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My sister's kids are assigned reading assignments over the summer. When the hell did this stuff start? My niece use to love to read ever since she could walk and now she hates to read because of the summer reading assignments. My sister use to take them to the public library ever week in the summer and she'd gobble up piles of books. My nephew would read on his own though not as much as his sister. Now that it's a summer requirement they hate to read. Great job. Give the kids a break over summer.
I agree in that if a child has gone tto school and faithfully passed and did their homework then they should be able to take the summers OFF! I never made my public schooled kids do any assigned reading durring the summer.
I am now a working homeschooling parent of two special needs kids so we do school on a non-traditional year round schedule and we take breaks durring the year if needed.
The kids in our school district have to read three books over the summer in middle school but have a huge list to choose from. No biggie as far as I'm concerned. In HS kids going into honors or AP classes usually have reading and an assignment - keeps the unmotivated kids out. When I was a kid, I would read a book every few days over the summer.
Why do kids need summers off? We aren't a nation of farmers any more. I went to public school, and I remember one summer where I had nine books and a math packet to do. I still had a ton of free time.
My son who is a senior in high school has ALWAYS had summer reading since he was in first grade.
As a teacher, I have mixed feelings about summer reading. Its important for me to foster the love of learning and reading.
I think the whole idea behind summer reading was to try to encourage students to read that normally wouldn't. Now, summer reading has become a chore for most. The last couple of years, I allowed the students to pick any NEWBERRY AWARD book and do a project that goes with it. The parents seem to appreciate the choice along with the students. ( I was teaching 5th graders.)
During the first days of school, I would still get a couple of students who didn't complete their first assignment that was graded ( summer reading). It is a shame that the parent felt that it wasn't important. I see these students almost in tears because EVERYONE around them would have the assignment and they get embarrassed. I blame the parent for not requiring their child to complete the assignment. Their child would already behind the rest of the class grade wise. Its difficult to bring up an F. If a teacher assigns the work-then the child should make EVERY effort to complete it. If a parent bails a child out of summer reading, will the same parent bail the child out of everything else related to school?
My oldest started having summer reading assignments going into 6th grade. No big deal. It is expected of them. She LOVES to read and reading the 1 book assigned to read over summer may not have been her favorite but she read enough other books to get thru it. I suggested she take the summer assigned book on vacation so that she was somewhere she enjoyed that would make up for the book she may not have LOVED to read.
I don't know what the principal or the teachers at her school do if one shows up the 1st day of school and has not read it. But then again she goes to the gifted & talented magnet school and if the student can't keep up they are suspended from the program and have to go back to their neighborhood school. One area district the principal sent home EVERY kid that did not read the summer assigned book on the first day of school. Over 500 students were sent home that day. That is just WRONG on the parents part. There is NO excuse for that at all. The books were not that long. Anyone could have been done with it in a weeks time easy.
I don't have a problem with it. It helps the teachers get thru MORE during the school year. They don't waste classroom time reading a book that could have easily been read during the summer. We expect the schools to teach our kids but we parents have to make sure our kids do ALL of the work expected of them ON TIME. Otherwise the teachers and schools have no control and can't properly educate the kids.
Last edited by momof2dfw; 11-10-2008 at 08:39 AM..
Why do kids need summers off? We aren't a nation of farmers any more.
We always study over the summer with our kids. We do the Summer Bridge workbooks that our kids think are fun. We play math games and do arts and crafts projects that also teach them things... as well science experiments and things. There are lots of fun activities out there if you go look for them. The Summer Bridge books are great, though. They make it so simple, and fun for the kids. The new ones now have online supplements that go along with them with games and areas where you can post your own book reviews that you have written and other things like that. We read a lot over the summer. Actually, I think we get more reading done over the summer than we are able to do during the school year. Our libraries always have programs going on that make it fun.
I don't think it's right to send kids home on the first day of school if they didn't get their summer homework done... that sounds very odd... but to encourage children to continue learning and reading and practicing positive behaviors over the summer is something I wholeheartedly support.
It only takes a few minutes to make the most of a learning opportunity. And most of the time, your kid is having fun because you are doing something with them that makes them feel important and loved. It's a positive thing. You still have the rest of your day to play and enjoy summer and relax. My kids and I developed a summer learning strategy where they would earn points and when a certain number of points was earned, they were rewarded. Rewards were things like ice cream, going to the wave pool, a trip to the beach, things like that. We always have a blast.
When I was in elementary school, we didn't have summer homework but my parents made me and my brother do the summer reading program at the library. It was something along the lines of "read three books or more and get a special prize" (a bookmark or a free book or something). I loved reading and didn't have a problem with it.
When I was in junior high, we started having assigned reading during the summer; we'd read one or two books, then have to do a book report once school started.
When I was in high school, the summer homework started piling on. The summer before junior year was the worst; a bunch of (difficult science) reading and a packet for honors chemistry, several chapters to read for AP US history and a test on the first day of class, and if you didn't pass it you got dropped from the class and had to take regular US history.
The AP classes tend to require summer homework because there's so much to get through during the year that it's necessary; use the summer to give the kids a basic background and you hit the ground running. Plus it weeds out the kids who aren't really serious about it.
I'm in favor of summer homework in general. It's difficult to take two to three months off and still be in top shape when you get back. If you have homework or reading over the summer, and you're responsible and space it out properly, it can be a real help to keep kids on track.
I like the summer reading program the libraries do. My third grade son participates in that. The school at which I teach gives an optional summer reading calendar the kids can complete. They log what they read and complete some written responses. When school resumes in September, they have a "beach bash" party for all of those who complete and turn in the calendar when they return.
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