to not give my kids the summer 'off'

[Jockjockjock]

YABU - Cruel! Let them have 8 weeks off
YANBU - sensible, go for it

Kids been out of school since March, both primary age, and not back til Sept - if even then. Been doing home schooling routine, fairly easy going, but 9am start, lots of outdoor time in afternoons, and no screens allowed til after 5pm.

Summer hols are coming up so I was thinking of ignoring that fact and just carrying on, given how much school they've missed, and we aren't going anywhere.
IS that cruel??? to skip their summer break? We have a local caravan booked for 2 weeks so they'd have that time off.
Can't think what else they'd do all day otherwise, given the lack of holiday clubs, or mixing with friends that they would usually do in summer.

Anyone out there planning the same?

Let them have their holidays! They're in primary school fgs.

Mine have been working at least 2 1/2 hours a day.
DD has been going to keyworker care where they are childcare only so doing her learning when I pick her up so working until 6:30pm to fit it in.
DS is year 9 and has been doing all of his lessons each day, PowerPoint/video followed by tasks for each lesson.

They absolutely will be having a 'normal' summer holiday so no work but still reading for pleasure. Children have still been working just like school staff have- we all need our proper break.

We are continuing with a reduced timetable - about1.5 hours per day (mine hasn’t missed any school though, our school has been excellent and continued with the curriculum). If he had missed anything, I would do more.

My yr 2 dc has fallen so far behind...and that’s with online classes. Having said that I’ve found she’s learning more at home, so perhaps she was behind before! Either way we’ll be reading, going through spellings, times tables, writing for fun and comprehension on a daily basis....the rest can wait.

(mine did around 4 hours per day during lockdown- year 2)

Or go for the middle ground - do some fun activities that are sneakily educational - make up your own reading challenge (libraries might be doing online versions of their summer reading challenges), do things like baking or art projects (those can sneak in maths and some reading), but let them have some kick back and relax time each day too.

Oh get a grip of yourself honestly. It is summer holidays in a year where they have already been dealing with a global pandemic. Cut them some slack.

This has been an incredibly stressful time for children, probably more than we can actually realise. The next school term is likely to be just as stressful, and mental health matters for everyone.
Let them be children and enjoy their summer.

Can't think what else they'd do all day otherwise, given the lack of holiday clubs, or mixing with friends that they would usually do in summer.

So you want to stick them in front of a bunch of worksheets so you don't have to actually interact with them?

OP, your children are really young and have been doing all the work they should have done for the past several months. Basically cancelling their summer holiday is incredibly cruel.

If you want to keep up some learning, which is great, maybe do an hour of maths and one of literacy every week. Broken up into chunks, maybe. But please, please don't force them to do school all summer just because you don't have any other ideas on how to entertain them!

I think you need to recognise how hard kids have had it. By all means do fun educational things, lots of reading but having them stick to a schedule and work=no.
Also things are opening again, play grounds, cafes, shops, outdoor attractions (eg farms, gardens etc)- not 100% normal but you can have days out.
Can’t they meet friends outside?

I have DD in Y6 and DS in Y9. DD's activities from school have been pretty tedious, lots of revising English/Maths, going over stuff that she already knows. DS has been working incredibly hard and has been doing all the work set - his school do a 3 year GCSE course.

I am definitely letting them have a break over the school holidays, they need it (particularly DS). They both read a lot and I'm hoping museums will open as we usually do a few day trips.

Poor kids, you sound horrid, they are having a horrible time at the minute and being pushed on the back burner and you want your children to continue that way and not have their summer break before they go back to a shit storm in September full of stress and chaos....I feel sorry for them a little bit, but if you want your kids to not have a break then don’t, cruel but your choice, just don’t expect them to thank you!

Mine will definitely be having the summer off but at ages 5 and 9 they learn stuff every day anyway. No need for tedious comprehension and worksheets. We'll be exploring nature, reading, playing games, puzzles, art, cooking etc.

We worked through the half term but my dc didn't realise so I didn't tell them! I do think they need the holiday though and making them work is a bit mean. Yes, they've lost a lot of learning, but so have all the other children in the country so it's not as if they're on their own in that.

