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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Have you donne any work with DC this holiday?Please what do you think?

47 replies

preciousmum · 23/04/2011 00:12

Hi there.
Before starting the holiday,i was planing to carry on doing some writing with my DS whos in receptionn and also some math.But anfortunatly up to now we havn't done any writing,but reading is everyday as usual.The guilt of of me didn't follow the plan is killing me,iam feeling i did let him down.
Now that we had the hole time,i didn't use it,and when was school time i was much well organised.Please your thaughts?? What sort of work have you done with your DC?
PS : i did try once to do some math during this holiday,but he wasn't corporating,so i didn't bother,then he left and went to garden to play with brother.
Thanks.

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hmc · 23/04/2011 22:48

No - absolutely not. They work hard when they are at school - they deserve to kick back a little during the holidays

cat64 · 23/04/2011 22:55

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tiggerandpoohtoo · 23/04/2011 23:09

My dd is in reception and we have done absolutely nothing! We have played, gone out on trips with friends etc but we haven't done anything else!
I don't feel guilty about it either! she's 5 and needs to have fun! So please don't stress about it.

southofthethames · 24/04/2011 04:43

SilveryMoon - homework from a nursery!! Never thought I'd hear the words nursery and homework in the same sentence! IMHO takes the joy out of colouring and writing......well, if your DS1 is coping with it, that's good.

oftenpurple · 24/04/2011 05:16

We have done very little too, apart from the normal amount of reading/being read to that my DC get as part of their bedtime routine. DS has asked to go on MathsWhizz a few times and DD went through her sound book yesterday but only because they were sorting out their school bags ready for school tomorrow.

DS has done work on his homework assignment and DD wanted to do the same thing but on another topic. The homework is not finished yet but I haven't pushed it. I strongly feel that this time is for relaxing, playing and spending time as a family without the rushing about that is a school day. We've had a few nights away, been to the zoo, played multiple games of Scrabble, cards etc. We're all very relaxed and ready to go back to school/work. I think if I'd been pushing the DC to study, they might feel very differently.

lupo · 25/04/2011 21:22

well I guess I am the odd one out, feeling guilty now. DS has has three weeks off (prep year 1) and he is a little behind with english/sentences and reading so I am afraid we have done a little every day because he hasn't had school and has had lots of time to relax.

In the mornings we have sat together for about half an hour in which he I encouraged him to write some sentences, read aloud and do a page of english book. The evening is ten mins of kumon maths (bad mummy!) But he had eleven hours in between those time to do as he pleased and have lots of fun

If I dont help him at home he struggles in class and his confidence dips so it is catch 22. But I also think kids should be encouraged/supported to do a little something every day as it helps them in class. We did nothing in terms of learning before he went to school, and when he joined his confidence took a knock as most the other kids went to the nursery and knew their phonics etc. BTW I work at a school so have also had two weeks off, would struggle to do this if I was at work each day though

SilveryMoon · 25/04/2011 21:28

I finally sat down with ds1 to do his homework. Gues what it was? Filling in the missing numbers up to 15. Trace writing letters b and f. And the best one?? Looking at times on the clock face. Talking to him about where the hands were pointing on the clock, talking to him about what they time is and then getting him to match the words 1 o'clock to the correct picture out of 3.
What a joke. For a 3 year old!

compo · 25/04/2011 21:37

I'd change nurseries silverymoon, it sounds far too pushy

SilveryMoon · 25/04/2011 21:41

It is a bit much isn't it? This nursery is school attached and it is the school he will be attending come September.
I picked it for a number of reasons, the good ofsted report, it's location (I don't drive so needed somewhere close for if I needed to get there quickly), he had friends going there etc etc.
He didn't manage to complete the letter writing piece and he looked at me very blankly when I was showing him the times, so I don't ever push him to do it, we jut do as much as he wants to and when he says he's bored, we stop.

JemimaMop · 25/04/2011 21:45

Mine are 5 (reception), 6 (year 2) and 8 (year 3).

We have done no work whatsoever so far.

