Summer holidays or hard work?

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mousaka

Summer holidays or hard work?

Post by mousaka »

To parents who went through it,
Could you please tell me whether you worked through the summer holidays or gave your children a rest, which I am inclined to do . I am woried though, my son will forget everything and with exams starting end OCt. it might be risky.
stevew61
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Location: caversham

Post by stevew61 »

Hi mousaka,

We worked throughout the summer although the pace varied. The CDs from this site arrived in the summer and made working in the heat fun again, also allowed us to focus on weak areas.

We did have a break the first week back at school in September, not planned it just happened. You can only push so hard. :)

In our area we had to plan for VR/NVR/Maths/English/Essay so we could not risk losing the momentum over the summer. After the eleven plus we had a short break and started gently on SATs, work can become enjoyable once the routine is established. :shock:

It varies for each child/parent, do what you feel is right, you can lead a horse to water but you can not make it drink.



stevew61
usa
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Post by usa »

Dear Mousaka
We have a very long summer holiday over here - 15 weeks, and yes I did work with all my children every day. This might sound hard, but, (and every family is different), because of the lifestyle we have, there is so much else to do, that basically if that momentum was missed for a few days, (we only did M-F) it was hard to get back into the swing of things.
They swim for 2 hours early every morning, then we would come back, and whilst snacking on food (mine particularly enjoyed this) would do whatever work I had planned for that day. I made a timetable of roughly what had to get covered every day, and tried to stick to it, and by 11 o'clock we had finished. It was probably 1.5 hrs a day (plus reading).
I was covering Maths and English as well as VR though. Over here, none of what he needed to know was covered at school. We did not do much once we came to Sept/Oct though which is when most people start to pile it on.
Are you sitting Bucks? The IPS Technique bk is wonderful and highly recommended by me.
Good luck and get back to us with any more questions.
USA
Guest

Post by Guest »

Hello Mousaka
My daughter did nothing at all over the summer. Prior to that she had done maths only. At the start of the Autumn term I gave her an NFER practice maths paper to see where she was at. To our mutual horror she scored about 40% in the time allowed. By the end of October this was up to 95 - 100% and VR and NVR were also above 90%. She got very high marks in all papers in January. If you are taking papers in October, however, I would do something over the summer even if it's just 30 mins a week to keep your son's eye in. If you don't it does take a couple of weeks to get back in the swing of things. With the exams so close that could be very stressful.
katel
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Joined: Thu Jan 11, 2007 11:30 pm

Post by katel »

I really think this depends whether you are in an "if you pass you get a place" area, or a "only the top passes get a place" area. We are in the first, so we were pretty relaxed over the summer . My daughter struggled with maths and was inclined to forget what she had learnt anyway, so we are used to doing a couple of hours a week. The summer before 11+ we did our usual 2 hours a week of maths, and another hour of either VR or non VR a week. That's a total of 3 hours a week. I really think any more is counter productive (although many on here will disagree!) I don't know what it necessary in the 'devil take the hindmost areas - others will be better qualified to advise.
hermanmunster
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Location: The Seaside

Post by hermanmunster »

agreed - we are in a "if you pass you get a place area" (N Yorks) so no work in the summer holidays.

I'm sure there will be enough work when they get back to school in September
Guest

Post by Guest »

We are in a VR only/October exams area, and my child only managed to get any speed up over the summer hols. When we got back to school in the September, the school piled the homework on as if they were trying to make the kids fail, so there was little time for any VR work once term started, and most of the children, including the cleverest (and that included one child who did one IPS paper by way of 'tutoring'!), were tired, stressed and miserable. Because of this, many parents found it easier, and least confrontational, to do as much of the kids' homework as possible for them in the run up to the exams... I know of one other school in the area which cancels all homework for its children in Year 6 until the half term hols, because they know how stressed the kids get. This gives them time to wind down in the evenings.

Incidentally, once the 11+ was over, the volume of homework at our school diminished to an acceptable level. Explain that one to me.
stevew61
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Joined: Fri Nov 17, 2006 9:54 pm
Location: caversham

Post by stevew61 »

Anonymous wrote: Because of this, many parents found it easier, and least confrontational, to do as much of the kids' homework as possible for them in the run up to the exams...
That rings a bell. I must confess I helped to whizz through school homework so we had time for elevenplus extra homework. :oops:

I expected the work to come back marked WDD ( well done dad ) :lol:
mousaka

Post by mousaka »

Thank you to all of you for advice. I live in North London where competition for places in Grammars is fierce. I analised what you said and decided that few hours of homework a week will keep my son in tune and considernig that summer days are long it will not be a big loss of precious free time.
Discussed it with my son and he agreed with me that it would be better if he spent some time on work.
sj355
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Joined: Thu Nov 02, 2006 4:07 pm
Location: Finchley - Barnet

Post by sj355 »

mousaka wrote:Thank you to all of you for advice. I live in North London where competition for places in Grammars is fierce. I analised what you said and decided that few hours of homework a week will keep my son in tune and considernig that summer days are long it will not be a big loss of precious free time.
Discussed it with my son and he agreed with me that it would be better if he spent some time on work.
Mousaka,

I live in North London. We spend the summer before the grammar exams in Greece as always. My kid had to work during siesta (we sleep, but he does not). He did an NFER exam usually in VR, NVR or Maths. I would then wake up, correct it and go over the mistakes. We only practiced English when we returned back in London; he does that with his tutor and his dad. I think my kid second guessed my at some point because he sighed and said:"Don't worry mum I won't foget what I know during this summer!"
I do not know whether it backfired. He did not pass the first round in Latymer, but then he did make it into QE. Overall I think 1.5 hours a day is not a big deal.
sj355
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