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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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, [b]nor do DS's classmates at his independent school in DC.[/b][/quote]

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.

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I'm a Pp from earlier who talked about baking and board games is our summer learning. You may think it's not enough, but I do. My children have spent the morning planning a jewelry store--they made signs, they made jewelry, they set up the toy cash register.  I have had nothing to do with it at all, I have been cleaning. They have access to materials and they're running with it.  The sign making=literacy skills. The jewelry making= fine motor skills, which can lead to better hand writing; as well as helping them focus and follow through. The cash register=math practice. The play and imagination part as they pretend to buy and sell is contributing to their social skills, which are just as powerful predictor of success as grades and SAT scores.

If your kid enjoys worksheets and math games, that's great! They're not inherently bad. But don't knock play-based learning for the early years, there's a lot of merit to it. And you have no idea where these kids will be in 30 years or what the workforce in this country will even look like. [/quote]

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