I remember being asked to read over summer vacation, but since I was a big reader, it wasn’t much of a chore. My summer vacations were filled with days at the beach and long evening sessions of kick the can with the neighborhood kids.
But my kids have tons of summer homework: pages and pages of math problems, a book report to read , a biography and five other books to read, and three chapters in the grammar workbook they didn’t get to during the school year.
It’s enough to ruin my summer vacation.
Yes, you read that right. I said MY vacation. Not theirs. Because the truth is, I’m the one who has to remind them, and bug them, and make sure they do it. And that makes me the bad guy.
I know that there’s an argument for making them the responsible ones. If they don’t do their homework, let them suffer the consequences. Yeah, well, they’re ten. It’s summer. And there’s a pool out back here at their grandparents’ house where we are spending a good chunk of our time.
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I’m not leaving it to chance. Why SHOULD they think about homework? I know, I know – keeping their minds fresh, blah blah blah. Mostly, I think it’s just busy work that doesn’t accomplish much. Not all – just most.
Summer is for getting away, and letting loose, and unstructured play, and lazy mornings. I don’t expect them to be conscientious about homework. It’s summer!!
I guess no matter how many frogs you catch, or sand castles you build, or bike rides to the beach my kids go on, they don’t really get to get away for the summer anymore.
And that’s a shame.
I hear ya! We have summer reading assignments too and the older kids have to write up a summary. Not a huge pile of homework, but it’s SUMMER! My summer. But then again, no one around here plays kick the can anymore either.
children forget at least 23% of their math skills, 19% English, 26% Language Arts, 12% History, and other subjects over vacation break. Our track is Track A which means we get at least 2 months or more vacation. My proven results take action on only two months and two weeks. We get at least one week more of vacation. Most of the children in our class believe that they shouldn’t have any vacation homework because most teachers give us many packets which keep us awake till’ 3 a.m. the day before school. This takes up most of the time in our vacation which leaves almost no time to do any fun activities, which is the main point of vacation. I think the solution is to give us LESS vacation homework, not any homework at all.
My second proven result is children our age, will stare at their television for hours, or use their computers for hours. If they don’t have any vacation homework at all, they will think this is fine, and do it every single day for about 85 days.