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

[Anonymous]

My ES students love to read. Besides going to the library every week, we don't do much to enrich their summers beyond the pool, camps, vacations. We have never asked them to do math or handwriting or anything school-like.

Curious what others do and how often. I think kids need a break, but if everyone is doing extra math, will my kids be behind come September?

[Anonymous]

During summer, I tried my best to ensure my kids slept in until 9 am, swam, read, watch netflix, wrote in their wreck it journals, climbed trees, playef outside, collected insects, you know just be kids.

When they were younger, this was an easy task. Now that they are older, and I work PT, I can only be certain that they are doing 2 of the above: sleeping in and watching Netflix!

They are super smart kids who work hard all school year. I give them time to chillax during summer break!

[Anonymous]

In ES, I have had each one keep a daily journal throughout the summer. Now that they are in MS, we review math and English grammar/ writing. They all have to read at least one book a week.

[Anonymous]

read 1/2 hour a day. In august, I start a little daily math (10-15 minutes) reviewing the past year. Mostly so they don't show up the first month of school forgetting everything and testing into a lower math group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My ES students love to read. Besides going to the library every week, we don't do much to enrich their summers beyond the pool, camps, vacations. We have never asked them to do math or handwriting or anything school-like.

Curious what others do and how often. I think kids need a break, but if everyone is doing extra math, will my kids be behind come September?

Same here. Just reading. Maybe writing notes to people. And little things that come up. One of my kids likes having little workbooks to complete, so I may go to the dollar store and stock up for when she's bored. I'm not worried about being in a certain place in September.

[Anonymous]

My kid is a rising 4th grader and other than reading, I have him work on things he's not strong in. So his math facts could use a little work. And his cursive. Those types of things. Nothing to get ahead. Just to improve on the prior year's challenges.

[Anonymous]

Typing practice starting in late elementary.

[Anonymous]

My 5th grader already reads constantly, so I just have her work on math, usually via her Dreambox account for 10-15 minutes a day.

[Anonymous]

Same stuff they do during the year - figuring out the tip in restaurants, figuring out which size of the same product is the better deal at the grocery store, doubling and halving recipes when cooking, giving me directions places and following my directions, discussing/debating ideas, etc.

[Anonymous]

I have 4 DDs, ages 4, 12, 21, & 23, as well as taking on much of the responsibility for overseeing my nieces' and nephew's education.

For rising 1st-7th graders -
1) foreign language maintenance,
2) anything required by the school if applicable, and
3a) working on any problem areas from the prior year if applicable OR
3b)30 minutes most weekdays of 'bridge' work to expose them to the material that will be presented in the first quarter of the coming academic year.

For rising 8th graders and up - This varies depending on the academic plan they have developed for high school, but generally summers are used for remediation of weaker areas if needed, or to get ahead for the coming year in order to fit more into their schedule, or in some cases as time to study subjects not available to them at school and for which they didn't have sufficient time during the academic year.

[Anonymous]

My mom used to make me study vocabulary and have a notebook of volcabulary words. I hated it. She also made me read tons of books and turned my love of reading into a chore. She would pick the books. I hated that too.

Fwiw I'm smart and have done well professionally. It has nothing to do with her vocabulary lessons or reading Jane eyre books.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Same stuff they do during the year - figuring out the tip in restaurants, figuring out which size of the same product is the better deal at the grocery store, doubling and halving recipes when cooking, giving me directions places and following my directions, discussing/debating ideas, etc.

Op here...this is the kind of enrichment I like and we try to do. I'll get them to cook more this summer and that'll be our math

[Anonymous]

As all year, I bring them into the fold of daily life which involves a lot of math. When I give them screentime, about 50% of the time I require that they find a good Netflix documentary. My oldest is obsessed with war and is now quite the historian.

I ask that my 1st grader work in his workbook, which he loves to do anyeays.

Reading is something they enjoy anyways, so that happens regardless.

[Anonymous]

I'm working this summer on life skills. My kids both want to learn how to cook, both have thank you notes to write, and have some work on their rooms (cleaning out, etc). Also both have two books to read for school. Both will practice their respective foreign languages because that's the one thing I think is easy to forget

[Anonymous]

This summer we will go on 3 vacations and few trips to the local beaches. For remainder of summer, DD will spend quiet time at home reading and doing crafts. We don't enforce daily routines like at school. DD is an excellent student and does better when she has some downtime.