I am also a great believer that you don't have to run yourself or your kids into the ground to give them an advantage. As you already know I am a big fan of reading with kids and have blogged about "10 minutes a day" on more than one occasion. Kids learn well in short bursts, and now we have a new 10 Minutes to spend! Just enough to keep the engines in their brains ticking over the summer without the holidays feeling like home schooling.
Jack was the first to pounce on these books. He is 7, and my little academic! I knew I would have no trouble at all getting him to try out the maths book (be begged me to let him try it first), and I know he would happily rattle off 3-4 pages worth of work all on his own without breaking a sweat. If anything, he found the books targeted at 5-7 year olds "easy" (his words) but then he is at the top of the age range, and his school love to tell me how gifted he is at maths (didn't get that from me!) It certainly kept him quiet for a while doing something worthwhile!
Tom is 5 and we worked on them together so that he didn't feel like he was being tested or pressured. While he doesn't beg me for the books, he is always extremely please with himself when he sees that he has got something right on his own, or learned something new. He can't wait to show off his new knowledge to his new teacher in September.
We haven't attempted to do these every day of the summer holidays, I didn't want them to feel like a chore. I treated them more like puzzles - I even kept the books with the games we take on our holidays, and used them as a good opportunity to share some one-on-one time with my older boys a few times a week. I found that sitting down with them while the younger two were having a nap was a great chance to work quietly so they could concentrate, and also not make so much noise that they woke the toddler and baby!
Anyway... enough of why I think they are great. Why not take a look at the books in action and hear what the kids have to say about them:
We were not paid to make this review. We were sent the books for free to try and keep. All opinions are mine and those of my kids.
Find out more here: http://www.dk.com/uk/carol-vorderman/
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