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Should Kids Get Homework Over the Summer?

Should Kids Get Homework Over the Summer?

 

School’s finally out, but is a homework-free summer a brain drain? Two Care.com employees weigh in on the pros and cons of summertime homework.

Sarah Says: Homework Helps

Did you know that kids lose an average of two months of work during the summer? That’s what I’ve heard, anyway. And honestly, my kids can’t have all that knowledge and hard work from the previous year get lost. Playing catch-up is not how they need to be spending the start of the school year.

Sure, I get called “Momzilla” and “Attila the Mum,” but I insist on a summer reading list from teachers, as well as 20 to 30 minutes of workbook work, five days a week.

I know summer is meant to be fun, so we mix school and vacation. The work becomes part of our daily routine. Every day, the girls know that after breakfast, they’re expected to crack open the books (in separate rooms so there’s no temptation to chat) and complete their worksheets and assignments. They’re done for the day in a half hour or so and then the day is theirs. And when they go to sleepaway camp or we leave for a vacation, we don’t take it with us; we plan ahead, fitting in all the workbooks around fun weeks away and giving them total freedom. Our summer babysitter also gets to play drill sergeant (God love her!) and enforce these rules when I’m at work.

Summer homework can also be fun, if you get creative. After all, even in summer, kids love to learn! We spend a lot of time Googling about things they are reading to learn more about the history or even crazy stuff like how one of the major killers in the Revolutionary War era was bad oral hygiene. Heading to the planetarium or the Museum of Science is a fun way to see math and science in action.

We build rewards into the mix, too. Planning a movie night or ice cream outing when a project or summer book report is completed makes the work a little more fun and also takes away some of my tyrant tarnish!

The benefit? When school starts, this all pays off. Trust me. My kids don’t spend the first month trying to remember what the teacher is talking about or how that long division stuff works. This has also helped them practice their organizational skills, too, as we plan both when to do the work and short- and long-term goals.

And you know what I say when they call me Momzilla? I just remind them of the kids in other countries who go to school six days a week and have a two-week summer vacation.

Leisa Says: Let Them Play

Here’s my idea of summer homework: building jet packs, Ferris wheels and pirate ships with whatever odd craft supplies my kids can find in our house. Just because my kids aren’t working on sheets of math facts or reading books to cross them off the summer reading list doesn’t mean I’m letting them play on an iPad all day. And they aren’t couch potatoes with an iron grip on the TV remote either.

Summer homework comes down to this: playtime is learning enough. Letting my kids figure out how to stay busy, even if that means I sometimes hear the dreaded “I’m bored,” gives them life-long skills they can’t necessarily pick up from the math packet their school sent home.

Yes, I feel like I’m about to step off the edge of an abyss at summer’s start. How am I going to keep my two high-energy, big-personality girls busy all summer long? Are they going to drive me and each other crazy?

I’ll admit it – I let them get bored. I suck up all the willpower I can to sometimes just let their summer fizzle to a grinding halt. Then something amazing happens — being “bored” makes them creative. They have to figure out how to be busy and have fun without asking a parent or our babysitter. They know mom’s idea of something to do usually involves cleaning the bathroom or folding laundry. So they drag out the kid scissors, toilet paper rolls, painter’s tape and loads of imagination. Bring some friends into the mix and their negotiating and problem-solving skills would rival that of any CEO.

There’s something to be said for having to figure out what to do all by yourself. Kids don’t learn skills like that from sitting down to read a required book. Even if they like the book, the “have to” instructions make it less like fun, more like folding laundry.

It may not sound like work, but the talent shows, games, projects, plays and stories my kids come up with all on their own support their success in school as much as any homework they are given.