SUMMER IS NOT FOR HOMEWORK, CHILDREN DESERVE TO REST AND LEARN FREELY

After leaving school schedules and routines behind, children can finally enjoy their well-deserved vacation. Parents have to juggle the summer calendar between summer camps, grandparents who care for them (who can and want) and activities to keep them entertained at home.

But these dates arrive and it is inevitable to see everywhere the famous summer homework booklets for children of all stages, from children to secondary. And also, in some cases, homework sheets that have been put in the school. But who likes booklets, children or parents who can keep them still and busy for a while? Summer is not for homework. Like adults, the children deserve to rest and they need freedom to learn through the game and the discovery itself.

Summer is for rest and play

If you gave a child a choice between learning by doing chips in a booklet or the world around him, what do you think he would choose? Exactly, the second. Because the child has the need to discover through experience. Y summer gives a lot of discovery possibilities.

Nature is in full bloom and offers a fascinating world for the little ones. Wherever you go, whether it is the beach, the mountain or the town, there are always interesting things to learn from. If you stay in the city, there are also lots of interesting urban activities (visiting museums, exhibitions, going to the parks ...)

It is important that children are free to learn, motivated by their own curiosity. They are born being free and creative beings by nature, so let's leave them room to be, at least in summer. That during the rest of the year we already carry them with too many responsibilities, activities and duties.

In Babies and more Fun ways to learn playing in summer (without homework)

Summer is also an ideal time to encourage outdoor play, a game without limits or guidelines. Free play is the pillar on which other skills such as imagination, creativity, perseverance, effort, etc. are sustained. And it does not mean that they play alone, the ideal is that we accompany them, but letting them set the guidelines.

And if they have nothing to do, it is also important that they get bored, or at least stop overstimulating them, since having unstructured time contributes to encourage creativity, try and learn from your own mistakes.

And to share time together

There are lots of activities that children can do at home to learn by playing, without doing homework, such as playing board games, doing puzzles, playing with strips, writing letters, writing a diary, reading books, cooking, etc.

Many of these activities, or all, we can do with them, sharing time together, which is sure to be much more enriching than leaving them alone making chips from a booklet. During the school year, with the pace of life that we have children and adults, there is little time to do things together and vacations are a great opportunity to connect more with them.

Of course children who want to make summer booklets, great, the problem is when they are forced into a daily homework time. Can you imagine that adults will force us to work at least one hour a day on vacation?

Disconnect or not disconnect?

According Emma Pérez, Director of the European College of Madrid, disconnection is necessary for everyone, but does not recommend that children disconnect completely:

"Even if children need rest, they cannot disconnect from learning for two months in a row, as it would take too much time. It is very important that we find a way to motivate them and to prepare for them recreational activities that allow them to continue exercising their mind. "

Suggest establishing a minimum routine:

"It is really important establish a routine in children (however minimal) of homework so they do not forget basic concepts that have worked throughout the year. Although we must be more flexible during the holidays, children need to continue with the routines and habits so that they learn to be organized, responsible and to function properly. "

The summer homework list

Finally, in case you run out of ideas, I want to leave you one summer homework list that Professor Manu Velasco has shared on his Twitter account at the end of the school year.