What is a lot of homework vs not for High School?

[Anonymous]

We have a seven grader and I have been following high school conversations here for a while. I have no idea where we’ll apply, but I’m trying to wrap my head around homework. Some schools (Big 3, Gonzaga) people note there’s a lot of homework vs not (Maret).

What exactly are we talking about based on your child’s experience for a lot vs not? Is 1-2 hours considered not a lot? And 3-4 is a lot? Or is it 2-3 is not a lot and 4-5 is? You get my drift.

Second question, more philosophical, what amount of homework do you feel is a good amount for being prepared for college vs. just being overwhelmed etc. and cutting into sleep, family time, socializing, activities etc.?

[Anonymous]

I really think this depends on the type of courses they take at any given school. For example DS is a junior at a private that is not really known to be an academic pressure cooker. He’s taking 6 AP classes and isn’t playing a fall sport, but yet he’s up every night till 11-midnight finishing up his homework. Others in his school who aren’t taking such an advanced course load aren’t staying up that long.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t consider 1-2 a lot. My kids have that much in middle school.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the classes and the kid. Obviously more honors/AP level course will come with more work, but if that’s the appropriate level for the student, they may be able to knock out work without staying up crazy late every night. If your student is someone who is punching above their weight and taking reach classes, it might take them longer to finish their work in those same honors/AP classes. Whether the kid is doing sports/ECs after school and the schools schedule (block of all classes every day) will factor into how kids’ handle homework.

In our experience, 2-2.5 hours per night was the sweet spot in rigorous classes at schools with block scheduling. Sometimes it was more like 3/3.5, but that tended to be around a test or a bigger project/paper. Sometimes it was a bit less. I don’t think it was the actual amount of homework that prepared them for college as it was the quality of teaching and their ability to manage their time—juggling academics and ECs.

You have to know your kid and be realistic about what will work for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the classes and the kid. Obviously more honors/AP level course will come with more work, but if that’s the appropriate level for the student, they may be able to knock out work without staying up crazy late every night. If your student is someone who is punching above their weight and taking reach classes, it might take them longer to finish their work in those same honors/AP classes. Whether the kid is doing sports/ECs after school and the schools schedule (block of all classes every day) will factor into how kids’ handle homework.

In our experience, 2-2.5 hours per night was the sweet spot in rigorous classes at schools with block scheduling. Sometimes it was more like 3/3.5, but that tended to be around a test or a bigger project/paper. Sometimes it was a bit less. I don’t think it was the actual amount of homework that prepared them for college as it was the quality of teaching and their ability to manage their time—juggling academics and ECs.

You have to know your kid and be realistic about what will work for them.

This is helpful. Thank you. -OP

[Anonymous]

Pp who said you need to be realistic about what works for your kid…I added that because we have seen so many kids who got pushed into taking classes that were more challenging than what was appropriate because their parents either thought that’s what they needed to do to get into the “right” college or they didn’t understand their kids’ actual abilities/weaknesses or they simply thought taking harder classes would force their kids to become better students. I firmly believe that volume of homework does not always equal more or better when it comes to gauging “rigor” and college preparedness. Kids should be challenged but not buried or beat down by workload.

[Anonymous]

As for how much homework helps with college prep, the most helpful thing is knowing what work to do, carving out time to do it, and actually completing it/submitting it. It isn't a specific amount of homework as in college students typically have much more "open time" to do their work. I'd also say that the eventual complexity of the work can also contribute to college prep (reading advanced texts, deeply analyzing, having exams where you need to know a lot of material, etc). But I'd still say it isn't a specific hourly amount of HW that prepares students for college.

[Anonymous]

DD is at a "low homework" school mentioned on this thread frequently and tends to have about 1 to 2 hrs. She gets most of it done at school and tends to only have around 30 to 45 mins left to do in the evenings.

[Anonymous]

1 to 2 hours/day is not a lot. My kids had that in middle.
Many private schools have 4-5 core classes/day with 45 min/class of homework a night (so 3-4 hours).
The heavy homework schools have 5-6 hours/night.

All of it depends on your child too. How many honors/AP/advanced courses do they take? Do they take advantage of unscheduled time at school to get work done? Are they a perfectionist who just takes longer than some? Are they a big reader (for big readers often English reading won't feel like homework/will go by faster).

[Anonymous]

As far as college prep goes, I do think having to learn to juggle a lot of moving parts and fit them into their day is very good prep. So decent amount of homework, sports, family, friends, or job, etc. During HS, it sucks to see your child have to stay up until midnight studying multiple days, but now that I have a college age kid, I see the benefit of learning this may be a requirement sometimes to get everything done.

I personally prefer the high schools with block schedules that are closer to what students may have in college--think they teach students how to spread out their assignments/manage their deadlines a little more than a school with more classes every day where homework is often assigned one day and due the next. Schools with study periods are good so students learn to do work in unscheduled downtime as well.

For my college student and several of their friends, college feels like less stress because there is more flexible downtime in the schedule than in HS. The pace and rigor is higher though so learning how to grit through this a bit in HS is helpful.

[Anonymous]

My DS is a freshman at a college prep HS (highly ranked but not in DMV). He has around 2 hours a day and is able to knock out half of that at school. So far, grades are good except Physics, and we agreed he needs to spend more time in that class. What I have heard is that it ramps up to reach 3+ hours daily by Sophmore year.

[Anonymous]

This depends so much on the kid. We have 3 in 3 different private schools right now. Two of them are at schools which have a reputation for more balance, and they manage to do HW and activities but it’s a lot. Honestly, I would be happy for less. The third is at a school with a reputation for so much work. I wouldn’t even consider this school for the siblings. But he’s a kid with very fast processing speed, and executive functioning that lets him get through his work very efficiently. As a result he gets through a lot at school and brings home less than the other two.

[Anonymous]

This is really dependent on the kid and the classes they are taking. At our kid's school, homework was very manageable through 10th and has really ramped up in 11th. Some kids can through homework quickly and other kids with the same classes need more time. I'm thankful that our kids' school strongly encouraged them to limit the number of highest-level classes. Maxing out on AP classes seems to be the arms race in public schools, but one more really hard class would have been too much for our kid.

The one thing I am hearing from friends with kids in the same grade at the school is that kids really need to prioritize their extracurriculars in 11th. Maybe that's good for maximizing their impact for college applications, but on a more practical level, 11th really does seem to be the grade where it is not possible to do it all.

But to answer OP's question, it's 2-3 hours a night, but done at a pretty rapid clip because our kid often cannot start before 9pm due to extracurricular commitments. They try to take advantage of any free time during the school day to get a start on homework.