Summer Reading/Projects

I agree with having to factor out how many projects and reading to do.

Last year going into sophomore year AP World History they wer given an assignment to read a book from a list and write a summary and answer questions on each chapter in the book. Jordyn worked hard on it all summer and then when she arrived at school, found out her class wasn't required to do the assignment, the other class with a different teacher was, and she was upset at all the work she had put into the assignment.

This year all she has is to read the Scarlett Letter. She debating reading it at the beginning and then doing a skim of it again at the end before the test (which is what she did last year for Farenheit 451 as she had already read it for pleasure), but she dedided she'll start reading it pretty soon and then do a quick skim of it again the weekend before the test. They don't have the test on it until the 2nd week of school. Though she does need to get started on it soon as she still has 2 more week long cheer camps as well as practices and work before school starts back in 5 weeks.

I kind of agree with you on the exploration. That was sort of how Jordyn ended up, she was so busy with school reading this past year, and she was juggling 3 or 4 books at at time. Once school let out she made a list of what "fun" books she wanted to read and in what order to see how much she could cram in before she had to go back to school books. She got out of school at the end of May and I think she had 5 books already read by the time June was done, was 1/2 finished with another and was contemplating what she wanted to try and get to before the new school year started.

Honestly there are days I wonder if the summer required reading and assignments is just the school's way of doing all year school without actually having it. I know kids lose a certain amount of knowledge over the summers, but there is also a need for them to relax and have down time that they just don't see to get during the school year any longer because of testing and such, especially in the higher grades.