Will you be makeing your DCs keep up their school work in the holidays?

[sameagain]

If so, what work will you set and how will you get them to do it?

DS1 is finishing year 3, very capable, but prone to poor concentration and laziness TBH

He reads well and enjoys that so will keep that up without any pressure from me and we will do the library summer reading challenge.

I am concerned that he was more or less top of the class at the end of infants but now seems to be decidedly average - which is fine if that's where he should be, but I think he is brighter than his written work shows, because he rushes it and is unfocused. I wondered if some sort of summer project might help him be well prepared for his new teacher in Sept, but don't want to make the summer one long fight. What are you planning?

no my ds (7)will be doing at least 20 mins literacy/numeracy a day. It won't kill him, he'll still have hours and hours left for fun. he will also be practising his recorder once a day.
i know, that if i don't do this he will enter Y3 having forgotten most of what he learnt in y2.

btw we will also be practising handwriting regularly and I'm not planning to make it particularly fun either!!. am i evil or what!

I'm also planning on teaching him some valuable life skills, such as hoovering, drying up and dusting! tongue firmly in cheek

We would actively re-enact Enid Blyton novels, complete with lashings of ginger beer (had to get the recipe for GB, buy the ingredients and then make it).

How lovely!

No school work for us, but it's a good opportunity to put our lives back in order. Ds's are being used far too much, so think we'll have a bit of a clamp down on that and try and interact with each other a bit more.

Lots of relaxing, reading, experimenting with cooking (the children and me), seeing friends and having fun. A wonderful break from the school routine - can't wait!

School work in the holidays? Not on your nellie! I am lucky enough to work term time only so I am off for the whole holiday aswell. School bags and their contents will be hung up in the cupboard under the stairs when we get home on 17th July and only got out again on 7th September! Likewise no homework is ever done at weekends in our house, holidays and weekends are for chillin out!

Oh, there will be plenty of chilling out in the Dragon household.

Yes I will about an hour a week, practising handwriting which is poor. I will get them both to sit on a weekends and write what they've done like a diary. DS1 has quite bad letter formation so I will get him sheets with that. He will be going into year 8. Handwriting shouldn't be something I should be discussing in parents evening. He should have that one nailed by now.

DS 2 wil be doing the reading challenge at the library.

DS1 is learning about the tudors when he goes back, war of the roses etc, so I will try and find him a fun book to read re that.

Going round the shops, getting them to look at prices of things 'have I got enough for 2 of those if i've only got a fiver kind of thing'

DDs always do the library reading scheme, but that's because they enjoy it and they read anyway. Our primary school gives a bridging project as well, which I encourage but don't force. Both my DDs do very well at school so I don't worry about it too much. DSs don't want to do anything during the summer (although DS2 will do some reading I'm sure), so I let them chill out and take a break from it all. We do usually do some fun days out that are educational as well, but don't present it to the DC as educational.

No work here. DC1 loves reading so will still read a lot I expect. I'll encourage DC2 not to forget how to read totally as only in reception this year.

The only thing DC1 may want to do is to practice writing against the clock for a small reward, as that is the only criticism of him in this year's report. But only if he wants to and thinks the bribe at the end is big enough!

yy to scienceteacher's scrapbooks

lolly sticks, ticket stubs, postcards, the logo fo the zoo cut out of the paper bag from the gift shop

I kept mine for years

I will be but only because dd is more than a year behind Im going to concentrate on the toe by toes scheme the school have been doing ,only because i think a 7 week break would set her back too much. I will also be keeping up with her reading ,and trying to learn her 2,4,5 and 10 tables .Oh and learn the 100 words in her workbook . This might seem alot but she cant afford to take a 7 week break .If she was like the OP son then i would just keep up with the reading

all those nonsense tennis, football, drama courses that middle class parents send their kids off to because they dont want their company. My oldest is 11 -- off to secondary school in sept and I look at this as precious time to be together

Charming!!!!!!

I'd love to enjoy every day of the summer hols as "precious time" with my 4 children...sadly I work in a job where taking the entire summer off simply isn't an option-so sometimes "nonsense" clubs are invaluable!

Comments such as this as this just give me something else to feel guilty about!!

Are you kidding?!?!?!?!?

Summer is about coming home late covered in dirt and nettle stings!
....Meeting friends and making dens
...Finding animals and collecting rose petals to make potions....

[nostalgic sigh....]

I loved school but holidays are for different learning. Things I think are important to do in school holidays, when adults and kids have a little more time, warmth and lighter days:

Crafty stuff - painting in the garden, draing with chalk on floor, making cards, collages outside so less mess

Outside stuff - farm, seaside, gardens, feeding the ducks. Getting dirty and not worrying about how long washing will take to dry

Friends - mega important. Little clubs maybe?

