How much studying is your elementary child doing this summer?

[Anonymous]

Not much - occasionally they choose to sit down and do a couple math worksheets. The rising 5th grader reads on his own - its not studying. We read to the rising third grader and he ocasionally reads on his own - but it's not required.

[Anonymous]

Rising 2nd grade girl:

Reads like a fiend. Just finished Little Women, for example. Read it in 2 days.

It's harder to get her to do math. School sent home a summer workbook with 35 lessons (12 questions/lesson). She does two each Sat. and two each Sun. We do arithmetic and subtraction flashcards in the car, with sums up to 12. I am open to any and all suggestions of how to make math more fun and more organic - not something stupid and boring like workbooks and flashcards. I myself was more heavily into reading so it's hard for me to think of these things, but I try!

Otherwise, she is doing weekly camps in things such as: robotics, music, chess, engineering, veterinary science, space, dinosaurs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rising 2nd grade girl:

Reads like a fiend. Just finished Little Women, for example. Read it in 2 days.

It's harder to get her to do math. School sent home a summer workbook with 35 lessons (12 questions/lesson). She does two each Sat. and two each Sun. We do arithmetic and subtraction flashcards in the car, with sums up to 12. I am open to any and all suggestions of how to make math more fun and more organic - not something stupid and boring like workbooks and flashcards. I myself was more heavily into reading so it's hard for me to think of these things, but I try!

Otherwise, she is doing weekly camps in things such as: robotics, music, chess, engineering, veterinary science, space, dinosaurs.

(tiger mom)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rising 2nd grade girl:

Reads like a fiend. Just finished Little Women, for example. Read it in 2 days.

It's harder to get her to do math. School sent home a summer workbook with 35 lessons (12 questions/lesson). She does two each Sat. and two each Sun. We do arithmetic and subtraction flashcards in the car, with sums up to 12. I am open to any and all suggestions of how to make math more fun and more organic - not something stupid and boring like workbooks and flashcards. I myself was more heavily into reading so it's hard for me to think of these things, but I try!

Otherwise, she is doing weekly camps in things such as: robotics, music, chess, engineering, veterinary science, space, dinosaurs.

(tiger mom)

Oh wow, I am actually flattered. I thought we weren't doing very much!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rising 2nd grade girl:

Reads like a fiend. Just finished Little Women, for example. Read it in 2 days.

It's harder to get her to do math. School sent home a summer workbook with 35 lessons (12 questions/lesson). She does two each Sat. and two each Sun. We do arithmetic and subtraction flashcards in the car, with sums up to 12. I am open to any and all suggestions of how to make math more fun and more organic - not something stupid and boring like workbooks and flashcards. I myself was more heavily into reading so it's hard for me to think of these things, but I try!

Otherwise, she is doing weekly camps in things such as: robotics, music, chess, engineering, veterinary science, space, dinosaurs.

(tiger mom)

Oh wow, I am actually flattered. I thought we weren't doing very much!

You're braggy about your young child's precociousness. So your being flattered fits right in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rising 2nd grade girl:

Reads like a fiend. Just finished Little Women, for example. Read it in 2 days.

It's harder to get her to do math. School sent home a summer workbook with 35 lessons (12 questions/lesson). She does two each Sat. and two each Sun. We do arithmetic and subtraction flashcards in the car, with sums up to 12. I am open to any and all suggestions of how to make math more fun and more organic - not something stupid and boring like workbooks and flashcards. I myself was more heavily into reading so it's hard for me to think of these things, but I try!

Otherwise, she is doing weekly camps in things such as: robotics, music, chess, engineering, veterinary science, space, dinosaurs.

(tiger mom)

Oh wow, I am actually flattered. I thought we weren't doing very much!

You're braggy about your young child's precociousness. So your being flattered fits right in.

Did you see where I said we are only working on adding and subtracting numbers that add up to 12? That is not precocious at all. That is like memorizing things like 10+2, 6+6, 9+3, etc. She did not get good grades in math this year and so we are reviewing what they did last year in 1st so she doesn't start off already behind the 8-ball in 2nd. I myself was never strong in math either and I don't want her to not have a firm understanding of these foundations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None. DS is entering 6th. This thread has been a real eye-opener.

Where do you all live? How would you describe your culture/ethnicity/race/country of origin?

Nobody I know in my neighborhood does this, nor do DS's classmates at his independent school in DC.

