'Educational' things to do with DS (6) during the holidays

[fruitstick]

DS is just finished year 1.

Last year, I didn't do anything in the holidays apart from some reading. However, I'm becoming a bit more neurotic this year and think I should put some time in on his maths etc during the school holidays.

DS is a very outdoorsy, energetic boy and also very reluctant to do anything he doesn't want it do. It is all going to go horribly wrong if I try and sit him down and do work sheets.

Any ideas of what I can do that isn't going to feel like work but might have his times tables licked by the end of the summer? Likewise with handwriting.

that should be 'is just finishing year 1'

Try the Oxford Owls website - its got ebooks for reading, and activities, as well as maths games you can play. That's my summer plans with DS1 (also finishing Yr 1) sorted....

I'd still go with the fun stuff to be honest!!

However, in your place, last year, I did do the local library summer reading challenge with my reluctant reader of a dd! It was invaluable and moved her on a level by the autmun term.

Liraries run this every year. each time a kid reads two books, they get small prizes. great

Do not have timestables 'licked' during the Summer!

For Y2 they only need to be firmly embedded in 2's, 5's and 10's and then be learning 3's and 4's in Y2.

And do not put him off maths by doing so much with him.

Bake with him and show him how to weigh things, show him half a pizza or half a cake and then a quarter of a cake and do capacity with water play. Subscribe to Education city or do the BBC bitesize games.

For handwriting I would buy a load of postcards and sit and write to grandparents or cousins or friends about what he is doing in the holidays etc

Get him to keep a short diary with lots of pictures of things that he has done.

Could you do stuff that's fun and educational (in a broad sense) - eg go to places that do things like pond dipping - and have him make a sort of diary of what he's done?

Write postcards to some favourite relatives?

An xpost of great minds

yes - I tried the journal and postcards last year but it was like pulling teeth so I gave up .

hopefully this year his writing is much better so it won't be so difficult for him.

I didn't really think he'd have all his timetables done by the end of the summer, but at the moment he barely knows any.

I think computer games might be the key - I hadn't really thought of that

Teach him card games and get him to add up the scores.

Darts for subtraction and snooker for angles. Swimming races for times.

Yahtzee and Rummikub for number sequences and negative numbers.

Generally just play games with him

Heck he's 6, what are you, chinese tiger mum? Play with him, read with/to him do exciting things of a "normal family" nature- play board games, bake cakes, make sandcastles, paddle in the sea etc etc

You spend all summer doing worksheets if you want, but he wont learn any more and may miss out on all the learning that comes from normal day to day stuff.

I LOVE Yahtzee

keep a journal, visit local museums, go to the library, look at train timetables and websites while planning a visit. Play lots of games together (many will help number skills) and have fun!

No no thea, definitely not a tiger mum.

However I'm just trying to think of ways of keeping his maths, writing etc up to speed over the summer without it seeming like I'm trying to recreate school.

None of mine wrote much till late primary in the holidays- if you want to do a journal, why not a scrap book type one- tickets/drawings/postcards or where you went/what you did etc

THe teachers expect them to have dropped a sub level or so in the measurable stuff in maths/writing etc, but it's soon caught up and progress is onward and upward.

as has already been said, tables are not really on the cards till year 2/3. Make sure he has a good understanding of counting and number bonds to 10 though would be good (DH says even at yr3, some haven't got number bonds to 20 really really under their belts and that is an issue).

And for timestables he needs to know that 10 x 5 is 10 lots of 5 so do not confuse him.

Get him to count the fruit in the bowl and work out how many lots of apples there are ie if there were 6 apples how many would you both get?

Just let him play! He's six. Learning isn't only about acdemics; it's about learning how to live life.

Stuff like camping in the garden - he helps put the tent up.
Getting him to handwash his clothes and wring them out and hang them up to dry.

Get him to help you paint the shed/fence etc.

Show him how to plant stuff in the garden.

Take him to the movies/theatre summer plays

Let him climb trees and go fishing.

Kids in sweden don't even go to school until they're 7 and they're bright as bright - I'd let him have a fun summer and let school focus on his aims once you return in September

www.50things.org.uk/parents-area.aspx

I'm glad the DC kept 'journals' in the summer when they were younger, even tho at the time it was a pain. Just a couple of lines and a drawing each day, and some of their comments are now priceless to read. And I stuck in photos as we went. ot necesary to do every day, but well worth it. With DS2 who hated writing, I got him to make up wild stories about his bro - this really got him enthused - eg the day 'DS1 was scared of a shark and it turnedout to be a tadpole' etc - (DS1 not amused ) and in his glee forgot he ws practising the dreaded writing and drawing...

Doing a scrapbook together could be good.

My dc loved keeping journals at half term. Also have English Heritage membership so will probably go and do some visits, getting the obligatory quiz to help their reading and writing as well as their history. Holidays are great for being able to do those thiings I would love to do with them if I had the energy to home educate - less formal learning, more learning through triips, hands on stuff, etc

today my almost 6 year old helped her 9 year old big brother fill in his Euro 2012 chart by finding the scores for him on the BBC sports page...that's as educational in the holidays as we got today (here in central scotland our summer hols have started).

Play outside and forget about school . You're only 6 once....

When I taught Ds1 timestables we went to the beach and found a large rock pool. We threw stones into the pool eg in twos and counted how many were there after each throw. Was thinking about how you could tie into football, and although normally half time oranges are good for teaching fractions, could you maybe count out orange segments in twos, fives etc. Or half time smarties... Football in general could be good just for using mathematical language. Eg let's mark the perimeter, where would the half way line be, you've got 5 goals I have 6 who has more? How many all together? Maybe timestables here - you and your friend have both scored a goal, that's two, how many goals if you both score two more? And before I get shouted down at needing time to play I'm not suggesting all the way through a football game just the odd question thrown in along the way.

It's a holiday - he should be having fun. If you want learning as well then museums, day trips to historical sights, London (even if you live there) trip on a bus, a train and another form of transport.

Make a scrap book of what you did over the summer with pictures, tickets, post cards.

Spending time outdoors always ends up in science conversations here- observing how shadows change through the day, mini beast hunt, looking at trees and talking about how in a few months it will have acorns/conkers/berries... Last summer I downloaded a sheet with a list of UK butterflies and you had to sit in the garden for 30 minutes and record how many you saw of each type. (Tally charts) There are lots of books which help identify bugs/trees/flowers.

I taught my older children blackjack at a similar age and used smarties as bets.

I'd practice handwriting the fun way- water pistols on dry (lol!) ground, paintbrush or chalk on the ground, stick in sand/dry grass.

When my oldest was a similar age, writing practice consisted of lists, writing on post it notes, coloured gel pens and adding speech bubbles to pictures of Spiderman and trying to get him to write something.