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?

Ragged - I'd love to know the answer to this question too (not specifically to Ragwort).

Well, my son has spent 2 hours this afternoon doing 'homework' ...... or sulking, messing around, arguing, kicking around on his chair, writing the most scruffy piece of work, throwing a wobbley, me telling him i give up and if he wants he can go back to school with an empty scrap book.................and then eventually writing about 6 lines about Toy Story 3 perfectly.

Not entirely sure what the learning outcomes were for either of us. But there is no doubt that this work will be mostly my effort. It would be non-existant otherwise, even if i do tell him i am having nothing to do with it.

I teach at one of the top 20 acheiving state schools nationally. Our policy is no holiday homework. The kids need a break.

p.s. apologies for rubbish typing - baby in other arm

ClareV - being the terrible Mum that I am I never do my kids homework for them. If they hand in rubbish, they hand in rubbish. That's between them and their teacher.

dc have been largely chilling tbh but not entirely unproductively - ds has achieved his RYA dinghy sailing level 4 and dd has been in a local musical theatre production.

Despite the fact ds (12) has Common Entrance and 13+ exams this year and I know others have been set work and/or are being tutored we haven't done much formally. dd(8) is making a nature book (optional school project) and learning Japanese ! She also has been on a maths site once or twice as time was highlighted as a weakness in her maths. Both read avidly anyway and spend time writing stories, together or individually. If anyone knows a good site for Year 7/8 maths (esp geometry and bearings) and geography please declare it! Music practice has also been decidedly sparse

We're going away soon and ds will be using the trip for history and both to practice French.

maybe i should do that too indigo - it does seem ridiculous that the teacher is effectively assessing my work sometimes (lots of times!). i've got a phd ffs!!!

how old are yours? do you remind them that they have work to do? ds is 6 and wouldnt occur to him to ever sit down and do it without a million prompts. would save me lots of stress though!!

previous post was supposed to read 'kids need a break, and the parents!!'

Clare - My DC's are 9, 7 and 6.

I tell them they need to do it. Often give them the choice of doing it now or after Tracey Beaker. Give them help if they ask for it (i.e. how do you spell a word). Sometimes stand over them while they do it - but never actually do any of it at all.

Normally they will do it if I give them control over when they do it.

If they can't do their homework independently I complain that it's too hard. That didn't go down well with DD's teacher last year :)

I'm rather surprised at the idea of sitting down to do a couple of hours work every day of the holidays. I can't say that this is something I'd have thought to do, but I suppose it's OK if the kids enjoy it. If they don't, and if they have to be pushed, then I'm not so sure that it's a good idea. Holidays need to be fun!!!

My dd has just finished in reception, and we haven't done any formal work at all during the holiday. Having said that, she is a big reader and we have been doing the space hop challenge from the library - her idea - and she writes a lot as well, as part of her day-to-day play. And according to her dad, who has looked after her today while I was at work, she has spent most of today playing schools with her dollies, giving them lots of sums to do. Inevitably, the dollies aren't too hot at working things out, and so she ends up doing it for them.

I think it's fine to do educational stuff with your children, as long as it's fun. Childhood is such a precious time, and it doesn't last long.

Indigobell - excellent post.

Forehead - you want your children to be 'educated'? Suppose your children turned out to be not academic? Would you then be disappointed or feel that you/they had failed? There are plenty of people who are not particularly well-educated but have made happy successful lives for themselves.

God, when did we all become so obsessed about our children's academic performance? Yes it is important but there are also other things in life. I don't think I've ever heard a person say that their child wasn't academic but they were planning on learning a trade, for example.

My mum always used to say that if you can read, you can teach yourself anything. In a way I'm lucky that my older dds are very keen readers. But I think it's also important to children to set a good example yourself. Rather than sitting them round the kitchen table doing formal work, let them see YOU reading or learning something new. Then it comes just more naturally to them. Learning is a life-long thing, it doesn't end at the end of secondary school or the end of university. As Indigobell says, you need to help children to develop a life-long love of learning and I don't think doing formal work at such a young age helps to achieve this. It may well have the opposite effect.

Another thing that seems to be a motivating factor for parents these days is fear: fear their child won't make a certain SAT level, fear they won't get into a good secondary school, fear that they won't get a university place.

I don't do my DC's homework for them, what would the point be in that?

If they get stuck with a spelling I will help them, sometimes I will write the word down for DD to copy (she is only 4.5). I also encourage them to check over their work, usually they can spot mistakes such as spelling, letters back to front etc themselves and correct them.

If you do homework for your children then surely the teacher is going to spot the huge difference between their work at home and their work in school?

