Anyone else not done any work during the holidays?

[Cortina]

I had high hopes of doing a little a day but so far, apart from reading every other day (very little, just a couple of pages at night), we've done nothing.

DS will be going into Y2 in Sept, am I the only one?

Beginning to feel like I should be doing more?

DS is more interested in making dens in the garden and having a long break doing, well, not very much at all really. That's ok, isn't it?

No work here either. It's their holidays and time to do other things. Building dens is still learning isn't it? My two will be yr 5 and yr 3 when they go back. DD (9yo) is 'interior designing' her bedroom and creating menus for her cafe - my kitchen argh!! Ds (7 yo) is at football club this week. If he picks a book up voluntarily I will hyper ventilate. He does however read magazines about cars so is, in fact, reading without being aware of it . Not all learning has to be academic or curriculum inspired imho. Enjoy your break .

usually I do but couldn't be bothered this year. Dd had shingles, went away with dh, we are going away for two weeks. So not much time for work and dd seems unenthusiastic so not pressing it.

Just play. Playing is what really enables children to learn! (until secondary age at least).

But, I come from a background of never doing work in the holidays but still suriving Cambridge University.

Plus, I like to see my year1/2 dd picking up a book and reading it because she wants to, rather than because I'm asking her to.

Ho ho ho. It's the holidays . Leave 'em be.

I thought you were talking about your work. DD hasn't done any school work - its her holiday! She has helped a little with our plants but generally gives up & goes & makes dens. I should have done more, but have spent more time than I should hanging out with her.

(Off to the beach now when I've finished my cup of tea :) )

I assumed you meant adult work too.

The dds do what they wan t in the holidays, by and large. I certainly don't term anything they do as 'work'.

god no .... dd (7) has done nothing formal, but reads, draws, writes all the time for fun so I don't think she's losing too many skills. She's been teaching herself all about big numbers (i.e. googols and the like) but it's all self-directed so doesn't seem like work to her.

Ds2 (10) had two goals this summer - to learn how to dive and to improve his batting in cricket, so nothing to do with school but still constructive

ds1 (13) has done a lot of sleeping, a lot of xbox, but also a lot of reading and he's learned how to kayak, so again, nothing formal or school-related. From next week, however, he's going to be doing a little bit of Spanish every day to get his verbs up to scratch before y9

My aim is to ensure that they're so bored by the end of the holiday that they're desperate to get back to school

Kids have read every day but because they like reading (and because I have banned them from going on the computer for more than half an hour a day) - not sure if this counts? We've done our Space Hopper library reading challenge and DD successfully completed hers with books she read herself (she's five so pretty good going really). Meanwhile DS's aim is to read as many Edge Chronicle books as he can find in the library and he is well on the way to completing that personal challenge!

I am going against the grain here. I believe that dc's should be doing some work during the school holiday. I am on leave for three weeks and intend to spend a least two of those weeks doing some sort of schoolwork with my three dc's. They have all day to play and therefore i see nothing wrong with them doing two hours work each morning.
I know many parents will disagree with me, but i don't want my dc's to forget what they have learned. The good thing, is that i have seen an improvement in their work.

I completely agree forehead - but I have totally failed to do anything yet. I would have thought it would be easy to do a few minutes/day - but apparently not...

They have done a little bit, but it is mainly self directed.

They have already completed the library reading challenge, so have been reading lots.

DS2 has been developing a Celts obsession, which has involved spending lots of time on the BBC KS2 website, reading books from the library and visiting the museum.

DS1 has a similarly intense obsession with nature, and has spent a lot of the holidays logging what he has seen and reading books and websites. Woodland Trust Nature Detectives challenges every week, plus activities at the nearby RSPB and Nature Reserves.

DD mainly just likes fairies

I bought the three of them activity books for maths and literacy, which they pick up when they feel like it.

They also have homework from school, the boys both have reading books and all three have to keep diaries over the holidays.

