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Original poster

6 year old boy doing 1 hour english/40 mins per day in holiday. Too much or just right?

124 replies

pepsi · 18/08/2006 14:47

A friend of mine was telling me how she has been working with her ds6 every day in the holidays to try and improve his skills for Year 2. He doesnt have any learning difficulties or anything, is just an average child I would say. I was amazed when she said she is doing an hour of writing, letters, drawing, plus 40mins of sums every morning. Of course this amazement has now turned to paranoia and visions of my ds sitting at the bottom of the class with a dunces hat. I have tried to do some reading during the hols but mainly its been play, play and a bit more play, holiday, going out, etc. Whats a reasonable amount of work to do per day in the hols...if any do you think?

OP posts:
Beetroot · 18/08/2006 15:16

i have no idea how you practice with the tele on..mine are all at it now..PS2 off TV off..20 min on each instrument then back to mindless stuff!!!

Beetroot · 18/08/2006 15:17

god cello in the early days is hard on the ears!!

French horn can be waring as well

Blandmum · 18/08/2006 15:18

She has improved quite a lot. It is only hellish now

Kaloo20 · 18/08/2006 15:23

Mine do
15 minutes each a day at home Mon-Fri
ds (only) reads to me for a total of 10 minutes Sat and 10 minutes Sun

  • 1 one hour lesson with tutor per week - each
  • 10 days of 1 hour lessons at beginning of holiday - each
  • 2 hours a day - the week before they return to school - dd only.

This is all revision to absolutely consolidate previous year

dd just completed Y2 - struggles with maths
ds just completed Y1 - because of hearing issues (now sorted) cannot read and needs help with blends and phonics still

Evil Mother ? No
Miserable children No
Both love their tutor classes and don't mind the daily homework with their Nanny
Will our lives be happier when the new term starts and these children are mentally ready for the next acedemic year and whilst may both struggle with new concepts, at least I know that they are not falling behind Yes

contentious post ? I'm sure I'll be branded as obsessed by a few

cat64 · 18/08/2006 15:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

flack · 18/08/2006 15:55

Numeracy: DS counts the coins in his moneybank obsessively.
Literacy: He keeps making lists of playmates he wants to come around, He's reading cereal packets. He can almost spell h-y-d-r-o-g-e-n-a.......

Am I too pushy a parent? (joke!).

Gobbledigook · 18/08/2006 15:58

A reasonable amount of work for the holidays? Er, none. They are children, it's about having fun in the holidays. Unless they want to do it of course.

kittywits · 18/08/2006 17:11

Good heavens. What's the matter with some people? Pushy parents, obsessed with attaining glory through their poor harassed kids.
Not only do I think that primary children shouldn't have any homework during the holidays, I also think that apart from reading they shouldn't have any homework atall during term time.
These people should leave the kids alone and actually give them some sort of quality childhood instead. It will all come back to haunt them in the end.

Beetroot · 18/08/2006 17:14

i like homework and think it is good for kids. It is better than sitting in front of the ps2 or tele all afternoon. There is alot of time between 4 and 7/8 bedtime to fit in a bit of independent work

Pinotmum · 18/08/2006 17:15

Trying to teach dd the time as she got a watch a couple of weeks ago. She's only 5 so I think that's about all she can cope with and it's not going well

Blandmum · 18/08/2006 17:19

kittywits, I'm not obsessed with glory through my children.

I'm trying to help my son, who is substantialy behind his classmates. The school SENCO (who he works with weekly) thought it was an excellent idea

kittywits · 18/08/2006 17:22

Yes Kaloo I think your thinking is bizare and potentially unhealthy for your children. There is more to life than accademic acheivement.

There is also no way of predicting a child's sucess in future life by his or her work as a young child at primary school.

I am a teacher and with my many, many years experience as both teacher and mother I know that it makes no difference whether you cram your kids during the holidays academically.

It is a misguided notion.

It does however, make a difference to them regarding the lack of rest and recuperation their brains need. They start school, not refreshed, having had no mental break.

I fail to see how anyone would consider that to be of any benefit at all to their child.

Marina · 18/08/2006 17:24

We had a great pair of sheets from school for the holidays - one emphasising how counting games, doing shopping etc, can help keep newly acquired maths skills in trim for Yr3. Lots of handy little tips. The other sheet was a suggested reading list of fun fiction for children. That has come with us to the library.
Both v. useful. That's it for us. No instrument practice as ds doesn't learn but I'd have though a cello accompaniment to Chuckle Brothers might improve them frankly MB

Blandmum · 18/08/2006 17:26

damning them with faint praise there I think marina

Steppy1 · 18/08/2006 17:30

...done only what they've wanted to...DS (5) has done some reading and drawing (letters to grandad who is in hospital) and we've all had great fun playing thunderbirds (in the camp in the garden!) sleeping out (in the tent in the garden !!) holding a mini sports day with friends (in the garden !) learning tennis (for 2 separate one hour sessions) and running around the running track (I took them to the local athletics track) which they loved because they hadn't seen it before. swimming (several times) Late nights.... it's been great..they've loved it...Isn't the problem with grading of such young children the reason that many of them fail ie they're then put under such pressure to keep up instead of learning at their own pace, that it switches them off from learning.... poor little loves !!

kittywits · 18/08/2006 17:34

Martianbishop, you don't sound like a pushy parent to me. My comments were not made with you in mind.
I do worry though with the current education systems's obsession with bringing all children up or down to the average ( whatever that means).
It allows no room for individual development, nor does it take account of the unique talents of an individual child. These are meaningless in the current system which is only interested in what position each school comes in on in the league tables.