Also I hope that one day they will reach a level far higher than I did in some subjects, for example Geography which I gave up in Year 9. They will have to work it out for themselves then!

Ragged - not sure what would happen if DS didn't do his homework, nothing probably - but I like the structure of him doing (a little) homework during the holidays - in my opinion its absolutely no hardship at all ie: today he read a book on the drive to a castle.

Dancergirl - I don't think I'm obsessed about my child's academic performance BUT I do want him to be able to get a job when he leaves school and in the current economic climate it is incredibly difficult to get any sort of job after school/university ... I have nieces and nephews who have recently left school and, to be perfectly blunt, those who are less academic are not able to find jobs - they may just be unlucky (or lazy ) but I don't want my DS to end up in the same position. Sorry, going off topic a bit here !

DS1 is at a top ten school. DD is at a top twenty school ( by the published league table which are know are wankconsiderably less than balanced but I am trying to give an indication of outcomes here IYSWIM )

DS1 has NEVER been given homework at primary prep level. Nor has DD. I would be irked if they were.
DS1 got 6A*s and 4As at gcse.
They don't need it unless they need peripheral support ( like DS2 does) and iMHO if that is set during holidays it needs to be fun related.

Ragwort - I see your point but my oldest child is 9. She won't be out of education for another 9 years at least. So who knows what the economic climate will be like then?

This is exactly my point about fear - we're all scared of what's going to happen in the future! Why can't we enjoy the here and now?

And academic success does not guarantee anything - you also hear about gradutes with ffantastic degrees struggling to find jobs. But they will...in time...and so will your nieces and nephews most probably.

Dancegirl, my children always see me learning. I speak French fluently(self taught) and i am learning how to speak Spanish. I love to learn and my dc's are very similar.
I want my dc's to have opportunities in life. It doesn't mean that they have to go to university, but i want them to have the CHOICE and having a decent education gives them the choice.

DS1 is nearly 6 and will be going into year 1 when he goes back to school, he hasn't dont any 'set' work but we have been to the aquarium and the farm and various places on holiday, he has been making a scrap book which is mostly about the Sealion he fell in love with at the Welsh Mountain Zoo.

We read together every night and i got him some books with mazes and things in to help his fine motor skills which he struggles with but he doesnt see them as work he likes them and does them independantly by choice.

Dancergirl: my DC have seen me stressing over studying for an OU qualification for the past 2 years. I think that would probably be enough to put them off education for life...

But seriously, I am always reading, and when we go to the library I leave them in the children's section while I go to find books for myself. I speak several languages. We go to museums, art galleries etc and all learn things. I hope I set them a good example.

But they still do the occasional worksheet

I can't imagine sitting ds down to do two hours of work a day. We have however continued with our usual five or ten minutes of homework type stuff but we make a game out of it.
Ds was begging to carry on with his spellings last night when I wanted to stop.

I was however a bit that the teacher gave all the class several pages of spellings for the holidays - they are only in reception.

Have done nothing with dd at the instruction of her teacher! My dd has speech issues that are causing issues with reading (she just finished reception), dd has had a hard 1st year at school with having to have surgery and be out of school offten for speech therapy, her teacher and I could see that by July dd was losing heart and was getting frustrated and her confidance was going down, she was looking for any short cut she could find when it came to her reading and what made me very sad was that she didn't want to sit down and read anymore, it was horrible. At her IEP review her teacher advised that all preasure was removed streight away, so for the last few weeks of school and the holidays to date she has not been asked to do any 'work', almost streight off she was a brighter happier little girl, over the holidays so far she has started to do lots of writing on her own and rather then copying or asking how to write something making phonestical attempts for herself and all things considered really doing well (I can understand what she writes) she still hasn't come to me and asked to read but her over all confidence in herself has really improved, some children really do need a break, little ones especially, in my meating with her teacher I expressed a consern about dd forgeting what she had learned but her teacher said that she was confident that dd was secure in what she had learned and would not forget but she did say that some children do need to keep up a little work over holidays to avoid slipping back a little bit so I guess it comes down to the indervidual child (doesn't it always lol!).
I guess the moral to my (long) story is that you know your child and their learning style best and there is no right or wrong in if you should be doing any work over the holidays! Next week we will be pulling out the reading books again in readyness to a return to school (again this was advised by her teacher) and I am happy to say dd is quite happy for this and is looking forward to going into her new class.

My DS is the same age as yours. Last summer I did nothing with DS and his reading did slip a bit, but was back on track within a few weeks. He did learn lots of other stuff though, like riding his bike without stabilisers, which IMO, was much more important than a bit of reading.

