Do you make your dc "work" during the holidays?

[Sunhasgothishaton]

My eldest has a presentation to prepare for September, a maths workbook to complete, and a D&T project to complete.

My youngest has got to do 30 mins (2 instruments) music practice, 15 mins theory work and 15 mins general reading to do - 5 out of 7 days.

I appear to be the only one of my RL friends who's children do work during the holidays.

Please tell me that yours do too so that I can tell my kids they aren't the only ones in the world who have to work.

[fuzzpig]

That's great simpson well done to your DD! :)

[Beechview]

Ds1's teacher (yr 3) gave me suggestions about what he could do over the holidays adding 'some parents do nothing with their children over the holidays and you can really tell'

His suggestions were getting him to make some biscuits or cakes by himself so he uses measuring stuff. Getting him to work out the how much time there is between times eg how long til 12 o'clock, if this film is 1hr30mins, whens it going to finish. He also suggested practicing addition, subtraction, multiplication and division and using education city as well as doing the reading challenge and the set homework on adjectives.
I'm happy doing that

[simpson]

It was my aim to get DD riding her bike with no stabilisers too but she cracked it in 2 days before school broke up.

I am very proud of her as she is hyper mobile and finds things like this difficult.

For the holidays I am trying to combine fun with learning iyswim. Tomorrow we are going to a garden centre for lunch which has sheep, goats and chickens etc. DD wants to take her bug hunting kit (bought for the holidays on amazon) which comes with a little notebook for her to write her findings. She is most excited!

[fuzzpig]

One of my 'aims' for this holiday was to see if DD could learn to ride without stabilisers, she begged DH to take them off after school finished on Wednesday, she has totally mastered it now :o

I am trying to make sure they get loads of time outside. Not asked DD to do anything else specific although she has enjoyed doing some pages for her scrapbook (just drawings so far).

[NeverKnowinglyUnderstood]

ooh forgot about riding their bikes for a couple of hours a day

[NeverKnowinglyUnderstood]

they don't think they are doing any work over the holidays.

however
they have written postcards, shopping lists, things to do lists. literacy
read a chapter of their books each day literacy
played maths and logic based games maths
they LOVE puzzle books maths english
they have been going to the shops for me. maths
They are making a scrapbook about this holidays art
playing badminton and swimming PE
hanging out with friends phse

[UniS]

Nothing "official" from school for DS age 7, but all his maths workbooks were sent home at the end of term and there are lots of pages still to do. SO, as he is very enthusiastic about "workbooks" at present , he is doing a double spread of a work book most days either handwriting or maths ( he likes maths, but the handwriting one has stickers!). Also 15 is of piano practise when we remember and 10 mins of reading almost every evening.

[forehead]

My children always do some schoolwork during the long Summer break. The reason being that I am convinced that if they don't have some kind of structure they will definitely fall behind. My ds was behind in maths at the beginning of the last Summer holiday. I spent the last Summer holiday tutoring him in maths and he is now in the top maths group. He would not have been able to do this if I had not used the summer holidays. He still had plenty of time to watch tv,
play with his friends, fight with his siblings etc

[Elibean]

dd1's Y4 teacher was brilliant. She believed in NO work over holidays, lots of play and fun and outings.

And then knuckle down and work your socks off during term time

[Rosebud11]

My DS will be having fun, fun, fun and more fun. He loves reading and playing on the maths app on the iPad so that's ok. He will be either at the park on his bike or scooter, on play dates with his friends or on a fun day out. We will just wake up and he can decide what he would like to do. Thats my idea of summer holidays. I am strict with him in terms of his learning when he is at school but holidays are times to relax, build memories and have fun. He exceeded most of the 17 reception goals so he deserves some treats for his achievement over the past year!

[fuzzpig]

Ooh I love Lemony Snicket and Eoin Colfer! :)

Sounds like your DS' story might be a bit professor branestawm-ish. I loved those, trying to find some to read to DD.

[fuzzpig]

Indeed cory, depends very much on the child's interests and school stage etc. Last summer if I'd suggested making our own story book to DD, she would've looked at me in horror, but this year I suggested doing a book based on a series she loves, and she was over the moon.

