What kind of "work" do you make your children do in the summer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:High SES?

What is SES?

Feel like missing something everyone knows

Socio Economic Status

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have great readers, so nothing else in ES. By MS, schools are posting summer assignments that have to be turned in the first week of school and you end up ruining part of summer vacation making them slog through these.

Summer brain drain isn't really a thing for high SES kids.

I would ask the teacher this. I think it's real. We are high SES.

Research says high SES kids maintain or gain over the summer. Low SES kids lose a lot. And why not? My kids naturally read tons in their free time (DD logged over 5000 minutes for last summer's reading challenge), go to all sorts of camps (which between 2 kids, includes 3 weeks through CTY, 3 weeks of 1/2 day band/strings camp, VA Space Flight Academy, Girl Scout camp and glass art camp this summer) go to the pool, play with friends and, yes, do the dreaded summer math packets. Most of their friends have something similar going on (but probably with more sports, which my kids hate). They are not sitting in front of the TV all day while we work, which happens to their low SES peers. They are active and engaged with their environments. They work hard during the year, and I worry more about burnout than brain drain.

Anyway, the research: http://wesa.fm/post/separating-myth-fact-summer-brain-drain#stream/0

Except math. They all slide back in math.

[Anonymous]

Mine just finished 5th, but for non-camp weeks:
-20 minutes of math practice
-instrument practice
-reading whatever she wants
-writing whatever she wants (she's currently working on a dog cookbook)
-her own project (this summer it's teaching the dog tricks)
-she gets an hour of screen time a day, and can earn additional time by doing chores

The math practice isn't her favorite, but everything else she genuinely enjoys, and it's enough to give loose structure to the day so she doesn't slope around complaining about being bored.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have great readers, so nothing else in ES. By MS, schools are posting summer assignments that have to be turned in the first week of school and you end up ruining part of summer vacation making them slog through these.

Summer brain drain isn't really a thing for high SES kids.

I would ask the teacher this. I think it's real. We are high SES.

Research says high SES kids maintain or gain over the summer. Low SES kids lose a lot. And why not? My kids naturally read tons in their free time (DD logged over 5000 minutes for last summer's reading challenge), go to all sorts of camps (which between 2 kids, includes 3 weeks through CTY, 3 weeks of 1/2 day band/strings camp, VA Space Flight Academy, Girl Scout camp and glass art camp this summer) go to the pool, play with friends and, yes, do the dreaded summer math packets. Most of their friends have something similar going on (but probably with more sports, which my kids hate). They are not sitting in front of the TV all day while we work, which happens to their low SES peers. They are active and engaged with their environments. They work hard during the year, and I worry more about burnout than brain drain.

Anyway, the research: http://wesa.fm/post/separating-myth-fact-summer-brain-drain#stream/0

Except math. They all slide back in math.

8m a wicked wicked mom and my kids go to mathnasium 2xs a week. It's only 2hrs a week, but thry actually enter school ahead of where they left off. For instance Algebra will be introduced at a visit level in 5th grade. My rising 5th grader I'd already isolating x. Who knows where he will be in September.

[Anonymous]

I have one child in school- she is a rising 3rd grader. Previously, we just had her read and do one math problem per day. Since she has PARCC tests for the first time next year, and she often has trouble with unfamiliar test formats, I ordered the Luna PARCC workbooks for math and English for 3rd graders. My hope is to expose her to new math and English skills that she will be learning in the coming year as well as the format in which she'll have to test. We asked our au pair to have her work on them for 30 minutes per day. She is a voracious reader, so we aren't requiring reading anymore as I want her to think of it as fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:High SES?

What is SES?

Feel like missing something everyone knows

Senior Executive Service?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:High SES?

What is SES?

Feel like missing something everyone knows

Socio Economic Status

It's white person code.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have great readers, so nothing else in ES. By MS, schools are posting summer assignments that have to be turned in the first week of school and you end up ruining part of summer vacation making them slog through these.

Summer brain drain isn't really a thing for high SES kids.

I would ask the teacher this. I think it's real. We are high SES.

Research says high SES kids maintain or gain over the summer. Low SES kids lose a lot. And why not? My kids naturally read tons in their free time (DD logged over 5000 minutes for last summer's reading challenge), go to all sorts of camps (which between 2 kids, includes 3 weeks through CTY, 3 weeks of 1/2 day band/strings camp, VA Space Flight Academy, Girl Scout camp and glass art camp this summer) go to the pool, play with friends and, yes, do the dreaded summer math packets. Most of their friends have something similar going on (but probably with more sports, which my kids hate). They are not sitting in front of the TV all day while we work, which happens to their low SES peers. They are active and engaged with their environments. They work hard during the year, and I worry more about burnout than brain drain.

Anyway, the research: http://wesa.fm/post/separating-myth-fact-summer-brain-drain#stream/0

Except math. They all slide back in math.

8m a wicked wicked mom and my kids go to mathnasium 2xs a week. It's only 2hrs a week, but thry actually enter school ahead of where they left off. For instance Algebra will be introduced at a visit level in 5th grade. My rising 5th grader I'd already isolating x. Who knows where he will be in September.

That's the point. The studies show the degree of summer slide when there is no supplementation. You are supplementing.

[Anonymous]

My rising third grader is doing about 10 minutes of xtramath to learn math facts and 10 minutes of typing lessons 3-4 times a week for the 5 weeks of the summer that she is in town. She is also reading in Spanish aloud to me a couple times a week to practice fluency. She is a voracious reader, so I'm sure she will also be reading a lot, whatever she wants (although I just bought her the horrible history series, so hopefully she will read some of those). We are doing a kids business camp in a Spanish speaking country with a bunch of her friends for a week, so she should get some interesting and diverse knowledge from that. Otherwise, she will be in art camps and woodsy camps, so I'm sure she will learn a ton through those.

[Anonymous]

This summer....lots of work around the house (ages 8 & 9):

vacuuming
dishes
emptying dishwasher
cleaning bathrooms
weeding
cooking

[Anonymous]

Rising 3rd grader: 20 mins of math and writing = 40 mins/day.

Rising 1st grader: 10 mins of math and writing = 20 mins/day.

I make it fun.

They both have to read at least 30 mins a day but they love reading so it's usually something they do on their own. This is in addition to camps and vegging out.

[Anonymous]

Rising 1st grader:

We'll read every night either have him do it or read to him, sometimes both.
I have him write something most days. Just a couple sentences about what he did that day.

He was right at grade level for reading and writing and his k teacher suggested we practice these two things daily.

He will do a summer camp that does tons of activities and has a lego room, science room, etc. We also do a lot of cooking at home.

Only other goal for the summer is to learn to tie shoes!