To study or not over the summer break

[Summerholidays1]

Split over this. On one side want to give DC (8) a complete break and just let them have fun and learn by seeing/doing. Will go on holiday, to museums, live rurally so lots of outdoor play.
Also don’t want them to slide back and have to catch up in the Autumn. Nervous as I know a few parents who hothouse.

What is a good/healthy amount to do over the summer? I bought them a holiday journal they are excited to fill in and will take them to a bookshop to choose some books - would rather encourage a love of reading than forced continuation of school work. Will probably do the MathsFactor summer challenge as they are in the habit of spending five/10 minutes a day on this. Art has been an issue at school (just not engaging) so I think Draw with Rob could be good as they do enjoy this.

Interested to know what others do/recommend.

You have the right attitude. No point in pushing formal learning over the summer but let them guide their own interests through reading, visits to places of interest etc.

Do you have a local library? (I know many are sadly closed). Most librarys offer a summer reading challenge and these are usually promoted in local primary schools. If not, there are usually ones you can find online with different challenges to complete over the 6 weeks (discover a new author, write a book review, learn and perform a poem, read an autobiography, read a non-fiction book about a topic of interest, read in an unusual place, build your own reading den etc - you could even design your own set of challenges together).

There's also lists online like 101 things to do before you leave primary school (fly a kite, climb a tree, go camping, play pooh sticks etc, those sort of things) You could encourage him to make his way through one of those lists? Or again you could get him to make his own. A bucket list for summer 2024.

A journal is a nice idea to encourage but guided by whenever your child wishes to record, rather than something they feel they have to do each week.

Children who have access to books, paper and pens etc generally don't lose too many skills over the 6 week holiday. It's always noticeable who has not picked up a pen or a book for 6 whole weeks, but those who do generally settle back fine despite the lengthy break from formal schooling. The break does them good. It's not often that non-home schooled children get to guide their own learning. Six weeks is a long time to not do anything accademic though, so you'll usually find that children who are keen learners start to find educational ways to entertain themselves over the holidays, if given access to the right equipment (writing stories, making comics/magazines, designing their own board games, researching topics of interest etc. You can definitely facilitate this type of activity and encourage it without forcing it.

My children (7yo) have a menu of options (math, English, spelling, handwriting, music) and are expected to pick 3 things a day to do. Generally takes them 20 minutes. One child tends to straddle the line between working towards and meeting expectations, and for her it is really important that we consolidate learning as much as possible before heading into a new year. Other dd is fine academically, but really benefits from maintaining some routine for formal work - it will make the transition back to school a million times easier.

it still leaves loads of time for enriching activities, self directed learning and general farting about. We never try to push them ahead of the curriculum either - all workbooks / learning apps geared towards the year they have just completed.

we historically also do a reading challenge, but they are pretty good about self directed reading now, so not sure if we will do that - I just make sure they have access to lots of varied reading material.

Thank you. Some great ideas here. Looking into reading challenges. DC enjoyed the Mathsfactor summer challenge and wants to do it again.

Will avoid text books. Really want to somehow spark an interest in reading for pleasure, as so much will come with this.

Other than reading for pleasure, it would never occur to me to have DS do academic work in the summer vac. Parents who 'hothouse' are generally aware they are having to try to inflate their children's sub-average ability.

A bit of reading via the library reading challenge, a maths based game (guardians of mathematica) and writing postcards/letters to family/a holiday journal is enough to prevent learning loss.

I have a young reception child. She's not 5 till the holidays .shes about a term behind on reading and writing for 'meeting expectations' and if we do nothing, September will be really tricky for her. We're doing the library reading challenge and I've bought some phonics and writing workbooks.

We aim to do 10 mins every day, plus bed time story.

If she was on track though, I'd be much less rigorous with this. You know where they are at and whether they are likely to recess or find it difficult going back to school routine.

Mine are out of primary by now but it would never have occurred to me to do any formal education activities bar reading for pleasure if they wanted to. Their whole childhoods should not be schoolified. In my opinion. Obviously it’s up to others to do as they see fit with their children.

I’d do nothing except the reading (which has so many benefits over so many areas) and practise times tables.
Let them have a summer of fun! They will learn so many other things.

Absolutely nothing.

Summer is for being a child and learning through play.

