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?

When I was at primary school we used to get summer homework-how mean was that?! For that reason, I won't be doing worksheets etc but I'm all for games and puzzles that help with maths, also science "experiments" made up by my 7 year old also on a practical level such as calculating change in a shop.

Yup we'll be doing fun learning activities through the summer. Ds is just at the end of Yr1 so I'm hoping he still has that blurring between playing and learning so I can get a few gaps filled in before yr2.

I feel sad about it as there is a culture of tutoring and extra curricular learning at DS school. I feel strongly that this hot housing isn't good for children, but DS really struggled to keep up and is extremely dispirited as he thinks he is stupid. He's actually very bright but not confident, and when he sees so many in his class just speeding ahead, he gives up. And for him, it doesn't matter that they are so much ahead as they've already been taught most of the curriculum out of school, he just knows where he is in the class, and can see he's middle/bottom :(

Anyway, I've decided that my DS is getting hurt due to me opting completely out of this pathetic 'tutor and push at all costs' culture, so very reluctantly, I'm going to have to join in.

I'm hoping that filling in some gaps over the holidays might be enough to help him gain in confidence, but I am wondering if I need to find some money (from the food budget, ffs) to get some tutoring/ classes after school.

Yes mine are. 45 mins 3x a week as we are gearing up for 11+ in January and about 4 or 5 catch up maths sessions with a tutor.

Let's put it this way. This morning we've done an English practice paper which took 45 mins. Child in question has also played on tablet, been to the shops, been out for lunch and is currently having a Playdate which appears to heavily involve YouTube. Oh and has also managed about 40 minutes skateboarding. Hardly ruining the summer holidays

I'll be doing some work with my daughter. We'll keep on reading everyday (I've bought some new books) and I'll print off a few writing grids with fancy bordress to encourage her to write letters to family, diary entris about places we've visited. My dh does maths quizzes and games with her to help keep on top of times tabless and number bonds etc It does no harm. It helps reduce the summer slide back. We keep it low key about 15 to minutes at a time. She enjoys it.

Mine are 10, 12 and almost 14 so older than your DC, but yes we will have some structure to the holidays. We sat down together and worked out a plan.

All 3 play instruments, so they need to be practiced daily.
DS2 has a music theory book to work though.
All 3 have maths books or revision apps on their tablets.
DS1 and DS2 are using Duolingo to keep up their French and German.
All have been to choose books from the library, DD is doing the reading challenge.

We also do museums and the theatre and concerts.

They also spend hours playing outside, playing Xbox, watching TV, meeting up with friends, going on bike rides, just chilling. I don't think their summers will be ruined!

My DC go to an academically selective prep. I don't know any parent at the school who doesn't give their DC some work to do to keep things going over the holidays.

Its hardy mean. Mine do about 45 minutes a day plus music practice. They have the rest of the time to play.

We'll be doing this over the holidays, concentrating on the areas the kids are behind in. For my son (8) that's handwriting and for my daughter (9) it's English comprehension work.

We do give them about half an hour a week extra work on top of their normal school homework so they're quite used to us setting them additional work.

I find my kids slip backwards quite a lot over the summer if we don't run over some schoolwork. A couple of hours a week over the summer isn't going to impact on their enjoyment of the holidays but could give them a good head start when they go back in September.

My DS does a page of a workbook every day (15 mins). We are also doing the library reading challenge, and go on day trips at least twice a week to castles and museums etc. The rest of the time is playing outside so I don't think it's mean! I always did work over the summer

I think that's the thing. If half the class is doing extra work at home, the rest really needs to follow suit otherwise those who don't will appear to be at the Bottom of the class

For example we have already received what topics will be covered in each subject next year. And been asked if we can start going over them at home, at museums etc. Ds1 will be doing Romans, he has been to several castles the last year, and will read about them over the summer with us, so by September he will have a vague idea of the topic. It mean sthe half that don't won't be able to answer basic questions even though the haven't actually been taught yet so can feel like they should know it which isn't the case
Ds2 will be focused on money in maths. Again he had every day practice at home and in real life, but many don't so will automatically be behind on day 1 and have to work faster to catch up

As a Maths teacher I would love you as a parent!

