I don't know if I titled this thread right, but if your reading it then it got your attention....

I want to know if there is anyone who has their kids do some schoolwork over the summer?...my theory on this is two fold...

First, so he keeps things fresh in his brain so when the next school year begins I don't have to start over getting him to do his work & trying to "remember" what he's doing.

My husband on the other hand doesn't want to "hear it" ...meaning he hates it when ever I try to get him to do any type of school work (b/c it usually means there will be some sort of argument complete w/ yelling & screaming), whether or not it's summertime or during the regular school year. So the second part of my reasoning behind doing schoool work in the summer is so it's not such a big deal when it's time for real school .

I'm not saying that I want him to do pages upon pages of work but rather 1 or 2 pages preferably 1 each of reading/vocab & math...& to read a little bit....3-5 times a week....

Another question I have is what would be the best way to go about getting my child to do this w/out being "the bad guy"?

This might sound retarded, but let me tell you how I learned how to communicate, and learned how to spell/have a bigger vocabulary... Ever heard of an RPG ? Role Playing Game like Final Fantasy 7-10... Those games require ALOT of reading and problem solving skills... You might be thinking what the hell can a game teach my son/daughter... believe me, it helps... Or when your son/daughter is watching TV... turn on the subtitles, and have them read what the characters/people are saying... It's little stuff like that, that makes them better readers/spellers :) You just gotta be sneaky about how you go about it... don't be like... Well BILLY IT'S TIME TO STUDY!! as soon as you say that... your son/daughters barrier goes up and they won't learn a thing... If you want him/her to learn, you gotta do it passive aggressively :) Boards games like scarmble are another good source :) Basicly, in order for him/her to retain the information and actually keep it for good, you gotta make it fun... like for example, you wanna teach your son/daughter alegbra... show them actually uses for it... don't just sit there and be like yea... 5x + 5x = 0 ... show them some actually REAL life applications... Thats what 90% of teachers out there lack... Entertainment mixed with learning = best possible outcome :) Sorry if I didn't answer your question directly... but think about that...

I do those things already but it seems that he has NO INTEREST in any type of learning...be it during the school year ....vacation time.....fun time....I'm at a lost....his grades reflect that he understands what is being taught...in fact he got an award for most improved effort & for being the top mathmatician in his 2nd grade class....:D YEAH!!!!!! :D I just wish he would be more excited about it & am trying to find a way to ignite that spark that makes him realize that reading, math, etc.... aren't so bad....

He'll be SO bored & I'll tell him "go read...color...ANYTHING!!" & it's always thae same answer (in the most annoyingly whiney tone possible...) "NO!! That sucks!"....or..."I don't want to!!" or some other combonation of that same phrase....

I'm open to suggestions......

My son is much the same ... he needs extra reading help and we were advised by his teachers to continue it over the summer. In our case, we chose to have him see a tutor twice a week. It's an expense that we can't really afford, but it's only for 3 months. He resisted at first, but then we built in a reward/treat system. I don't get credit for this, my younger daughter goes to speech therapy, and the therapist does this with her.

After he completes a tutoring session, he gets a sticker and two pieces of caramel corn. He also gets to pick from a treat box. There are small, inexpensive treats in there like fake gemstones (he's into pirate booty), pokemon cards, etc. If he does exceptionally well on a particular day, the therapist can decide to let him have 2 treats.

This has worked GREAT for us, because a) someone else is doing the teaching and he's much more cooperative with her than he would be with me and b) he doesn't mind doing it now, because of the reward.

Hope this helps.

This has worked GREAT for us, because

a) someone else is doing the teaching and he's much more cooperative with her than he would be with me and

b) he doesn't mind doing it now, because of the reward.

Awesome solutions.

Well I guess this is a difficult one to decide.... however I am with you, my sons last term report card was diabolical, and he was very disappointed as in his mind he tried hard last year... so I asked for his commitment and we shall help him over the summer to get up to speed... and he agreed and so far it has been going okay.... now it is summertime so I do not want him to feel that he isn't enjoying the summer. Therefore I have put him in soccer camp during the day for majority of the summer instead of his regular daycare, he enjoys soccer,they learn a new skill a day and play a game then in the afternoon they swim for 1-2 hrs then when he comes home we have a little schedule... his writes 5 lines or so in his journal and we go over it... I am giving him the freedom of writing about anything in the journal as his days are pretty much the same at camp and the objective here is he improves his spelling, neatness and general format of writing. Then he does a few pages of english and maths out of a book that follows the curriculum, he is doing the grade 2 which is has just finished, I want to go over the work with him he didn't figure out last year.. depending on the tyep of work it will be 2-4 pages of each english and maths ....then a few weeks before grade 3 starts we shall do a few things in the grade 3 curriculum workbook.... then we read ... I have let him pick a book and am encouraging him to enjoy reading... slowly but surely he is becoming more enthusiastic.... depending on how cooperative he is feeling this can take an hour to two.... cosnidering he is playing all day I do not think this is unreasonable.... he does everything I listed above monday to thursday, friday and sat is free time, maybe I can get him to read.. then sunday is maybe just journal writing about the weekend and reading.. but if I can swing a page or two of easy work in I will.
I think this is in the best interest of your child to keep things active during the summer, just not onthe same level as school... they will only benefit and hopefully feel better about themselves next year.
I agree too on the interactive learning with the kids... hangman is a good game - he is getting good at that.