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?

We never used worksheets, but I suppose I did make my own sometimes.

Just a convenient way to go over something in a condensed form.

If they'd been pre prepared by someone else I would have been quite happy to use them .

I didn't realise I was doing something so controversial.

The studies on homework are certainly very limited in scope and number.

Where does this idea come from that there are 'tons' or that they are 'extensive'?

We do this. DD is preparing for the 11+ in a year so we want to support what she's learnt anyway and cement her tables.

But it's not just worksheets/books - though we have and use them. We also:
Do the reading challenge at the library and talk about the books they've read for it
Let DD and DS1 play with Scratch and Kudu at home to create stuff
Let DD play on the Sumdog website on the computer
Play board games - orchard toys ones and stuff like Carcassonne, Scrabble and Perudo.
hunt for Pokemon

Homework this year is science experiments for DD and a project about castles for DS1 so I'm planning how to approach those at the moment! DD will probably get a Brownie badge day at home, we'll invite her friends round and they can all do their Science Investigator badge here while doing the homework.

The studies on homework are certainly very limited in scope and number.

And almost certainly based on examples of bad homework. Anyone who has sat with their kid and gone over a tricky bit of math (for example) until the penny drops could vouch for out-of-school work. My son would have never mastered simultaneous equations relying exclusively on his maths teacher.

I think the one-to-one aspect of homework can be highly efficient.

The great things about school; its collegiate nature, the social side, access to varied experts, sometimes make the transfer of knowledge/skills quite time consuming.

Ours do about 20 mins on a holiday diary after breakfast. One of our kids has a learning difficulty. A complete break of six weeks would set her back months. I do spellings with her and help her write in the diary. The others write in their diaries and draw. This way dd doesn't feel singled out. We wouldn't do this if dd didn't need the consistent input though.

it's called Coercive Control

come on now, don't be silly😅

I'm a single mum working full time and really struggle to even see my child during the summer holidays never mind set homework! Those who get the time to do this come across as smug compeitive mum's to be honest. We all so the best we can for our children. IMO the OP comes across as smug and looking for praise for even posting this question. The 3 whole days I will have with my DD during the holidays will be spent on family visits, bicycle rides and camping.

I wouldn't be dragging my kids to do physical activity - though I've never met a child that would need to be dragged swimming! An enforced long walk might not be so appealing but my 2 were perfectly happy to walk an hour each way and play in the park all day yesterday. Not sure why getting exercise needs to be some resented bootcamp style activity. And I feel the same about worksheets. There are so many less tedious ways kids can learn things.

But that's the point. You don't need to try and be making algebra fun. If your children are engaging in activities which encourage creative thinking and problem solving, this could be through painting, making dens or any type of play, then they are developing skills they can use to solve maths problems. Thought doesn't need to go into maths specific learning either. If you are baking bread you may have to double quantities/convert. If you give your children pocket money they will be adding, subtracting and multiplying if they get more than one thing the same price. Whereas if you give a workbook you are just reinforcing that maths is boring and something you do because adults say so. Any child who has a reasonably stimulating home environment has no need for workbooks/sheets.

The thing is, about exercise too, is if one doesn't make a big deal out of it, they are fine with it. It's part of life I admit when our dcs were little they didn't have the screens to keep them indoors.

When we weren't away. they were out most of the time with friends and neighbours' kids.

I really struggle to see how den building relates to algebra.

That may be true for small children bunsex but it is highly unlikely that children will repeatedly come across more difficult concepts in every day life.

And almost certainly not in everything from chemistry to Spanish.

If a parent wants to consolidate these concepts or introduce new ones, then he/she will need to give it some proper thought. Whether they do so formally or informally is up to them. But if they will need to at least consider it.

Gel the op is talking about 7/8 yos.

Den building and maths problems. When a child is building a den they will come across problems. They will have to vary their approach. There will be trial and error. All skills that are very useful in maths and not a worksheet in sight.

SisterVik How do you reckon any villages were built before the children of the WC went to schools then? They learnt by doing it next to their parents who had also learnt that way. Funnily many cottages are still standing 500 years or so AFTER they were built.

I'd like to see what the modern boxes they build now are like in 500 years

Mine will do it. DC3 will ask to read and write and do maths. DC2 needs to in order to feel that they are sufficiently ahead of DC3. DC1 is doing a reading bingo challenge and enjoying it, which is good as is sometimes a reluctant reader. DC4 will colour/sticker while they work. They won't do it every day but enough to keep skills sharp.

We will also do practical maths, fine motor skill, reading for different purposes, handling money, increasing vocabulary etc... None of which they will know is happening!

peat illiterate people learned those skills through one to one tuition. repeated ad nauseum.

They certainly did not learn then them through play or through osmosis whilst having fun.

They like a variety of activities. My two are currently den building (right in the middle of the corridor... wonder how long till they learn the folly of that one...) This morning they did some sumdog, DS did some duolingo, DD read a joke book, both went the to the playground, timed each other running, drew some pictures. This afternoon they played in the garden and we went swimming. The nice thing about holidays, there are enough hours in the day to do whatever they want, and some to spare.
We need to get them to tidy up too, I can tell you that'll be a whole lot less popular than anything academic we could offer.

By LIVING, like learning to cook GetAHaircut, building dens is good training for living\surviving.