Have you done any 'work' with your DC this holiday?

[LinnetTrembling]

[name changed just in case - thanks random name generator site]

I was just wondering if anyone has done and 'work' (i.e. things they might do at school) with their Infant/Primary kids over the holidays.

For various reasons which may derail the thread and are the reason for the name-change we haven't, but I have thought about it, and may still do so.

we do lots of reading.
that's about it.

ReadiNg, maths, sports, trips to educational places and life skills e.g cooking, cycling etc

No, and I feel terrible about it. Middle DC read a lot (as usual) but the other 2 played football (not so bad surely?) and video games/watched you tube videos. They will have a rude awakening come September.

I've done a bit of reading most days with DS (6). He is a reluctant reader though and we just didn't want him doing no reading himself over the holiday (we obviously read to him). It has been painful at times to get a bit of an ORT book read a day but better than nothing. He didn't have any homework set by school.

Nope, not a thing that we would normally do during term time.

We have, however, been to museums and art galleries, parks and swimming. We have baked, met up with friends, made clay models, celebrated two dcs birthdays, played board games, followed the reading challenge at the library, taught the youngest to ride with no stabilisers, climbed trees, got wet and muddy, watched loads of films, had very interesting discussions and this week we are packing up to go camping.

I am totally knackered though

A bit, but nothing too taxing. DS2 (5) enjoys reading and writing and 'doing numbers' so its not like work to him, and DS1 (8) has to earn his extra time on the tablet/x-box/pc so we get him to practice his (atrocious) handwriting and do a bit of maths on the computer.

Yes, dd 8, maths revision. She struggles and I want to boost her confidence ahead of yr 4. Multiplication and division much improved :)

Primary teacher here.

No we haven't. And I'm not going to either. :)

Always did with mine, they needed to because they are not "naturally bright" (unlike, of course, a lot of MN children ) they always made top set in Sept because they hit the ground running and had no remembering-how-to-do-it to do. Three R's - a bit every day.

No although if you analyse everything we do then there's probably educational value in everything. We made playdough as it's fun but all dc world together taking turns. Swimming on holiday. Reading I never see as "work" but we do that most bedtimes. I've not deliberately done lessons though.

Yes but it's forced on me. My kids missing school and waves maths and English work books in my face.

He'll do something incorrectly on purpose to see if I'm really paying attention so I really have no choice

Library reading challenge. Bit of maths on the IXL website, DD (10) will do a little guitar practice and some 500 word stories, DS (8) will do some handwriting practice. Oh, and some spelling with the squeebles app - I add all the words they should know but spell incorrectly.

Ummm, am I a tiger mum? It's not every day, just a couple of half hour sessions a week when we are at home. I'm a TA so I am home with them for the holidays.

Hell no.
Unless,that is,they put minecraft on the curriculum.

Seriously,I am ongoing with teaching my dc's about foraging,wild flowers,exploring new tastes with food,one handed cartwheels,how to survive the zombocalypse,and observing nature.

I love getting my turn with education

Yes, we are in a grammar area and although DS1 is not doing 11+ most of the boys in his class are tutored and will not have stopped across the summer. DS1 doesn't want to look to be underperforming alongside them, so although he is bright he seems to have a poor ability to recall some facts - he has ticked over with maths across the holiday when we have been around. Just 30/40 mins a day on the areas I know him to be weaker in.

He reads loads though - so not worried about English etc.

Oh we've done 'enriching things' - countryside walks, castles, nature reserves, baking, gardening and so on. And of his own free will he's started to write and illustrate a book on the laptop he's decided is his "because no-one else uses it any more"

I just haven't done any 'school' stuff, and can't decide if I feel guilty or not - he says he is bored at school because it's too easy, so I thought he might like it if he could do stuff at his own pace (he does enjoy learning, as I say - I wouldn't consider it if he didn't like it) but then I thought it might make it even more boring next year at school. So we've gone for being busy all the time instead.

I'm a cruel mum and limit my DDs' screen time. DD1 tries to get around this by begging to do ReadingExpress (subscription from school) and occasionally I let her. Bu,t honestly, because of our move they only had 3 weeks anyway and I didn't want to overload them. So we did a little German practice (because we are moving to Germany) but mostly of the 'I need to keep you occupied while we are standing in line' type, and we did some reading.

Yes, we always do a bit of reading and maths, because the summer holidays are so long and I worry that they'll forget everything otherwise.

We've hammered the English Heritage membership both locally and in and around Yorkshire. We've been to castles running 'schools' basically hand them a foam sword and let them at each other, but also medieval dancing, how princesses actually dressed, historic tales including a hint of gore etc We've covered several historical periods - 1300s up to the cold war.

DD1 (6) announced her ambition to be on Junior Masterchef so we discussed elf&safety before letting her at the kitchen. She made a spag bol, some cakes and wants to make a pie later. Lots of maths and reading of recipes.

We also discussed while on long car journeys how to cope in emergencies and the importance of not panicking. To conclude this lesson I sacrificed dignity yesterday and face-planted in the middle of a theme park. Both DDs (6 and 4) remained calm despite me pouring blood from my, almost certainly broken, nose. I've worked hard at this education malarkey this summer

No. Not unless you count Scratch (which we argue is more educational than Minecraft).

We've done a bit of reading and I am trying to encourage DD2 to work on her handwriting by doing a diary. She started with enthusiasm but now seems to have lost it. Having said that she has decided off her own back to research and gather facts about the topic they will do when she starts back in September.
They have both done lots of swimming, outdoor stuff and played cards or board games on rainy days.

DD2 going in to y6, finds school hard.

10 mins of maths on as many days as I can manage, trying to get some basic number work improved / solid.
A short piece of writing on as many days as I can manage, trying to keep handwriting reasonable, and spelling no more dire than it usually is.
Reading challenge at the library.

This is less than usual but DD1 did GCSEs this year and I need the break!

I have set our two challenges based on areas where they were lagging behind in their reports. They need to do a bit most days and achieve agreed targets in order to get their Lego rewards. So far DC2 is working away quite self motivated but DC1 keeps demanding the Lego with no work. I foresee poor handwriting and no Lego by sept :( I have made a lot of the rewards being for effort over time rather than dashing off stuff in a few days..... Fingers crossed :)

DS did the library reading challenge, although he read most of the books to himself, not to me, so I'm not sure if that counts? We have done some reading, but probably only once or twice a week, absolutely nothing else though. I am planning to get him to have a go on Mathletics at some point, but I haven't got round to it yet, and the holiday is flying by!