We do the library summer reading challenge every year. DS often picks books well below his actual reading ability but I’m happy if he’s just reading. He also likes maths and puzzles so I tend to buy him a book of number/word games eg sudoku, crosswords, word searches etc. And he’s learning guitar so he’ll continue to practise over the holidays, but other than that we don’t insist on anything else in the way of formal learning.

Not

I never did any work with mine over the summer, apart from reading. I

Early primary years, nothing except keeping them reading

Later primary years, we did their school's "scrapbook challenge" (optional) which meant making a scrapbook, based on what they did in the holidays, or on some interest or theme, or like an artist's sketchbook, as much or as little as they liked. We had varying degrees of engagement.

Plus taking them on days out and talking about what we saw/did - sometimes following their interests, sometimes mine, sometimes granny's (ie a mix of encouraging their interests and showing them new stuff)

My primary age child will read for pleasure and that's it over the holidays

I do think it also depends on the children.

One of mine is not school shaped, and the holidays were a bit of a relief from expectations and the idea that scores and outcomes were what mattered.

The other is more school oriented in the sense of more easily achieving expected academic norms, but appreciates being free from expectation and the social side of things for 6 whole weeks.

‘Summer slide’ is a funny concept. It makes linear school progress seem like the goal, when childhood (and life) is characterized by ups and downs. It makes me uncomfortable, like we are seeing our kids as … products, somehow. So they drop back a bit after the holidays. Big wow. They will probably catch up.

Those that don’t, need more intervention in actual school term time, not relying on willing and able parents to fill the gaps in the holidays.

Summer slide is totally fine if you have a kid that generally keeps up with the curriculum. Because 90% of children will have a similar slide, when they go back in September they will be right back in the mix of their peers.

if you have a child that isn’t keeping up you cannot really afford the loss. We get plenty of support throughout the school year, but are just hanging on to year expectations, potentially due to some specific learning needs like dyslexia that have not been formally diagnosed . My perspective is that a relatively small daily commitment to practice over the summer will strengthen her foundation for next year, which improves her confidence and allows us to focus in on some very specific gaps. Learning deficits are best addressed with consistency, which does mean summer engagement.

i I find some of the comments around ‘let children be children’ over the summer quite ableist. A totally unstructured summer may work well for some, but isn’t good for all. For different reasons I have two that benefit from a continued routine, but we still have loads of time for outings and adventures and down time

Both my children have additional needs, one is moderately dyslexic and has another neurodiverse condition. The other has no dyslexia but struggles with the social aspects of school.

for my children, schooling over the summer is not the right thing because they don’t feel that naturally at home in school. School is really important but on the other hand I don’t want school success to define what success and happiness looks like.

I would strongly recommend getting a diagnosis and report if you suspect dyslexia. It won’t make them magically able to shoot to the top (or even middle) of the class, but it will be really important leverage for secondary school. You can still get extra time in exams without a diagnosis but having the paper to wave really helps. More importantly, your child will then know their struggles aren’t because they aren’t trying hard enough. It’s really important for self-esteem.

@the2andahalfmillion that’s fine, you do you.

fwiw I don’t consider what I do with my children ‘schooling’ in that we aren’t pushing new content. We spend 20-30 minutes a day practicing so that our brains and bodies retain key skills - I set some expectations and boundaries but the kids have freedom to choose how they do it and they are largely self-directed in completing it.We practice things they are good at already (music and math) as well as things they are not (spelling and writing) and they have a pretty balanced perspective of their own strengths and challenges.

some of it is semantics- lots of people saying ‘oh no I don’t make my children do schoolwork, but we keep practicing reading and do some journaling’ is not that different from what I am doing. I am maybe a bit more structured and a bit more explicit with expectations, which works well for my children.

today both dc had completed their ‘work’ before breakfast without any prompting, have spent the morning mucking about with the dog and are now off to the science museum for the afternoon. Maintaining a daily routine isn’t incompatible with a fun filled, relaxed summer holiday.

I would do precisely nothing other than things like museum visits etc and just let them do fun stuff.
The only time I have expected holiday work is pre exams at Secondary and as DS goes into Y11 in September I will get him to do a bit
DD has 4 A* Alevels and DS is on track to get all 8/9 in GCSE so ti doesn't seem to have doen them any harm

I will do some maths - probably about 10 minutes- daily with my 6yo DS - it doesn’t come naturally to him so this will help
improve his confidence and solidify concepts. PILs were both primary teachers and highly recommend this. Confidence and repetition is a big part of success at primary.

We also read every night but he doesn’t see that as work.