swirlyspaniel · 21/12/2015 19:39

I am a Primary School teacher ( I currently teach Y2) and intend to do absolutely no school work during the coming two weeks. That's why I didn't set any homework for my class during the school holidays. Children work hard enough in school and need time to relax, get a bit bored, and have fun doing other things.

Skullyton · 21/12/2015 19:45

Sorry Rose.

But if the 6hrs a day you have them isn't enough to teach them what they need, then thats not our problem.

The curriculum doesn't actually support homework in primary and its set by the teachers.

Home is for home life, school is for school.

It is NOT ok to set a 10 page project for children to do over the holiday when they need to destress, relax and enjoy being children and spending time with their families.

Tamponlady · 21/12/2015 19:47

One page a evening if not much op

MrFMercury · 21/12/2015 19:49

Mine are in Y4&5. They've no homework thankfully. Like a lot of people we don't live near our families so there are visits to be made and received. Plus most of the time DH and I are working, the kids are at school and weekends are taken up with hobbies, housework and everything inbetween. I love the days of holidays we get to just be together. We're geeks, we want to play video games, board games and have dance or karaoke battles. Dh and I are both graduates, we value education and support both kids in school but Christmas holidays is only two weeks.

Roseformeplease · 21/12/2015 20:02

"But if the six hours a day is not enough to teach them what they need then that is not our problem".

I actually can't even begin to say how many ways in which this demonstrates how much you are failing your children. Children should be learning all the time - in directed ways, informally, formally.

And, as I said, I don't teach primary but, as a parent, I am happy that teachers are going the extra mile for my children and helping to direct their learning outside the core school day.

I am actually shocked to my core that any parent has this attitude to education. Really? No wonder kids are struggling with basic skills if parents expect us to do everything.

BarbarianMum · 21/12/2015 20:07

Yes kids should be learning all the time. But part of that learning needs to be self-directed and self motivated and unstructured (otherwise known as playing, i believe) and what better time for that then the school holidays

Roseformeplease · 21/12/2015 20:16

Agreed. As I said, learning in all sorts of ways. But the PP who I took issue wi

DinoSnores · 21/12/2015 20:16

I completely agree with Barbarian. My children are learning all the time as they play outside, as we watch the ISS and as he wonders how Tim will manage this and that (last night, he wondered if they can invent a gravity machine!), as they help me cook and bake, as he reads and plays with his younger siblings, as we explore the garden and the woods.

There is plenty of learning that doesn't involve spending your holidays filling in some rather uninspiring sheets. I certainly don't take work away on my holidays, I don't see why my children should.

rose, as a teacher, you are presumably aware that research shows that, other than daily reading, homework makes no difference to outcomes at primary school.

Roseformeplease · 21/12/2015 20:17

Sorry....pressed go too soon.

Project work IMO can be absolutely terrible but, with planning and inspiration (from teacher, pupil, or parent) it can be a good mix of both formal and informal. It is not something I set ever but I take issue with the idea that schools are somehow stealing time from parents.

DinoSnores · 21/12/2015 20:18

"If at age 5 his reading skills are as advanced as that then the work will take him a few minutes - so it's hardly arduous."

But it is going to be incredibly boring and uninspiring for him. I love that he loves investigating and learning and that's what I want to foster as he grows and comes across things that challenge him.

Roseformeplease · 21/12/2015 20:19

I have repeatedly said, I am not a primary teacher. I am not talking about this project, or indeed any projects. But, just taking issue with the point made about parents not being allowed to take children out of school in term time, therefore teachers should not be allowed to set holiday work.

And, the second point about all learning having to fit into 6 hours per day.

starry0ne · 21/12/2015 20:20

I am actually shocked to my core that any parent has this attitude to education. Really? No wonder kids are struggling with basic skills if parents expect us to do everything

I have a great deal of sympathy for teachers..However I see my child's education as more than what he learns in a book or a structured project...

I agree with Barabrianmum...Some children may like a structured project and have plenty time to do it over Christmas..For others not..School seems to be turning more and more into a factory and I don't intend to treat my DS in his own home that way...

kilmuir · 21/12/2015 20:23

wouldn't do it.

Skullyton · 21/12/2015 20:25

they are learning.

They're learning those unstructured things that life teaches them through play and interacting with adults, through being taken to science museums, aquariums, walks through the woods.