Coming from a homeschool family, lots of people do what you are describing, they spread work out more evenly through the year. There are lots of up-sides, it gives the days a little structure, you can work on areas that have been troublesome, prevents forgetting things. It can also be nice to use the god weather to do things like nature study.

I'd go for it if you think it will be nice, they'll still have lots of time for other things.

So, what are - working - parents doing all day with their kids?
most parents I know have used up their holiday allowance to deal with the school closures, and there are no holiday clubs etc.
I rather have mine doing schoolwork then being in front of screens all day (after 4 months, most toys have list their appeal, and I can hardly sent a 7 year old to the playground alone)
SAHP had tons of time to do all schoolwork etc. But working parents?
Sending them to friends also means the friends need a SAHP, but that is rare.
All these plans involve parents not working - sorry, most of us can’t afford a permanent holiday

In other countries with a much longer summer break, it's perfectly normal to do 1 hour of work most days if you are not busy at camp or others. I am not sure why it's such a shocking concept.

I wouldn't go for a full "summer school", they do need a break, but I don't agree with the "no work whatsoever" for weeks. It's in their own interest, not mine!

Can't think what else they'd do all day otherwise, given the lack of holiday clubs, or mixing with friends that they would usually do in summer.

Well they can play out with their friends and have outdoor playdates in the park or in people's gardens. Soft play etc. might be closed but there's nothing stopping them going out with friends to the park for the day and having a picnic, for example.

What would your normally do with them over the summer that you can't do now? Things like zoos, farms, national trust gardens etc. are all open, just with booking systems in place.

I've just had a similar conversation with my parents. DD starts school in September and her nursery funding stops on 7th August. I was going to send her for a further couple of weeks, but as DH and I are key workers she's been attending nursery full time throughout the pandemic.

She could do with some down time, so she'll be stopping full time nursery, and going two days a week from 7th August, and stopping completely on 21st August.

My little girl is 7 and I am in Scotland so we broke up last week for summer holidays and back on 11th August. I am planning to do a little work every Monday - Friday for a couple of hours. I bought reading eggs and will be doing Maths and Reading on that. I have noticed a huge improvement on both her reading and maths skills since she has been getting home schooled so what to keep those improvements up.

Mine love the routine. Instead of two hours of school work, they're doing one hour and it's just work books that are more fun than anything else. We do have a no screens rule until 4pm though with each hour scheduled out for their summer craft boxes I've bought, their Lego, reading, etc. It's the only way I can keep working with them around.

But i have found mine need structure. If they're left the whole day doing what they want, they complain they're bored until they get screen time.

Do what works for all of you, I say!

@myself2020

So, what are - working - parents doing all day with their kids? most parents I know have used up their holiday allowance to deal with the school closures, and there are no holiday clubs etc. I rather have mine doing schoolwork then being in front of screens all day (after 4 months, most toys have list their appeal, and I can hardly sent a 7 year old to the playground alone) SAHP had tons of time to do all schoolwork etc. But working parents? Sending them to friends also means the friends need a SAHP, but that is rare. All these plans involve parents not working - sorry, most of us can’t afford a permanent holiday

I work part time and split the holidays with my ex so not a "permanent holiday" kids have been in school as we're both keyworkers so they definitely need a break, and so do I.

My daughters are 13 and 9 and we've talked about how they can't spent the summer in front of the tv/ games console.

Non educational screen time will continue to be 'banned' between 10-2pm.

They can do anything else they want to. These are their choices:

Exercise (bike rides, trampoline and the rowing machine etc.)
Reading, baking, make a movie trailer, project work, Horrible Histories, Lego and art work.

DD9 has her 11+ in September so she'll need to do a bit of work during 2 of the weeks.

We will have a week's holiday in our camper van too (we've moved Spain until next May).

We're planning to get ds to continue a little in the subject he struggles with the most as he was already slightly behind average when lockdown began. So we will be encouraging him to do some English (in fact our neighbour is a primary teacher on mat leave and she's agreed to give him extra tuition for a small amount of money - 2 hours a week). But other than that, no structured learning. This whole thing has been really tough on our kids. Ds has two parents still working and in back to back calls. Trying to home school doesn't make for an enjoyable or productive learning environment for him. He needs a break as much as we do.