Boo fricken hoo. This is for an honors class. If the boy can't do the work, he needs to go back to regular classes.
My daughter did homework for honors and AP classes over the summer as did the majority of her friends. It is part of the requirement for advanced classes and they had to sign contracts.
How did I ever manage to pass AP tests without doing summer homework? And how did my daughter? :)
In fact, here's something interesting: my daughter passed the AP Euro History test last spring with one *semester* of independent self study. (On top of seven periods at H.S.) She began studying for it in January. Summer homework is simply unnecessary, IMHO.
I took advanced classes and had no such requirements (except for one year, but it was just one book, so not a big deal).