I have the joy of living in Shropshire right by the Ironbridge Museums, a fantastic part of the country steeped in more history than you can shake a stick at. I can take my kids around Roman Ruins, stand them atop a medieval castle, walk through a victorian town, take them to steam museums, ride along a genuine steam railway, (enginuity, Blists Hill, Severn Valley Railway, the Wrekin, The Stiperstones)i can take them to see the industrial revolution, 900 yr old churches, places mentioned in literature (charles dickens and little nell) war museums (shrewsbury) working farms, (Acton Scott)

i can walk around lakes, along rivers, up hills, across the first ever Iron Bridge, through bluebell woods and over stone rings.

Several countries don't even begin formal education before 7 years of age.

Dont sit there and tell me i'm failing my children because i don't see the value in sitting them at a table doing sums or making a fucking egg box castle when i can step outside my door and teach them about the stars or take them on a romp through a park filled with more things to learn about than can be fitted in.

My eldest is autistic, he needs full time 1:1 education, the education i provide him as a loving parent who allows him to explore the world he lives in will provide him with much more than a stuffy text book ever will.

Roseformeplease · 21/12/2015 20:33

Agree 100% Skully. Children should be (and do) learn all the time, at home, at school, in the park, in the pool.

This is my point exactly. But a PP seemed to think all education had to be packed into the 6 hour school day and that it was exclusively teachers who had to provide that education.

In fact, some projects (and I agree, some are not well thought out) can bridge the gap between learning at home, and at school. These work best where the child has loads of choice or can share something they have mastery of which builds confidence. Often children who are quite poor at school can blossom when, for example, talking / writing etc about a passion of their own. I had a pupil once who came alive when dinosaurs were an option (not a usual topic in secondary English but I let him loose and the result was staggeringly good).

MistyMeena · 21/12/2015 20:45

Former teacher here, YANBU!

BackforGood · 21/12/2015 20:53

YANBU AT ALL

Speaking as a teacher, the vast majority of dc are absolutely shattered by the end of the Autumn Term, and they need this holiday to be just that - a holiday.
As a parent - I would have sent in a note in January explaining that my dc hadn't done it as we were on holiday.

Gileswithachainsaw · 21/12/2015 21:26

why do people assume that we ate unsupportive of our children's education just because having worked hard all term and spent many an.evening chained to tables doing sodding g bastard homework which usually results In crying and panic and late nights, we would like to take them.outside in the fresh air in day light to run okay and be kids and spend time with together without it hanging over our heads spoiling everything.

it's Xmas they are tired, they want to unwind and see family and enjoy playing with their presents.

you can have them back happy well fed well rested and ready to learn or you can continue to torture them.with stupid projects and have them stressed tired and worried it's not going to be good enough. and upset at not being able to enjoy their time playing with toys and family.

your choice.

no evidence it even makes a difference in primary anyway.

but holiday home work is the cruelest.

kslatts · 21/12/2015 21:38

YANBU, dd is 16 and in year 11 and she is not doing any school work over the Xmas break, should be a time for children to relax and enjoy family time.

pointysettia · 21/12/2015 21:44

YANBU at all. My DDs are in Yr8 and Yr10 - the younger one has 1 piece of History homework to do, the older one has some revision and a small piece of maths homework. They both have instructions from their teachers to rest and relax after a very long term, 2 solid weeks of internal exams, and in the case of DD1 some assessments which count towards her GCSEs. If a secondary school can permit their students some real rest, so should a primary.

And fwiw I grew up in Holland in the 70s and 80s. We did not get homework at all until secondary school. Somehow my generation managed to learn essential skills, pass exams, get good jobs and so on.

rainbowunicorn · 21/12/2015 22:29

I refuse to allow mine to do homework during holidays. I send a note in saying it is not done and if the teacher wishes to discuss then they can phone me. Holiday time is for relaxing and having fun.

SuburbanRhonda · 21/12/2015 22:32

I refuse to allow mine to do homework during holidays. I send a note in saying it is not done and if the teacher wishes to discuss then they can phone me. Holiday time is for relaxing and having fun.

What if they want to do the homework because they find it interesting, rainbow?

TheLambShankRedemption · 21/12/2015 22:33

YANBU.

He is age 9 and he gets a 10 page essay to do at Christmas? Christ on a bike. FFS I am Hmm on your behalf.

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