My children are not going to do homework this summer, they do not want to and neither do I, if I forced them to do it they would not be fully on vacation, also I do not know adults who take their work bag to the beach. Yes, okay, it seems that today we are all a little more stressed and that a whole month and followed by vacations is 'demodé', but if you work on your days off it is your responsibility, don't push your kids to do the same.
Are you asking me what they will learn if they don't do homework? Really? Well, they will learn to negotiate with their friends, they will acquire notions of physics (you already know the Archimedes principle in the pool and things like that), they will know how to place the Pole Star if I take them to an observation of the sky at night, they will learn spelling and grammar naturally (they read a lot), and they will acquire autonomy in repairing bicycles if the breakdown catches them far from home. As if that were not enough, they will discover new culinary techniques (in the kitchen at home), they will improve 'movement' in the drawings they make, they will be surprised by visiting exhibitions, they will discover the world with eyes eager to know, and they may even participate in a creative workshop.
But above all they will play, rest, smile, and they will know owners of their time; they have struggled for months, they have fought battles over the past few months, and they have stood 'at the foot of the gun'; They have also managed to make it compatible with carrying out extracurricular activities that they liked. I will not be the one who put one of those boring holiday booklets right under your nose.
Nowadays I observe a lot of fear to let children behave as such, to have freedom, I fear that it is not so much concern for their future as acceptance of a model based on the absence of personal spaces and 'being constantly busy' . But at the same time, new pedagogical proposals emerge to better adjust to current times: children need to develop skills, not accumulate knowledge.
Each one does the best they know and can with their children, I don't want to deny you the right to ask for their effort, but the fact is that in a relationship between two or more people, the right of others also counts. Make Homework is not a 'sine qua non condition' to achieve the effort, which is also acquired by being responsible for tidying the room, taking care of little siblings, learning to manage emotions or loading the dishwasher.
Was your child waiting for the summer to do homework?
Right? Maybe we should listen to them more. The traditional homework format it is out of date, and it is out of date no matter how funny the math sentences are. If the labor market we are going to will value the use of technology, adaptation, creativity and innovation, I do not understand what relationship has to repeat the rules of c / k / z ad nauseam, with the achievement of those skills.
Let your child satisfy his curiosity, investigate, ask questions, invent crafts (or find them in books / on YouTube), follow the trail of ants with magnifying glass in hand, and classify different seeds until he learns which vegetable they belong to. Let it try, make a mistake, ultimately grow; do not be afraid to postpone obligations until September, you will not be a worse student for it, you will not fail in school even if you do not do summer homework.
But do you learn if you don't do your homework?
Well, of course you learn! Learning it is innate… You just have to think that notebooks and pencils have not always existed, and despite this we have evolved, that's the way it is. But let's focus on today. Want ideas for them to 'do homework' without doing it?
- The travel notebook, so that your child can record their vacation experiences: notes, drawings, the photo of the grandparents, a fallen tree leaf.
- Reading, not to be missed: books, albums, comics (according to age and tastes) in the home library facilitate the encounter between children and literature.
- Cultural activities: exhibitions, shows, etc.
- Languages: perhaps you have signed them up for an English camp, or your daughter may find it very easy to learn just by watching videos or watching children's programs in their original version.
- Artistic or scientific experiments at home.
- Creative workshops, film, or botany.
- Social interaction: seeing those friends who live a little far away again, finally meeting that relative we have heard so much about.
- Table games.
- Computer games.
Do you see as yes?
A few years ago, Malena (from Learning Mathematics) counted which Throughout life we tend to forget what we do not use, despite repetitions while we have been a childYes, so the fear that they might forget if they don't review is no excuse to force them to do homework daily during the summer! Despite everything I've told you, traditional duties can be useful in very specific situations like that little time when grandparents come back from the park with the kids, and they need to keep them busy while the food is just being cooked; without counting those little ones who love to fill out notebooks, I have nothing to object to about it.
I started by telling you that my children are not going to do homework, and I hope I have not alarmed you too much. In addition to multiple organized activities and many others free, we have a project 'in hand': build a dollhouse, it was the little girl's idea and right now we are collecting ideas. It seems precious to me that they keep intact that ability to create from their own needs. Summer is very interesting, that's for sure.