How awful that we are in a situation that such young children are aware that they are not hitting the mark. My 8 year old ds has always been a complete air head. He's been with the senco for this that and the other, fine, but I won't do any extra work with him, because I know that he's fine and is developing at his own rate. Your son is probably doing the same thing too.

We are in a culture now that we cannot allow our children just to be. We have to bring them up to this mark, teach them this and that. Give them x experiences. Their lives are so crammed that they can't just "be". Sad.

Blandmum · 18/08/2006 17:39

thankfully he has no idea he is 'behind' and sees the extra lessons with the SENCO, who is fab, as fun lessons.

While I honestly feel that children must be allowed to be children, I also see the hearache of children in KS3 who simply cannot addresss the subjects because of their horrific probelms with literacy/numeracy. I have just finished a year of teaching 4 11-12 year olds with reading ages of 6. By the time I got them they had endured years of 'failing' at school, and were quite convinced that learning is not for them.

While it may be a small chore for ds to read for 10 minutes a day it is the intervention that he needs now to stop him from feeling that he cannot suceed at school.

I don't think that we should be aiming for standardised children, but at the same time we cannot ignore the problems that some children have. Idividual development is the key, but we have to put in the time to make sure that there is development.

lukenjoesmummy · 18/08/2006 17:47

My 6 year old came home from school with a workbook of stuff to do over the holidays. It's completely optional and I started off with all good intentions of doing a thing each day but so far we haven't even opened it.

I totally agree with all of you that say holidays are for fun and not work and that they shouldn't be pressured but I can guarantee that when we go back and all the other Mums are bragging about how their kids have filled in the whole book and more besides I'm going to feel like the crappest Mum in the world whose son will be the bottom of the class for evermore!

Maybe I am a crap Mum in that respect but I know my kids will have had a good time and will look back with fond memories of happy summer holidays.

7up · 18/08/2006 17:53

holidays are for fun, they have enough to do atschool. fun teaching is ok, counting cars when you go for a drive, calculating at the shops, reading road signs but there aretoo many pushy mums on here (special need kids not included)who obviously did crap at school themselves and are pushing their kids to not fail asthey did. really pisses me off.

i have a bad day, can you tell

kittywits · 18/08/2006 17:59

ljm it will make no difference atall whether they do a silly book during their free time. It will, as you so rightly say, make a difference to their lives that they remember all the fun they had with their mummy.

How many of these children can you imagine saying
"Oh yes , my mum was really great , she made us do homework all through our holiday time and we are so grateful for this. Without her we would have been unemployed hobos" ?

Blandmum · 18/08/2006 18:02

But this isn't an either or thing is it?

No-one is suggesting that you should only do work with them. Along with some work today my two have made two dens, built a lego city to go with ds's castle, gone shopping with me, helped to cook lunch and tea, tidied up their toys, watched the dreaded scooby doo and played the cello to the Chuckle brothers.

all part of life's rich tapestry and all that.

Gobbledigook · 18/08/2006 18:02

I think it's fair enough to do a little bit if a child is 'behind' and you want to bring them up to speed.

Otherwise there is just no need. Ds1 has just finished reception and every day he will read a book (or he is reading anything he comes across) and he loves writing letters to people so he does that a lot. This is all by his initiation though and he does it on his own tbh.

Otherwise, the holidays are for getting out in the fresh air, running around, exercising, using their imagination. Imo anyway.

Gobbledigook · 18/08/2006 18:03

Mb, you don't sound pushy in the least.

I should point out I haven't read all the posts so am not directing comments to anyone imparticular

Blandmum · 18/08/2006 18:04

TBH it isn't a case of making ds catch up, but rather to make sure he doesn't fall further behind. He was just starting to make some progress, and the SENCO and I were keen to keep it going.

8 weeks with nothing would have been an issue for him

PanicPants · 18/08/2006 18:06

I'm a teacher and holidays are for FUN. Yes, perhaps look at any keywords that have been sent home, and read when ever you can, but make it fun.

Buy a comic and share it together is the same as plodding through a book and writing EVERY day for an hour. Or maybe children can do a holiday diary if they want to. As for maths, do it practically when in shops with money and change - more more practical, off the hoof and far more relivant to the child anyway.