"It may seem far off from where you are now, but if a child will take APs in high school, he should be in a bit of summer-work habit."
I truly don't mean to be disrespectful, but I am honestly shocked when I hear this kind of reasoning.
A 5-year-old needs to do summer academic homework because he may need to do summer AP work 10 years from now?
Google Alfie Kohn BGUTI for (overly polemical and harsh) response to such reasoning.
All of raising children is about helping them to grow over time. But the growth curve is not set in stone, and I honestly don't see any growth curve that would require summer homework for a 5-year-old (or an 14-year-old).
This is not necessarily to say that academic work can't be part of a child's summer, if it feels useful in itself (and especially if a child is enjoying it). But that's not the same thing as saying that you'll need to do it some day, so you should do it now.
Laurie (whose 17-year-old did a lot of AP work the summers before 10th and 11th grades, but who had no academic work any summer before 6th grade)
