Holiday Workbooks: Is It a Good Idea for Children? Parents and Teachers Respond

From CP to 2nd, there is something for all ages and all levels. Most of the major publishing houses are represented, attracted by a lucrative market to say the least : each year, more than 4.5 million notebooks are sold in France , for a turnover exceeding 26 million euros.

Alice, 13, is careful to keep her mother away from the aisle: "When I was little, I liked it, it was fun," she says. "But now, it's more complicated, it's really work, so I prefer not to do it." "I used to take it because my children saw it as a game," adds Alice, her mother. "The school year is already very busy, so if they're not motivated, we don't do it. In the summer, it's good for them to take a break."

Generally, the initiative to buy these notebooks comes from the parents: "It's always interesting to learn, even during the summer," assures Cécile, mother of Emma, 10 years old. "During the holidays, doing little reminders seems important to me," adds Gaëlle, causing a grimace from Maëline, 10 years old: "Working like at school during the holidays, I don't really like it," she says.

So, are these holiday workbooks a good or a bad idea? Most of the parents we met say they are in favor of them, but assure that they don't go as far as "power struggles" if their little one opposes them. Are they really effective? Two old studies ( 2001 and 2005 ) are not very convincing: broadly speaking, we learn that it is rather the good students who use them and that their results, at the start of the school year, are significantly better than those of children who don't use them, provided that they finish their workbook, which only happens 4 times out of 10...