Family time. Visits to extended family.

Lots of reading, writing, maths, history, geography.... but not school work.

[I;m a teacher and have lots of school work to do..... have told all my students to do lots of the above.... ]

Maybe with younger ones its important to keep the skills going but..... sounds too sad to me

I only have one child.

All those "middle class" summer activities are a boon for an only like mine. He is signed up for 3 weeks of sport and would do more if he could! BTW he is not particulary good at sport but likes the friendships he makes.

Mine will all do some school type work over the summer - there is plenty of time for chilling, den making, baking and rolling around in the grass and they do lots of that but all of them have at least 9.5 weeks off school, and DS2 nearer 11 - i think they can squeeze in a bit of work. DS1 has GCSE's next year so when he finally returns from scout camp followed by france with his pals then he can get on with his coursework - as set by school. DS2 is changing schools hence the 11 week hol but he is being encouraged to read more, might struggle to get him to do more tbh. DS3 has dyslexia - he cannot take 9.5 weeks off as he would regress too much, school are fab and his SEN teacher and i have agreed with him a plan of action - he is very keen to do the work set as he is well aware of his problems with spelling in particular (He's going into Y7 and spells rather worse than a Y3 child, He will also practice his clarinet because a) he enjoys it and b) it helps his breathing - he's asthmatic. DS4 will work on his times table - his weakest area and read his choice of a minimum of 6 books and write book reviews. I won't be able to stop him practising the guitar.
I teach, i've set my Y12's quite a lot of homework and they only get 7 weeks off and i will do plenty of prep work myself. i really can't see how a tiny bit of work squeezed into these long lazy days stops any of the relaxing/self initiative parts of the holiday and like other posters actually find it easier to eg get DS1 to do the extended GCSE coursework when he's not at school all day and worn out.

we have 3 ten minute test books with verbal, non verbal & maths tests in them, she will do 2 1\2 a day - bloody kent test looms, its keeping the brain workig in that way that she needs to do
She is keen, she likes it - mostly
she does 1 a day now

Let them chill out, its just as important. trying new experiences, however simple, is all learning. term time is so frantic they need time to be themselves.

Children learn through playing so absolutely no work at all in our household this summer.

Not sure when we would fit it in what with holidays and catching up with friends, beaches etc.

We'll just enjoy being able to be a family and not have the school routine imposed upon us.

LOL - first time I've heard football described as middle class!

ds1 thinks the summer holidays mean 7 weeks of PE! Or at least the opportuntity to spend almost all day, every day playing football/tennis/cricket/swimming/skiing without other subjects getting in the way.

As I can't simply take 7 weeks off he will be spending some of his daytimes at various sports coaching schemes. It's mostly not "middle class parents who send their kids off to because they dont want their company" who use these, it's working mums who get a lot less holiday than their kids!

I have observed many of the non working mums around my way...scheduling their kids into one actvity after another through out the summer. I thik it is sad...I work full time (own business) have 4 kids at 4 different schools...but this summer for the first time I have the summer off ... due to the recession..!...but I will relish every moment of having the kids and theri mates in and out fo the house all day...today 3 have mates over so 7 kids here...we are having a ball...

Not in the 'homework' sense of the word, but DS has issues with dyslexia and very poor auditory memory, he came out aged 5.10 in tests recently (he is 9.4, going into Y5) and so we will be continuing with Toe by Toe (10 mins a day) and going some 'games' to help with his listening comprehension and sequential memory, just to try and give him a headstart for next term.

This is so no brainerish to me. Schools close for a reason, so why would one try to educate in any kind of structured way during this time?

Some kids want to be scheduled. We were always like this as children, we all went to every club going if we possibly could. Especially my sister who typically went to about 3 clubs a day throughout her childhood.

My dd2 is like this, she frets at home, craves to be doing things with loads of other people. And our home is quite busy and noisy and active but she still loves going to planned activities and clubs. The other two are better at chilling but all 3 of them choose holiday clubs and activities over chilling out, if they get the choice.

I read this yesterday thinking "no way" but didn't get round to posting.

Fast forward 24 hours DD has had her report. She has in Year 5 at Middle school and has dyspraxia. She's been doing really well, big strides forward but the comment from every teachers is about presentation of her work lets her down .

So, having thought long and hard about this last night I have agreed to look after the school gecko for 2 weeks in the summer which she really wants to do. Partly as a reward but along with that she's agreed to keep a diary of what the gecko gets up to so she can practice a bit.

Part of me hopes though that someone else will also want it so we don't need to have it as I can't get very excited about the mealworms and feeding them insect bit.