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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]No, no, no, no, and no.  My kids tracked reading minutes when they were in ES.  Which was never a problem because they are great readers.  They had math packets assigned in MS and a school One Book.  Now, both are at TJ and up to this point have had summer school AND a huge soul sucking, time sucking amount of summer homework. New school policy—. NO HOMEWORK THIS SUMMER!!!!  Can you tell how happy I am?

Thank goodness.  They work hard enough during the school year. Plus, one has a semester of summer history and one has a school years worth of CS at the school.  And summer history kid also has marching band start August 1 and college applications to start. Before you know it, this will be your kids summer. Enjoy the downtime while you have it.

Research has shown little to no benefit of summer homework for UMC kids.  And UMC kid don’t experience much, if any, summer brain drain.  Basically, if you are the kind of parent who asks if your kid should do dummer homework, your kid doesn’t need it.

Limit screen time.  Take your kids to the library regularly.  Limit screen time. Did I mention limit screentime?  Otherwise turn them loose or send them to a camp in an area they find interesting. They will start formal summer homework and summer classes and summer jobs and college applications and internships and...  soon enough— most middle and high schools have some summer homework. [/quote]

Wow.  You think “UMC” kids are exempt from summer brain drain? 
Sounds like you have older kids & built-up frustrations. Sorry to hear that. 
But when you have little ones who need extra practice with math or reading, it’s super important to do it over the summer. If you don’t, they really suffer when school starts again. It’s hard to keep up when you can’t remember math facts or your reading is slow.
Good luck to you![/quote]

Yes. [b]I think any credible research you find shows that summer brain drain affects UMC and upper class kids much, much less.  [/b]

https://www.noodle.com/articles/summer-brain-drain-has-a-lot-to-do-with-the-education-gap

I do have high school kids.  I am frustrated that we have reached a point where unstructured time has become the enemy.  I think reading a book and taking 15 pages of notes, one page per chapter, is dumb and a time suck.

And there is a difference between a kid who is behind and needs extra help, and most of the DCUM kids who are ahead of grade level.

And I do t think you do nothing. You take kids on field trips. Both my kids did summer band and strings camp for years.  Art camp.  Splashing in the pond science camp. Lounged around and read stacks of books from the library. Went to girl scout summer camps.  Did SEP and CTY camps. Did some computer camps. Stuff they chose and were interested in. Encouraged them to go to the pool. Had friends sleep over.  I do not have sporty kids, so no sports camps.

We also kept the TV turned off and still severely limit electronics.

What we did not do is a formal learning program. Worksheets and workbooks and assigned reading and X minutes a day of instrument practice.  They get homework and structure during the school year. At TJ, they also end up in summer school to make room for all the classes.

And thanks for the concern.   They are just fine academically. [/quote]

Why the myopic focus on your own kids?  Some kids from UMC/educated families may also benefit from a bit of summer practice to keep skills fresh.  Heck, there's a thread in the elementary schools forum now from a parent who is worried about summer slide for their 2nd grader.[/quote]

NP.  Because we only have control over our kids.  My kids like a long summer vacation and I wish it was longer.  No summer slide either in middle and hs.  Excellent students.  Over the summer they follow their hobbies and interests.  Hangout with their friends.  Travel.  Etc.  Exactly the same when they were in elementary.  [b]Work sheets are a waste of time and boring[/b].[/quote]

PP.  Maybe I wasn't clear.  What I meant was, [b]why focus on your anecdotal experience when the data clearly support the existence of summer slide?[/b]  Why assume everyone else has your family's experience and perspective?

You're certainly allowed to have a perfectly enriched summer for your own kids, while still acknowledging that every family isn't able to provide that experience.  In the aggregate, a bit of summer practice of skills/concepts doesn't hurt and at best helps maintain these skills over the summer.[/quote]

NP: The evidence is clear for the lower income groups; it is not clear for middle-upper middle that there is anything other than a very temporary blip around narrowly measured skills.  There's no evidence that worksheet practice makes a difference for anyone so that's all anecdotal, and that research isn't measuring anything lost by giving worksheets  (e.g., limiting what kids think math and science are; lessening motivation and curiosity about math/science, opportunity costs for different kinds of academic experiences). The research is about year round schooling vs. extended summer and its impact on tests across broad populations.  
 If there's not evidence of a meaningful and lasting summer slide for middle/upper middle class educated children, if the school is going to spend the first two weeks reviewing anyway, and if many educators and parents believe they are a small part of meaningful academic skills, then I think PP isn't just being anecodal--we all are.[/quote]

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