Oh, I bet they do. People just don't talk about it, because kids in this demographic are "supposed" to be spending their summers traveling through Europe with their parents, at expensive sleep-away camps or perfecting their tennis/ golf swing at the country club.

Signed, mom of a rising 6th grade DS at a DC independent school who has him working math problems every day

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None. DS is entering 6th. This thread has been a real eye-opener.

Where do you all live? How would you describe your culture/ethnicity/race/country of origin?

Nobody I know in my neighborhood does this, nor do DS's classmates at his independent school in DC.

Have you asked every single one of them? I highly doubt it. Unless it's a school that only goes up to 2nd grade or something.

We live in Bethesda. The clueless middle-class American parents who think time stands still and life will treat their children exactly the way it treated them, are of the opinion that childhood should be as fun and work-free as possible. After all, they'll be able to get into an Ivy just as easily as their parents did (I actually know parents like this). And then the recent educated immigrants and foreigners, as well as more far-seeing Americans, see the changing world and hard-core global competition and expect their kids to be at least two grades ahead in everything, and to develop their critical thinking skills. This usually means some measure of academic study during the holidays and enrichment all year. They strive to make it interesting and stimulating. Academics don't have to be drudgery.

Then their kids kill themselves in high school or college because of the pressure. No thanks. My kids (13 and 10) learn during the summer, but it's largely experiential, combined with some pleasure reading. I don't care if my kids go to Ivy league schools. I know plenty of Ivy league graduates so i guess I don't think it's all that. I'd rather raise happy, well-adjusted adults (even if they do go to "lesser" colleges). I've officially opted out of the academic arms race. One of my kids is very bright and will probably do well regardless. The other has an LD, so pushing her is not going to make her learn any faster--it will probably turn her off.

+1 My rising 5th and 7th graders do the summer math review packets their schools provide (1 sheet of about 8 questions each week) and I expect them to read each day (have to push DS to do that but DD does it naturally). Other than that, they are in camp all day doing a wide variety of activities - some old favorite, some exposure to new things. Both are doing very well in school.

[Anonymous]

Rising 5th grade boy. Nothing formal. Even though DH and I are big readers, he does not like to read. At all. But he reads above grade level, excels in math, gets good grades, and is in the gifted program. He gets plenty of academic challenge during the school year.

Summer is a time to chill for a kid in my opinion. As an adult, we don't have that luxury. He has a different camp each week because we both work outside the home full time. Most camps are sports based because he is high energy and loves sports. A few are STEM based - robotics, programming.

He continues taking music lessons throughout the summer (guitar) and practices when he feels like that. Evenings and weekends we hang around the house, he has play dates with friends, we run errands or spend time together. We like to watch National Geographic nature shows together. Friday nights are always family movie nights. We watch movies together in our living room with popcorn.

He does not watch TV outside of those two things but he does love to play video games and gets to play a fair amount. During the school year he is much more restrictive. He also plays travel soccer pretty much year around though we have a bit of a break right now. We also go on a vacation or maybe two. Usually to the beach for a week and maybe a shorter visit to see family.

He is 10 and so far so good. I think it's a good balance for him and for us as a family.

I am curious if most of the posters are dual working parents.

[Anonymous]

Studying?? None

But so you mean encouraging things like reading, logic games, and games with math? We encourage but have no time expectations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rising 2nd grade girl:

Reads like a fiend. Just finished Little Women, for example. Read it in 2 days.

It's harder to get her to do math. School sent home a summer workbook with 35 lessons (12 questions/lesson). She does two each Sat. and two each Sun. We do arithmetic and subtraction flashcards in the car, with sums up to 12. I am open to any and all suggestions of how to make math more fun and more organic - not something stupid and boring like workbooks and flashcards. I myself was more heavily into reading so it's hard for me to think of these things, but I try!

Otherwise, she is doing weekly camps in things such as: robotics, music, chess, engineering, veterinary science, space, dinosaurs.

That's wonderful, PP!

And no, you are not a Tiger Mom. Just a parent with a balanced approach.

- signed a Tiger Mom (not a balanced approach)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rising 2nd grade girl:

Reads like a fiend. Just finished Little Women, for example. Read it in 2 days.