This summer, he's doing a little as he's going into a class with kids a bit older, and being separated from his friends so I want him to feel confident at the start of the year. He's not massively keen on reading, so we're only doing a little, but he's been filling in a holiday scrapbook which has been great for his concentration and writing and has brought back many lovely memories for me of when I used to do them.

He also likes word search and was doing lots of French ones in the car on the way/to from holiday in France. He has one piece of official homework for the hols which he has just started.

I think the holidays are about them doing what pleases them, and for some children that will be reading, for others it will be tennis, for others a mix/whatever. I firmly believe the summer holidays are for creating special memories that will stay with them forever.

To be honest I don't see the harm in them doing 20 minutes a day when they have the rest of the day to play. DS going into year 1 in prep school and struggled in reception as I did nothing with him before he went, so am using the hols (8 weeks) to help him catch up and get his confidence up. He does 10 mins kumon maths and reads a couple of pages of a book, or looks over words spellings etc.

really interesting thread.

I think I could've been in the 'two hours a day' brigade, but I've relaxed a lot. this is largely thanks to MN actually - having read a lot of home ed posts about autonomous learning and a lot of similar threads to this one from teachers. I hope I won't force anything, but I would be happy to do any set holiday work.

I used to LOVE formal 'sit-down' learning - still do really, which is good as I'm also doing an OU degree! but from really young I loved workbooks etc. I even nicked a load of my mum's old 11+ practice books once

I have 3 stepchildren and that's really opened my eyes to the fact that not everyone is as geeky academic as me. I do feel it's sad that they don't enjoy school work (I think it's valuable to have a positive attitude to learning, and they've definitely got their negative view from their mum) but I've accepted we can't change them.

I've learnt to just provide opportunities for learning. they've had workbooks/puzzles in the past but I wouldn't force it. we've written stories together, gone to museums, gone bug hunting, made board games etc.

I'm genuinely really glad I've had my views challenged on this matter actually. it's really helped me chill out about academia and hopefully this will help my own kids (they're very young) develop a love of learning, and the ability to self-direct rather than having me push them. :)

So I'm a private tutor rather than a mum but here's my take on homework, work in holidays etc.
Key stage 1 (5-7)
Children should practice reading regularly (unless advised otherwise in special circumstances such as roadkillbunny's). This can be done in fun way, "sharing" books with parent and siblings rather than just reading scheme. I think this needs to still be done regularly over the long summer holiday otherwise, in my experience, children can forget and go backwards. Children can also be given opportunities for informal play that involves skills practice (eg playing school with dolls, writing shopping list etc) but otherwise children shouldn't need extra work unless they have a particular problem and the summer holiday is a good opportunity to "catch up".

Key stage 2 (7-11)
During term time children should be practising reading, tables, spellings and maybe one piece of Maths and English homework per week (though I don't think the last 2 are essential for children who are doing well). In the holidays, reading practice should be given for those still needing it and lots of opportunity for free reading for all children. Other than this, no need for homework unless there is a particular target children need to spend extra time achieving ( eg learn 7 times table) and it isn't coming easily in term-time or they are a bit behind on something and extra holiday work will help set them up for the new term or they are working for an exam (like 11+).

Sometimes I have seen some holiday tutoring being beneficial to children who are lacking in confidence in an area such as maths but again I think an hour or 2 a week is plenty!

I am also of the opinion that children need to have loads of relaxed free play time, time to be children and enjoy having no particular pressures on them as well as quality time doing activities with parents/carers.

If children enjoy doing bookwork though I don't see any harm in doing some regularly over the holiday.

At secondary level I think the situation is different. Children need to learn to do gradually increasing amounts of homework and learn how to organise themselves and be self-disciplined. I've seen GCSE students who expect to be able to do well without any homework but it is amazing how much more they learn and how much more quickly they get through the required work if they are prepared to put in a decent amount of homework and revision. Obviously they still need fun, unstructured relaxed times too though!

Because my DS needs a bit of extra help, I have been doing about 20 minutes a day with him and I asked the school to provide me with some work for him.

Unfortunately it is incredibly boring and I have moved him onto Horrid Henry books which he is loving and some Letts English books, which he enjoys.

The school work provided isnt challenging at all and I have moved him on a bit as I struggled to interest him in repeating the work he was meant to undertake in school last year.

Hes enjoyed reading different texts and is reading with more expression and fluency. However, I do not seem to be making too much inroads into improving his writing. I dont want to go overboard, but does anyone have any suggestions for a novice?

Elsie - start a new thread, it'll be really interesting, and you'll get more replies.