to give my dc's some school work over the summer holidays

[justalittlelemondrizzle]

My dc's 7 & 8 break up for the summer this week and I've bought them some English and maths work books to do over the holidays.
I usually do print outs of things that have come up on their reports that they have struggled with and set them a fun project.
Most of the summer is going to be about them having fun and enjoying some downtime. They have lots of friends round our area who they enjoy playing with all the time. Is it wrong for me to get them to do some work a few days a week for maybe 45 minutes at a time so they don't slip behind.
They're pretty average. My eldest tries hard and is doing well ut got a working towards in maths on her report and my youngest is very lazy and that did show on her report this year with a few working towards when I know she is capable. Do other people do this or am I being a mean mummy?

That is simply not true peat.

Children did not learn to build houses by day to day living and playing in dens.

They learned the skills through intensive instruction by their fathers. And often it would be dull and they would not want to learn those skills. But their parents knew they had to pass them on.

You are being slightly ridiculous ppeatfruit if you genuinely think den building/ playing out/ cooking will support a child any older than EYFS through the curriculum.

Of course these things are massively important, but there is no reason on earth why a child shouldn't do a bit of direct curriculum prep alongside these things.

Ppeat boys didn't go to school but they were apprentices with very strict learning schedules! They'd have been practicing and working for hours a day. They didn't build dens then immediately build a house

ppeatfruit you're really oversimplifying/sentimentalising how older children learn maths. Unfortunately a lot of it is down to just sitting and doing it - you might even need to resort to worksheets.

And childhood itself is a fairly modern concept. Especially for the working classes.

There was infancy. With all its inherent dangers. Then a transition to adulthood where one had to learn the necessary skills.

School holidays provide the luxury of time with which to apply and consolidate skills to which DC have been introduced at school. To do field trips that make school learning come alive. To acquire new skills that are difficult to acquire within the necessarily limited scope of an institution.

It's a bit of a pity, IMVHO, to use school-style pedagogical approaches in the holidays.

I like that there's enough time to do a bit of everything .

That said, mine are of an age now where I don't get a say.

It's they who decide when they want to consolidate or learn completely new stuff. Or lay by the pool all day ( as they've done today).

I know my place; cash machine, taxi driver, maker of bacon sandwiches .

It is really supporting your children and any way that it suits you to do that is great for them. It only takes a few minutes to refresh learning and keep the experience successful (which is more fun too), but a lot longer and more frustrating to start again from several steps back after a long break. So if it works for you - go for it! Don't worry about whether other people do or not. Some do, some don't. Not any different to teaching your child to ride a bike or play tennis - it is all just learning and practising skills and can all be fun. xx

Mine do a holiday scrap book, which they decorate at the start of the holidays and write in everyday. I also do the odd bit of maths with them.. They enjoy it and want to write in their books. They run around and do fun stuff all day, then write about it, in the evening or the morning. They're really proud of their books at the end of the holidays.

Mean mum. Poor kids

YANBU at all. You are not being mean either. I think it is good for the kids to have a small amount of work to do everyday. 45 minutes 3 days a week sounds just fine. I did this with mine last year and it's going to be repeated again this year. My youngest struggles with his handwriting and it helps him to continue making progress throughout the summer. He would not touch a pen or paper all summer by choice.

Ha ha, I love the incongruity of jolly holiday scrapbooks and mean mum.poor kids.

You're right, might as well send the poor souls down the mines. Slaving away over a scrap book overwhelmed by pritt stick fumes. You tyrants.

My boy has just finished reception year and has asked to keep practising his reading and filling in a reading diary over the summer. I think we underestimate how much children can actually enjoy learning and want to learn

However, I think holidays are mainly for experiencing all the things that don't happen much at school- for us that's a mix of totally unstructured downtime in the garden / home/friends houses; trips out to fun places and to semi-educational places (museums, zoos, castles, festivals...); and some good quality sports sessions (at his request - tennis and football mainly!).

The skills we learn at school are largely academic, and my view (as someone very academically oriented) is that lots of other skills are just as important to have a successful and enjoyable life.