So they are doing a fair amount of what could be described as "work", but most of it is self directed and they are enjoying it.

I see, forehead. And are you doing two hours of work during your holiday, also? Fairs fair, and all.

I have done in the past when the kids have been behind, just to give them a confidence kick start to the new year, but they've worked hard this year, done well and there is no need. And what's more they don't want to do anything formal - they are too busy exploring the garden, climbing trees, going swimming, having bike rides, reading books, going on lots of holidays...just kicking back and enjoying a bit of life on the unstructured, laid back side - it's such an under-rated pleasure.

DS (7) has done no formal work, its our holiday time (although I am trying to do lots of uni stuff before DC2 arrives). The 1st day of the holidays I felt rough and I experimented by letting him play Wii until even he was bored to tears by it- it took 7 hours! But since then he has barely looked at the thing and has read book after book after book.

He has done a tiny bit of research about things he is interested in and we have done some nerdy outings. I think that is plenty... His handwriting may suffer for a short while but If he was to forget what he had learnt at school I think it can't have been learnt too well in the first place.

I also think there is something to be said for returning to school to start the new term a bit bored of playing and actually wanting to get your teeth stuck into the coming years 'big boy' work too

I don't believe in doing 'homework' in holidays but a bit of writing and/or drawings in the context of games would be good for hand/eye coordination and fine motor control otherwise it might be a bit of a shock going back to school.

Can you get him to draw in the evenings - pictures of his den with the important parts labelled or captioned?

I know some kids are more into drawing/writing than others but it can be fun for downtimes and evenings.

I haven't done anything.
DD reads, draws, does craft stuff because she wants to, I don't make her.

It's the holidays.

Oh, but she has done the Spacehop challenge, because she wanted to, ditto the John Muir award with her Youth Club, in fact she does the last day of that tomorrow.
Other than that just playing out with her friends, or chilling out at home with me.

Glad I'm not the only one who thought from the title that You hadn't done any work.

Let him make dens in the garden. Home is for fun.

We haven't done anything at all. Apart from a french book which DS spotted in the library and has aaked his Dad to quiz him on a couple of times.

He is playing in a den as I type.

Enjoy your hols.

not a jot of formal work here.

It's the summer holidays. The DC are playing/arguing and enjoying doing what they want, when they want. School work is for school, IMO.

Not done any formal work with my dcs, however, they are using things they have done at school in everyday life on a daily basis.

Ds made a rhubarb and blackberry crumble so had to weigh and measure the ingredients. Dd wanted to buy a toy with her pocket money so had to count out the coins in her piggybank and work out how much change she would get.

Both are doing the Space Hop through their own choice, as well as helping to design and build a tree walk with their dad in the garden. They have to care and look after their pets - school doesn't just teach reading, writing and maths.

Holidays are just that holidays in our house.

No work here either.
It's the holidays!

No work here really either.

I have however started writing a story with DD, we are taking turns at making up sentences. I wanted to do something like this because at the end of last year (yr1) her teacher said she was reluctant to write anything, so I thought this could be a fun way of us spending time together, and working on her writing too. (not that I have told her the last bit). It seems to be working, she is engoying the very silly story that is developing.

I got eldest DS to write some postcards when we were away too.

And the oldest two are on the Spacehop challenge at the library, although they are both bookworms anyway.

None yet. They had swimming lessons every day for two weeks which was taxing enough, and this week so far the house has been bursting with other people's kids, late to bed sleepovers - holiday stuff.

They've been reading, drawing, writing magazines, playing Warhammer which seems to involve lots of measuring and adding up.

But I have bought some work books and hope they'll do some every day for the next couple of weeks.

Agree with forehead - its really no hardship for DS (9) to do a little handwriting practice and reading each day, plus library scheme - we are talking no longer than 10-15 minutes which leaves PLENTY of time for everything else.

And yes, I am still cooking, cleaning, washing, ironing plus organising entertainment to fill the holiday so if anything I am working harder than ever .