There is always a element of 'catch up' time for some students when they come back after 6 weeks off, even worse from Yr6-Yr7 as a lot of Yr 6's seem to stop post SATS.

It doesn't have to be formal worksheets though.

There is a series of these books www.amazon.co.uk/Maths-Quest-Mysteries-David-Glover/dp/184835634X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1469109288&sr=8-3&keywords=maths+adventures which are KS2 ish level which are more adventure style books which might make them find it fun.

If they like colouring then these are also a good activity book www.amazon.co.uk/Second-Multiplication-Tables-Colouring-Book/dp/1899618309/ref=pd_sim_14_7?ie=UTF8&dpID=61iF9fV1pyL&dpSrc=sims&preST=AC_UL160_SR112%2C160&psc=1&refRID=P8R8Z6GH2EFTB19948E2 which will also help to improve times tables.

Also get them to do mental maths whilst you are doing other things - get them to work out which is the best deal in the supermarket, get them to work out how long it will take you to get to places, calculations with time are always tricky!

It keeps they grey matter working, means its not such a shock to the system when they do go back.

There are also loads of maths apps with games which the don't realise they are actually doing maths with.

Make them pay for ice creams with a bag of change. They quickly learn how to get £2!

Yes! I do this every school holiday. I do the 45 mins every other day

My children are in an academically selective prep also.
I don't do this. Term time is so full-on, they really need downtime. They read (by choice) every day. They also do their music practice (by choice) each day. That's enough.

We are doing this with our 12 year old but she will have 10 weeks and is very behind due to learning difficulties.

She isn't doing a full day and we are having plenty full days out where she will do no work at all.
She has Maths daily, just a worksheet covering the areas she struggles.
Some sort of English daily too, either spellings, writing and daily comprehension.
Then projects for History and Geography, and websites for German, French and her favourite Italian.
If it's not too much and slots in nicely, I don't see the problem.

I do a bit with mine (10 and 8) over the holidays, partly because otherwise most children regress somewhat over the 6 week break, and also because DC1 in particular is bored of repeating the same stuff at school and always looking for challenges, particularly in maths so it keeps him engaged with the subject. Thanks for the suggestions Noodle, look like those might be good for DC2, who is not so excited about maths!

Anybody feeling daunted at the cost of printing lots of sheets or buying books we have lots of cheap resources bought from Pound shops, cheap super saver type shops and The works.

Sometimes the library stock the CGP ks books, ok you can't write in them but could copy some questions out, if you have time.

Nope we don't do anything school like here, kids will read as it is what they do but aside from that no.

I don't do anything relating to my job when on annual leave so why should they.
It is only 6 weeks.

There are also books along the Horrible Histories style books

www.murderousmaths.co.uk/books/books.htm

covers both some literacy and maths work!! I used to have to do some work with KS2 even though I am secondary and got them to create their own book in this kind of style.

this is a good website for some fun games www.mad4maths.com/

Agree with the baking - even if its just 'creating' a recipe in the garden!

Other games - not used these but they look good www.crickweb.co.uk/ks2numeracy.html

These are also good as a mini project which might tap into a current interest www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Using+maths

We are doing a project on the place we will be going on holiday (it's a really exciting place). Both very enthused but they are naturally swotty bookworms. Have got one maths book each from water stones which we will work through leisurely. If they complete it they will get a prize - a book.

Another good one - is to make up sentences from car reg plates when you are on long car journeys!

We used to visit the channel islands a lot for holidays and their reg plates are just a series of numbers and I used to love trying to find number plates I could make into sums! ie 2862 would be fab as 2+8-6=2!

I am a true maths geek who could find maths anywhere! I also used to be a bookworm who used to get banned from reading so would find maths problems - like how many bricks are there in this wall!!!

I'm getting my son to learn 10 new German words a week over the hols so that will be 80 words added to his vocab over the time off.

Oops posted too soon. If they enjoy doing the worksheets I don't think its mean or a ptoblem at all.

It's 9 weeks holidays here not 6, so quite a long time to forget stuff

YABU. British summer holidays are very short. But where i came from, we had 3 months off. In that case, some schoolwork was encouraged.

My DC are that age and I'm doing some language and maths with them. Otherwise, they've forgotten too much by the time they go back. Nothing like 45 mins though, more like 20 mins every other day.