She very much thinks of school as fun, even the bits where they are sitting down doing 'proper work' (she wanted to go to school on Xmas day! ) so I think doing a few fun projects and 'schooly things' will only serve to cement that view, rather than damaging it. But it's in the way you approach it, obviously if I forced her to do stuff it would be counterproductive.

I have set myself some holiday homework today :o I was having a clear out (which incidentally is my main summer project... Long way to go yet!) and found some old maths books I used to love doing. Since getting ill I've got a bit slower mentally (had to quit my degree too) so I'm going to work through it to get the grey cells going again :)

Other main aims for the DCs are getting DS to dress himself (babied youngest child alert) ready for starting school in September, and to see if DD can ride her bike without stabilisers :)

[SirChenjin]

Or conversely, the who does the most - which is equally as tedious...

[MrButtercat]

Pixel why is an hour a day excessive,they have 11 other hours in the day?

Do we have to go through the competitive who does the least in holidays thing,it's tedious.

We all know what is best for our inividual children and act accordingly.

[cory]

What is regarded as work and not work will surely differ from family to family, child to child?

I was very happy to sit down with a French novel and a dictionary when I was a pre-teen; for dd, that definitely counted as work. Neither of us would have thought of reading a novel or writing stories as work.

I don't think my db ever saw practising his violin as work in the sense of "doing what I have been told", though he clearly thought of it as "work" in the sense of "preparing for the future". For me otoh it would have been a tedious chore.

The only tasks we have usually set (apart from necessary exam revision) have been swimming related: we usually test all the children of the extended family for their swimming badges. My summer memories seem to involve a lot of shivering on rocks watching a small head bobbing up and down in the water for what seems like hours.

[HorryIsUpduffed]

I met DS1's new teacher today. I said I wasn't intending to do any structured work over the summer, although he might glance at the odd book if he feels inclined. Teacher said "quite right too. It's Y1, not GCSEs. Time enough for work in September."

He and I are going to get on like a house on fire

[Lancelottie]

Hurray for mathanxiety, keeping me company in my interpretation of 'work' as 'get the hoover out, mow the lawn and for gawd's sake do a few loads of washing'.

I might let them unwind with a bit of music practice after that if they're very good (though the neighbours would probably prefer not).

[WipsGlitter]

DS is reading two stories a night (he's 5). He struggled with the reading and the teacher is keen he doesn't unlearn it all over the summer. I've got the alpha blocks mag and another one for him as well.

[fuzzpig]

Ha, dwight, my two make dens with the laundry airer too. When it's full of clothes (usually socks of course, seeing as they are the most annoying to pick up when they all scatter...)

I love the sound of the book your DS2 is writing with his grandfather! That's really sweet. Is there a particular interest they share, or is he keeping the plot a secret :o

What are the authors your DD likes? You should be able to request them in for free on a child's ticket (you can here anyway) so even if they take a little while some should become available throughout the holidays.

[quip]

I take it back: my dc have both been given holiday diaries to complete. And ds1 has got hold of a music theory book he wants to work through. So less poking mud with sticks than I thought.

[lilli30101968]

My daughter is a little behind I would like her to do some work 1 h a day anybody suggest any good work book for going to year 5 . She will do the reading challenge at the library.

[englishmumcominghome]

we are in Joburg and returning back to the UK probably for the start of the academic year in September 2014. DS1 will have to be sitting 8+ exams come Nov/Dec/Jan 2014 so he has a horrible timetable to get him up to UK speed (he is only half way through his first year of proper school here and just turned 7).

That said, we have a smaller holiday though August (4 weeks) and we are going to ILs in NZ for 2.5 weeks of that - we are putting together a project and daily journal to encourage his creative writing, and he will be having some brilliant experiences so hopefully this will help.

[pixelchick10]

Speaking as a parent of a Y9 (going into Y10) dd I would let them rest and recharge their batteries ... apart from reading, some music practise and a trip to a museum or two ... An hour a day seems excessive unless there is an area you are genuinely concerned about and they need to catch up. My daughter's school used to give out practise sheets (eg in maths) to a few kids who needed some extra practise ...