Yes we are. I’m being guilted left right and centre by people telling me not too, Facebook posts saying just to relax and play. Have loving family time and don’t force them to learn. Intimating that keeping up with learning is not loving, authoritarian and stressful.
Well. My kid likes learning. He wants to do the work his teacher has sent and we add in some stuff of our own. He is 8 with slight SEN and in Year 4 in a mainstream school.
Our day goes Maths, English, break, Art, PE, lunch, reading, Science/Geography. We are taking the opportunity to work on the area he struggles with (spelling). Once a week he has an online Maths class ahead of his grade level (he excels in Maths). He chose this class out of all the online classes available. He could have learned to beat box or done Lego challenges. He chose maths. He has been taking a class of his choice once a week for about a year as an extra curricular activity.)
He’s happy with our routine. It’s not all dry worksheets - yesterday we were creating static electricity, Monday we were spelling words using play doh and today we will be building snap circuits. We also go for bike rides, play in the garden, cook, cuddle, play board games (if I’ve played monopoly once in the last month I’ve played it 100 times
) etc etc
I am self employed and have lost most of my work so I have time to do this. DS is also an only child. I understand many people don’t have the time. I understand many people don’t want to do this or can’t. I understand that not doing the work is the right choice for some people. But it seems there is not much understanding out there that for some, like us, doing the work is the right thing. We did none in the Easter holidays and DS is visibly more settled now we are back at it.
Just wish I could cop a bit less flack for our choices. I rarely hear a voice of support amongst all the shouts of “don’t bother, learning will damage his mental health”