Do you 'make' your kids do any school work in the summer hols?

[Curlewwoohoo]

Interested in perspectives as I mull over whether to bribe or threaten DD or leave her be! DD is heading into yr6. She had a solid school report. She's very reluctant to do any school type work at home and always has been. I am very twitchy about it, I would LOVE to spend time over the summer helping her with her spellings, maths, teaching her to type, supporting reading. Full disclosure that she's dyslexic so I'd like to pick up on particular things to help her. Any such suggestions do NOT go down well. I'm conflicted as I understand she needs a break, I think it's good for her to be outside or get bored, but I also don't want her to fall behind. Give it a couple of years tops and there's no way she will do what I think, so I've got a limited window!

Nope, he reads for pleasure anyway

No school work - BUT - I do expect them to do piano practise, some physical exercise, and learn some skills (eg. DS1 has learned to make sushi and mochi so far, DS2 has done some needle-felting and made marshmallows), and they each have to make dinner once a week.

Otherwise, I'm still working, so as long as they're not getting into trouble or making a mess, I'm happy for them to do as they please.

Yes, and do did lots of people I knew. Half an hour every weekday first thing after breakfast + reading aloud. Alternated writing a holiday diary (dcs took turns) and a page of cgp maths. Kept them ticking over, they behaved better for a bit of routine and brain activity + gave me half an hour to get a few jobs done. Did it on holiday too.

Asian mum here, yes all tutoring continues through hols.

My younger ds is a very different temperament and happily continues maths apps, reads voraciously etc.

My oldest is severely dyslexic. Not doing schoolwork over the holidays would be a diseaster - it would set him back so much!
We used to do 1 week off, and then toe by toe (dyslexia reading program) every day, plus reading to him and nessy typing.
Now (year 7/8) he has bridging homework set anyway.

No. I also wouldn’t like it if I was expected to do work tasks when on annual leave.

You wouldn't have 6 weeks annual leave though... Or would you

I 'encourage' reading every day plus music practice in the evening. The deal with music is that I'm happy to pay for lessons but they need to practice.

Adults work 8 hours a day minimum with 5 weeks annual leave per year. Kids go to school 6 hours a day (really 5 after breaks), and have 13 weeks holiday… a bit of a difference.
30 min a day are not going to destroy their holiday!

Your kid's school report said that she was working well. Has the teacher recommended she studies during the holidays? If not, back off!

Ours are too little for this yet, but when they are older we will do 'fun' ways of keeping up learning. Games, reading, craft, scrap books, journals, and plenty of physical exercise. Not sitting at a table doing worksheets.

The way I look at it is how many hours is she awake for? More than 12 hours no doubt so why is doing 20 minutes of school work a day, school work which would potentially massively benefit, her such a problem? She is getting a break, a break from the 6 hours she spends in school every day.

I would read to her, that way you can talk about the story, the characters, their motives etc so she is still engaging comprehensive skills. I would also be talking to her about the expectation of when she starts secondary and how much homework she will be doing daily, not once a week for spellings and 20 minutes for maths/English as mine had. There are lots of threads on the Secondary board about that.

As a parent who has had her children go through all schooling I will tell you this, primary is where they lay down the foundation for secondary and it is very, very hard to move sets once there because they have to move someone down to move someone up. There is always an overlap in ability in sets as the class has a set size otherwise there would be 19 children in one class, 43 children in another etc.

If you haven't already broken up for summer I would be asking school what you can do specifically to support her dyslexia. I used to make mine do supportive school work stuff in the morning then the rest of the day was theirs. However, I started it when they were in lower primary so it was the norm in our house.

@Curlewwoohoo Id keep going with reading. Keep practicing. When she gets to secondary in y7, nearly every subject requires reading and she will find accessing the curriculum more difficult. I’d honestly start talking about this and do library trips. Try and read for fun.

No. Give them a break. However, does your local library have some summer reading scheme where they can choose books etc? If not, go online and see if you can find anything there.