However the eldest two have both read two novels whilst we were away for the weekend camping. They have been to a museum and learnt about slate mining, strikes and life in the mid 19th to early 20th centuries. They have looked for different shells on the beach. They have been to a castle. They have been to see nesting ospreys. They have been to look at boats in the harbour. They have spent hours playing in a forest. The eldest two have learnt how to help pitch a tent. Oh and the youngest has been practising writing in the sand on the beach and on a slate that she got from the museum.

All far more interesting than "work" IMO.

ninah · 25/04/2011 21:45

silvery I'd be concerned about that! not only getting homework, but the content! children are not normally encouraged to trace graphemes in eyfs, it's usually more play based, with some phonics
I work with this age group and I've never come across anything like this
telling the time? wtf

SilveryMoon · 25/04/2011 21:51

I know ninah I have recently been working in an early years setting myself and saw a massive difference in what we were looking at to what my son is.
He attends nursery 2.5hrs a day and on the open day I wastold that 1 hour would be free play and the rest is structured lessons.
Ds1 really seems to enjoy it though. He comes out at the end of the day and will tell me all about what stories they've looked at, songs they sung, how he played with trains, played outside etc and he is normally very keen to do his homework, so I just follow his lead on it really.

PoppetUK · 25/04/2011 22:07

I switched reading each night with DD (year 2) to letting her do mathwhizz on the computer. I don't think she enjoys books that much really so not having to read is giving her time off (she probably read 4 or 5 nights). With DS (reception) I've tried to make more time to listen to him read. We rushed through school homework today and we were supposed to do spellings with DS but I didn't stick to it because I had too much on my plate just keeping us all going.... The kids also went to intensive swimming and another sports activity. During the six weeks holiday I will probably try and do something like keep a diary and some online games but it basically needs to be something that I can do whilst overseeing 3rd child.

PoppetUK · 25/04/2011 22:10

If it makes you feel any better. DS (5) completed Scooby Doo on the Wii. I really should have made the holidays more educational :)

RoadArt · 25/04/2011 22:32

to answer the original question, absolutely nothing!

Full of good intentions to get DC to practice handwriting, do some reading, practice a bit of maths but nothing.

Playstation, Wii, football, playing, have all taken priority. They havent even opened a book.

skybluepearl · 25/04/2011 23:12

mine have read lots (they are book worms) and had lots of fun together. Seems balanced. x

skybluepearl · 25/04/2011 23:12

oh and 15mins total of music practice.

Original poster

preciousmum · 25/04/2011 23:36

What a lovely MS members you are all:) So pleased to hear from all of you.It did make me feel relaxed now.Honestly this web is a great relief and source of sort of comfort when you need someone to talk to.

OP posts:

emy72 · 26/04/2011 09:33

We had 3 maths worksheets for Y1 which we did in 5 minutes flat. Then some sentences which took probably about 20 minutes. Did some reading, not every day though. She did probably half an hour piano practice every day, but that's entirely of her own choosing, and probably 15 minutes practicing and 15 experimenting (makes up her own pieces, tries other instruments, asks me to accompany, that sort of thing).

Reception child did similar, a little bit of writing but more reading, probably every day. About 5 minutes on the piano each day.

Both did 1 hour swimming every day (crash course!) and various day trips.

We seemed to be very very busy all the time, I can't imagine fitting anything more than we've done in.

Ooopsadaisy · 26/04/2011 09:41

Bit of GCSE revision (apparently - but I doubt it!)

Ooopsadaisy · 26/04/2011 09:44

Sorry - posted too quickly. Dohhhhh!

I think younger children should have holidays as holidays not homework time. I think it makes them kick back later.

As DS says to me "Revision? Yeah right - like you're working hard in your deckchair with a cup of tea in your hand!"

JemimaMop · 26/04/2011 11:40

Should have said, mine do have homework to do they just haven't got round to it yet (they don't go back to school for another week).

DD (Reception) has to fill up to 4 A4 pages with what she did during the holidays. We have printed off lots of photos of her doing different things and she is going to write a sentence about each picture, eg "I played on the beach". She has also been looking after the school guinea pigs

DS2 (Year 2) has to decorate a paper plate for a local agricultural show, I think he is going to make it into a globe. He also has a reading book.

DS1 (Year 3) doesn't have any written homework, but does have 2 reading books (one in each language). He also practices piano for 20-30 mins every day, apart from when we were away.

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