It's harder to get her to do math. School sent home a summer workbook with 35 lessons (12 questions/lesson). She does two each Sat. and two each Sun. We do arithmetic and subtraction flashcards in the car, with sums up to 12. I am open to any and all suggestions of how to make math more fun and more organic - not something stupid and boring like workbooks and flashcards. I myself was more heavily into reading so it's hard for me to think of these things, but I try!

Otherwise, she is doing weekly camps in things such as: robotics, music, chess, engineering, veterinary science, space, dinosaurs.

(tiger mom)

Oh wow, I am actually flattered. I thought we weren't doing very much!

You're braggy about your young child's precociousness. So your being flattered fits right in.

Oh FFS, she's neither braggy nor a tiger mom. Give it a rest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rising 2nd grade girl:

Reads like a fiend. Just finished Little Women, for example. Read it in 2 days.

It's harder to get her to do math. School sent home a summer workbook with 35 lessons (12 questions/lesson). She does two each Sat. and two each Sun. We do arithmetic and subtraction flashcards in the car, with sums up to 12. I am open to any and all suggestions of how to make math more fun and more organic - not something stupid and boring like workbooks and flashcards. I myself was more heavily into reading so it's hard for me to think of these things, but I try!

Otherwise, she is doing weekly camps in things such as: robotics, music, chess, engineering, veterinary science, space, dinosaurs.

Read the previous posts in this thread for idea. People have shared several including card games, board games, and cooking!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Zero. She's reading, writing, and drawing, but anything beyond that is not really happening. (Rising 1st grader)

What studying do you mean?

DS is a beginner reader. He likes being read to but hates practicing reading. He gets frustrated that he can't read most of the big words. At the same time, he hates the BOB type books too. It is frustrating for all of us. Considering getting him a reading tutor.

I also have various workbooks that he seems to hate doing. I am not trying to get him to do hours of work, maybe 10-20 minutes per day. He has been legitimately sick a few days but he makes so many excuses.

He needs a break. Read to him. Read to him some more. Take the pressure off. He's going to get it. Don't worry about the workbooks and stuff. Give him some paint or stickers and let him have some actual fun. It is summertime!

To answer the original question, he reads a lot, but otherwise no official work!

OP here. I used to be very worried about his reading but he tests very well. Although he can't read the questions themselves, he gets most answers correct.

I guess we do a lot of experiential learning. We spent two weeks in Europe, have done road trips and have gone to multiple museums. We go to the library every week. He enjoys books on animals and the usual boy stuff like Ninjago and star Wars. I think we spend too much time at the pool and beach. 6yo did learn how to swim this summer.

So is he passively sitting around with headphones plugged into electronics or is he part of the process of calculating how many miles you will travel that day and converting them (math), locating cities on maps (geography), determining topography, studying landforms and rocks (geology), Planning the itinerery for the day (critical thinking, ELA), learning words from the language (foreign languages), learning about the history of the country and customs (history and social studies), I could go on....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Zero. She's reading, writing, and drawing, but anything beyond that is not really happening. (Rising 1st grader)

What studying do you mean?

DS is a beginner reader. He likes being read to but hates practicing reading. He gets frustrated that he can't read most of the big words. At the same time, he hates the BOB type books too. It is frustrating for all of us. Considering getting him a reading tutor.

I also have various workbooks that he seems to hate doing. I am not trying to get him to do hours of work, maybe 10-20 minutes per day. He has been legitimately sick a few days but he makes so many excuses.

He needs a break. Read to him. Read to him some more. Take the pressure off. He's going to get it. Don't worry about the workbooks and stuff. Give him some paint or stickers and let him have some actual fun. It is summertime!

To answer the original question, he reads a lot, but otherwise no official work!

Oh yeah, converting money to local currency.

OP here. I used to be very worried about his reading but he tests very well. Although he can't read the questions themselves, he gets most answers correct.

I guess we do a lot of experiential learning. We spent two weeks in Europe, have done road trips and have gone to multiple museums. We go to the library every week. He enjoys books on animals and the usual boy stuff like Ninjago and star Wars. I think we spend too much time at the pool and beach. 6yo did learn how to swim this summer.

So is he passively sitting around with headphones plugged into electronics or is he part of the process of calculating how many miles you will travel that day and converting them (math), locating cities on maps (geography), determining topography, studying landforms and rocks (geology), Planning the itinerery for the day (critical thinking, ELA), learning words from the language (foreign languages), learning about the history of the country and customs (history and social studies), I could go on....