TJ 9th grade- hrs of homework a week?

[Anonymous]

DD is starting at TJ this year. We are trying to plot out her schedule for the week how many hours of homework / studying a week is typical for 9th grade there? Replies from those whose kids are headed into 10th or 11th grade would be best as it seemed from orientation as if they have been trying to lighten the HW load in recent years.

[Anonymous]

This depends on how advanced your kid is and if they are taking AP classes. My kid took AP CompSci freshman year in which most work was done during class, and BC-Calc which had about an hour a day of homework/studying as long as the kid did it every day and didn’t let it “pile up”.
There are probably some others who took different AP classes freshman year.
In terms of the other 9th grade TJ classes, there was very little homework.

[Anonymous]

Thx! DD is not one of the off the charts kids - no APs freshman year
- OP

[Anonymous]

There’s not really a good answer to this question. It will depend on the kid, and how they use their time both at school, in their commute, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This depends on how advanced your kid is and if they are taking AP classes. My kid took AP CompSci freshman year in which most work was done during class, and BC-Calc which had about an hour a day of homework/studying as long as the kid did it every day and didn’t let it “pile up”.
There are probably some others who took different AP classes freshman year.
In terms of the other 9th grade TJ classes, there was very little homework.

That's interesting. I thought you were limited to one of the "TJ Maths" in 9th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This depends on how advanced your kid is and if they are taking AP classes. My kid took AP CompSci freshman year in which most work was done during class, and BC-Calc which had about an hour a day of homework/studying as long as the kid did it every day and didn’t let it “pile up”.
There are probably some others who took different AP classes freshman year.
In terms of the other 9th grade TJ classes, there was very little homework.

That's interesting. I thought you were limited to one of the "TJ Maths" in 9th grade.

There are always exceptions...

[Anonymous]

AP CompSci in freshman year - congrats!

So I keep hearing stories about students getting B’s and even some C’s and “average” students being stressed about GPA

So if the HW load is not too crazy - is it that the quizzes and exams are hard or is it mostly because the kids are pushing themselves to take AP and more advanced courses?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AP CompSci in freshman year - congrats!

So I keep hearing stories about students getting B’s and even some C’s and “average” students being stressed about GPA

So if the HW load is not too crazy - is it that the quizzes and exams are hard or is it mostly because the kids are pushing themselves to take AP and more advanced courses?

It's because some kids are there that don't belong there. If your kid is actually smart there isn't an issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AP CompSci in freshman year - congrats!

So I keep hearing stories about students getting B’s and even some C’s and “average” students being stressed about GPA

So if the HW load is not too crazy - is it that the quizzes and exams are hard or is it mostly because the kids are pushing themselves to take AP and more advanced courses?

It's because some kids are there that don't belong there. If your kid is actually smart there isn't an issue.

1) There's a piece of this that is true in that there have always been a significant number of kids at TJ who don't belong there. A good way to know that you don't belong at TJ is if you're up past, say, 10 PM studying and doing homework every night without a significant commitment to an after-school activity.

2) There are and have always been plenty of very, very smart kids who struggle at TJ for a variety of reasons.

[Anonymous]

If the kids stay within the swim lanes of their abilities AND focus on what they like vs take courses to make their college application competitive AND are organized - then TJ is a not a very hard place to do well and more importantly, the kids can have a good HS experience overall.

This applies to not just TJ, but overall HS experience, from what I have seem, between my 2 kids - 1 TJ, one non TJ

Where it gets tough in TJ is the peer pressure seeing all the Curie kids clamoring to take the hardest math courses. Thats where some parental advice/support can go a long way

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If the kids stay within the swim lanes of their abilities AND focus on what they like vs take courses to make their college application competitive AND are organized - then TJ is a not a very hard place to do well and more importantly, the kids can have a good HS experience overall.

This applies to not just TJ, but overall HS experience, from what I have seem, between my 2 kids - 1 TJ, one non TJ

Where it gets tough in TJ is the peer pressure seeing all the Curie kids clamoring to take the hardest math courses. Thats where some parental advice/support can go a long way

+1000. Comparison is the thief of joy. And the ironic thing is, the kids who don't engage in the comparison with their peers and choose their own path through the school end up doing better in the college admissions process.