As a child, my mum used to get workbooks that were sort of puzzle-style but did have proper maths in them. I remember really enjoying doing these in the evening sometimes during the summer - I used to run around a lot during the day and wanted to do something quiet and peaceful indoors in the evening, often while my parents watched something on the TV that I thought was boring (news, documentary etc). I also have extremely fond memories of my mum going over tables, spellings etc, and she used to have some flip-card quizzes for different age groups. I never felt like these were work, and I'd done lots of other things during the day so it was a lovely way to relax. Having said that, I never felt forced into doing it, and there certainly weren't any time quotas to fill, my mum would just leave the books out and occasionally suggest I might like to have a go. However, my sister much preferred to do things differently - she was always very computer focused and loved games (still does!), so my mum got her various maths/spelling/comprehension games to play on the computer. Again, she was never forced to do these, they were just an optional activity that my mum made sure she knew about.
My point is, my mum knew what worked for us. Surely we can have a little faith in the OP to know what her children like? Obviously she's asked for opinions, but some of the responses on her are ridiculously one-sided!

My son loves work books and he is only 5. He is so excited to go into year 1 after summer to do proper work. Just get them to learn in a way they enjoy, you are not being mean at all wanting the best for them :-)

Sounds acceptable and normal to me. It's only 45 mins a few times a week. They don't call it the summer brain drain for nothing. You're helping them keep it fresh, go for it guilt free

I must be an evil mum too! I've always done 'educational' stuff with DD. From craft as soon as she could hold a paintbrush to the Reading Challenge every year from Reception to maths games (counting and shopping). She's now nearly 15 and starts her optuonbs in September, pulled herself from a C to an A in maths over the last year and asked us to get her some maths books to help her keep up. My be she's also an Air Cadet so will be doing two hours of training two nights a week too so that will keep her motivated.

The rest if the time, as long as she tidies her room she can pretty much do as she wants so I think its a good balance. Children need to learn how to balance work and fun, in school and out, and if we encourage a love of learning early on it stays with them for life. So no, OP, YANBU.

I think if your children are happy and enjoy it then I dont see the harm. 6weeks is a long time to occupy busy lil people and if they are happy to read/write and have mini projects then why not.
However, if it becomes a huge battle to get them to do it then it isn't fun for anyone.

As your children are 7 and 8 they're
prolly used to doing projects over the holidays.

I hope I can do some things like this with my daughter and she enjoys having fun :) x

Yanbu, it's about finding balance and supporting your children the best way for their needs.

We educate during summer differently by taking the kids to museums, galleries, aquariums etc we do this on holiday too. Expands their minds to something beyond maths and English etc... Don't see anything wrong with what you are doing as long as the kids are up for it, if they are being forced in to it, they likely won't really take it in, but I see further up the thread you say they've found it fun so what's wrong with that :)

A bit of reading and maths does not have to be done at the exclusion of all other activities. We do a bit of everything. The holidays are long here, 9 weeks, and we usually have a week at the beach and a camping trip during which time we are mostly outside. We also have a week visiting friends in another city so that's all social stuff. But even so, there is reading at bed time or during down times.

When we're home, the kids do online maths tutoring. One adores it and does at least 40min a day, the other one needs prompting and does about 1.5hr a week. One is an avid reader and the other needs encouraging. This is sandwiched between trips to the pool, beach, bush, strawberry picking, picnics, tennis, kayaking, friends...no great hardship.

Mine used to always get an activity list to get through each day with a mix of thinking, creative and active things on it. These could range from building the tallest Lego tower, to designing then making then testing assault courses to writing a poem that featured the letter q on every line. Even food options were on the list (something that grows on a tree, something that can be cut into shapes etc). For about 8 years they asked for activity lists every holiday and it seemed to work wonders and prevent too many free hours and subsequent boredom

I am doing it with my Ds and Dd too. Their reports was not satisfactory so I want to help them before the new term starts. I see nothing wrong with it.

YANBU

I have fond memories of filling in my junior eurocamp diary every day on holiday. That was all we did and mother primary school teacher. Agree with crazy and Ennis activities tailored to the child's interests surely a good thing?