Should we be closing school bags completely?
I always remember the year that my son was just getting to grips with reading. He had struggled for most of that school year, and I could tell that he was close to being put off reading altogether. So for that summer I decided not to push it -- no invitations to story time, no waving books under his nose in the library. If he wanted to look at a book he could, but I wasn't going to force the matter any more. And as it turned out he didn't ask and I'm not aware of him reading any books all that summer.
But the strange thing was - when he went back to school in September his reading came on leaps and bounds. It was as if the break was exactly what he needed. So ever since then I've thought that giving your brain a break from school work in the summer is a good thing. When you've been concentrating hard all year, sometimes your mind needs a pause to process everything it's accumulated.
Jen at Mum in the Mad House agrees, with a resounding "No!" when asked if homework is on the agenda for her boys, while Cathy at NurtureStore says she's planning some projects of her own rather than anything set by school.
I must admit that I'm wavering - the most recent school report carried warnings that writing skills need to be developed, so I'm wondering if that should be a focus in the holidays.
It's about life as well as school
But then the skills our children learn in school sneak into our lives in all sorts of ways as well as via formal homework:
- Your child can write a letter or an email to Granny or your friends
- Children can make shopping lists, work out a budget and plan a family meal
- You can ask your child to read out the ingredients when you're cooking or baking together
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You can take part in a library challenge - these take place all around the UK and are completely free. Children get rewards according to how many books they read - it's amazing what an enticement a few stickers can be. The theme of this year's national summer reading challenge is Circus Stars, and you can find out all the details of the summer reading challenge here.
You could even plan your holidays with the curriculum in mind - this might be a bit OTT for some, but part of the reason we went on holiday to Guernsey last year was that we knew World War II was coming up as a school topic and we figured it wouldn't hurt to visit a few historical sites. However, next year's topics include Guatemala and the Rainforest, so it's not really practical to continue with this. But if you are broadly aware of what your child's likely to encounter next year in school, I don't think there's any harm in keeping your eyes open for ways to ignite that interest, even in the holidays.
What do you think? Will homework be in the agenda in your house this summer, or will your children be having a complete break?
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mum
01 August, 2011
My daughter will be doing some studying over the summer months. It's a good time for children who have fallen behind to catch up, especially those with summer birthdays like my daughter. Some interesting research has been done in this area which talks about the summer 'brain drain' and how this affects children across different countries depending on the length of the school holidays. I don't think it's a case of 'should' as all children are different, but for some children there will be benefits to doing some work during the summer, as long as its fun and not tedious.
01 August, 2011
I think it's a great idea for them to do "fun" things which won't seem like work. I used to love writing letters when I was young and its great to tell people what you've been doing in the summer hols. My son has joined the library challenge and is really enjoying it. It's a great idea and they get to choose their own books too!
mum
01 August, 2011
I love this post. We're doing a couple of 'projects' over the summer to keep Harry's mind active. Not related to the curriculum, just things he's interested in. I think it's so important to remember that children can keep learning outside of "schoolwork" or "homework".
admin
01 August, 2011
My first thought when I read the title was "no way" but actually I'm swaying the other way now after reading the post. I like the idea of letters, shopping lists etc because it doesn't feel like work, but still keeps them thinking and using their reading and writing skills. My daughter loves helping with the shopping, and it's always her job to read the list and try to find the items on the shelves because it helps her to feel involved with our family life.
Great post!
Leigh
Ready for Ten Team
mum
02 August, 2011
As you mentioned in the article, we're doing lots of learning over the summer, but not through anything prescribed by school. I think we should all be life-long learners and shouldn't see a big divide between home and school - but the summer does offer the chance to do things at a different pace. We're doing different projects, more focused on what each individual child is interested in than is perhaps possible in a school classroom. There are so many ways to keep developing maths, literacy, etc whilst 'just' playing.
We're doing the library summer reading challenge too and used some maths and science to make biscuits today to match the characters in the kids favourite books!