As a teacher and an admin now, you'd be surprised how many people BEG us for work for their kids over break. They don't know how to keep them busy or what to do with them. So they prefer their kid be buried in schoolwork so they stay out of trouble.
I personally hate it. DS would love to read, create and invent over breaks. He doesn't want to be stuck doing 10 pages of math that is too easy for him anyway. But we suffer through it because it usually only takes an hour or two for elementary work anyway.
For my teachers at my school, I recommend that if they are going to do something, they do an independent, open ended project. My school is a 6-12th arts charter. Over the one month that is spring break (two weeks off in the middle) our 8th graders will be reading a book on a famous artist of their choice in their arts field. They then give a presentation of their design the week after break to the entire class. It's not too bad and gives the students a chance to have a lot of free choice and time to delve in to whatever they want at whatever level.