No, apart from reading for pleasure the time is his to do what he likes. Proper rest periods are essential for children and adults alike and there are many other ways of learning apart from schoolwork.

For me it isn’t the amount of time that determines this so how much holiday kids have vs adults is immaterial. It’s the act of saying to someone during their down time that school work should remain present in their lives rather than being able to have a break from it. I wouldn’t like it if whenever I was on annual leave I’d have to every day find 5 mins to do some work. I wouldn’t then have a meaningful break from work. That it was only 5 mins wouldn’t negate that.

I make a tick sheet for mine. Each slot is 20 minutes and they can complete it whenever they like over the week- it includes 3x maths, 3x musical instrument, 3x handwriting/ English and 3x whatever else they need to do ! Basically 4 hours over a week in total. When it’s completed they get £5. Plus to motivate reading they get £1 for each book they read. Works for us!

No, I don't. Just reading for pleasure. They seem to be doing ok academically despite my lackadaisical attitude to study in the summer hols. I do take them to as many activities and outings as possible, so I count that as education!

When mine were that age we continue the support work we were already doing every day - and it did build up to fair bit. It was their routine and easier if it kept doing it all school hoildays. It was done every day bar summer hoilday a week and a week at family.

Then the maths app did summer and winter schools which they did and summer reading - and then we encoraged reading crafting and did days out and extra swimming sessions and long walks.

Seemed to worked they are all teens - seem to have happy memories of summer and done okay with school.

Once they hit secondary they'd caught up and we did more sport days out and encouraging craft and reading - we were using audio books, comic books and graphic novels to try and keep them reading.

Nope, except for anything set by the school. We keep up with sport stuff though , and used to do the summer reading challenge, plus I will expect a bit more help around the house ( I am woefully lax and imposing chores during term term).

No, apart from reading.

Yes.
Very nearly every single day: all 4 doodle learning apps, instrument practice. Reading.
Most days: workbooks that need to be finished we’ve been using to support learning through the year - until they’re finished and then no new ones until new school year. Handwriting, English, Maths
Perhaps once a week: Worksheets I’ve printed off about geography, history or French. (Language done at school!). Though I’m thinking of getting an app for French.

Plus lots of trips, sport camp days, craft, science experiments, free play, TV 😳
Pretty much everyone I know does work over the holidays, online practice plus some book work most days seems fairly standard. Maybe 45mins-1 hour?

Mine is doing the maths duolingo and numbots (school maths app) and I'll encourage her to do one of those a couple of times a week. I find maths comes up quite a bit in real world situations - adding up scores or dice in board games, calculating money etc, and she currentlyfinds it fun. We are going to do some serious work on handwriting this summer, both neatness and stamina.

As a parent who has had her children go through all schooling I will tell you this, primary is where they lay down the foundation for secondary and it is very, very hard to move sets once there because they have to move someone down to move someone up. There is always an overlap in ability in sets as the class has a set size otherwise there would be 19 children in one class, 43 children in another etc.

This was view I had - based on my own experiences so wanted the kids as solid as possible before secondary - as I found little time for basics once there - was dsylexic (found out alter ) in top sets and constantly for berated spelling issues but support wasn't there.

10 - 20 - tasks over the course of every day including hoildays made a huge difference and they don't remember now. DD1 durring her dyslexia diagnosis went though all the support we'd done at home and was quiet shocked how it had all mounted up and was told it was a lot. There was still time for a lot of other things - she wasn't chained in the house all hoilday - there was balance.

Personally I found it less of a battle if there was a routine of what would need to get done - and list to cross of and when done they could have treats like TV. Obviously if you could get them to want to do it it was better but sometime if they were struggling it just needed doing school hoilday or not.

School holidays are for rest and fun and yea learning, but not school stuff. That’s what school is for. They should be learning life skills or their environment or perhaps baking or cooking. Education isn’t limited to reading and writing and maths and they get enough of that in school.