Erin: My son is doing touch math and is struggling with it. He keeps coming home with a math worksheet of addition and one of fractions or division. I explained to the teacher that since my son is still struggling with addition they should not be working with him on division. The teacher said it’s required by the state. Can they really do this? My son gets so overwhelmed that he shuts down and won’t do ANYTHING.
From an upper-middle class perspective perhaps – minimal summer assignments for my soon to be 3rd grader (2 easy books to read). However, there’s definitely anxiety about loss of learning – on my part as well as many other parents I know. we buy workbooks or make our own ‘worksheets’ but it’s maybe 30 minutes/week at most of rote learning. what’s really proliferated though are Semi-educational summer day camps – my son just LOVES a local art and science camp. It’s much more easygoing than formal school, but he ENJOYS learning new things and doing projects that I can’t always come up with myself (and more structured than just going to a museum on our own). These educational camps almost always sell-out in spite of the price tag.
The state rules could say this, or the school could interpret the state rules to say this. Your state parent training & information center can assist you in working with the school on this. http://www.parentcenterhub.org/find-your-center/