Private High School That Doesn't Have Insane Levels of Homework

[Anonymous]

I'd check Burke, Field, SSFS, St. Andrews, Bullis, and maybe Maret.

Signed, Parent of kid who turned down Big 3 for one of those and later got into same selective colleges as kid's friends who went to Big 3

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you can probably keep your daughter in the same school and cut down on her workload.

I've had two kids in two different DCC MCPS high schools. They take the hardest classes available to them and still only have half an hour to an hour of homework a night. Their unweighted GPAs are/were both in the 3.8 range and weighted around 4.6.

Does your kid do a lot of activities? Mine do not. They get plenty of sleep.

OP said her DC is at a W school in MoCo - so highest rigor will be a boatload of AP classes. This comes with a lot of work. OPs student would need to cut back on the number of AP courses in order to achieve a lighter homework load at her current school.

Maybe, but my kids take/took almost all AP or IB. One is in a STEM magnet, taking multivariable calculus this year, and has also taken two AP English classes and five AP social science classes in addition to his many AP STEM classes. I guess it's possible the same classes are harder at the W school than at the DCC school, but it's the same school system.

I suspect the issue is a) OP's kid is probably aiming for a 4.00 UW and b) OP's kid probably spends a lot of time doing sports or other activities.

It's also possible her kid wastes a lot of time while doing homework because she's doing other things online.

I went to a top private and it was waaaaaaaaay more work than my kids have ever had, even the one in the highly regarded STEM Magnet who also takes AP English/Social Science classes.

But if you can afford private, I'd go for it so your kid can learn how to write. The lack of writing instruction/feedback at MCPS is horrific. But don't switch to private because you think it will be less work.

I'm definitely not saying your DCC school is less hard than the W school. I'm saying that if she's at a W school and taking APs and feels like she is getting too much homework, the only way that she gets less homework at that same school is to take a less rigorous course load. As you say, maybe it's not the homework load but instead, it's the amount of other things that take up her time. Only she can judge that.

It's all a balancing act no matter where you go to school - rigor of schedule, hours of ECs, personal habits. It will also vary by person on how lucky they are to have the good fortune of innate ability. Some people get good grades by being bright and working very hard, some can get the same exact grades with less work work, and yet others could be brightest of the bunch but don't put in the work and get lower grades.

[Anonymous]

St. Andrew is a cakewalk

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd check Burke, Field, SSFS, St. Andrews, Bullis, and maybe Maret.

Signed, Parent of kid who turned down Big 3 for one of those and later got into same selective colleges as kid's friends who went to Big 3

T10 or T20 colleges? If so, it’s probably not Burke. Very few Burke graduates end up at colleges that are T10/20 level selective. The few who do are probably hooked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you can probably keep your daughter in the same school and cut down on her workload.

I've had two kids in two different DCC MCPS high schools. They take the hardest classes available to them and still only have half an hour to an hour of homework a night. Their unweighted GPAs are/were both in the 3.8 range and weighted around 4.6.

Does your kid do a lot of activities? Mine do not. They get plenty of sleep.

OP said her DC is at a W school in MoCo - so highest rigor will be a boatload of AP classes. This comes with a lot of work. OPs student would need to cut back on the number of AP courses in order to achieve a lighter homework load at her current school.

It also comes with a certain type of “high achievement” culture. Those of you in lower moco know what I’m talking about. It’s a complete self piling machine between the parents, teachers, and kids. We live in Whitman and sent our kid somewhere else because we had heard horror stories about it. Like op, our daughter is diligent and smart, and we were worried about putting her in that environment. We didn’t want her high schools to be all stress eventually leading to burnout. Op - get her out of there. Anywhere is better.

[Anonymous]

SSSAS is a block schedule. I think Bishop Ireton offers it too. The block schedule allows different classes daily so you're getting 2 days to complete homework for any class - that's why PP suggest homework is a more manageable load. However, I agree that if you're a kid taking Honors/AP - it's just going to be more robust class with work. You have to understand the material and that requires time and effort.

The thing about homework is it has to make sense. It's not the homework element that's key but the curriculum that drives what they need to learn and how to think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:St. Andrew is a cakewalk

SAES is pretty low homework if you take regular classes. It’s lots of homework if you have a full load of honors and AP classes. But the college admission results between the two groups are very different. Same is true at Bullis. There is really no way to hack the system. If you take the most advanced track available, it results in a lot of homework.

[Anonymous]

McLean in Potomac

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St. Andrew is a cakewalk

SAES is pretty low homework if you take regular classes. It’s lots of homework if you have a full load of honors and AP classes. But the college admission results between the two groups are very different. Same is true at Bullis. There is really no way to hack the system. If you take the most advanced track available, it results in a lot of homework.

This is true. Our US student is taking the most challenging courses, and I'm exhausted just watching him. I get to unwind after work and dinner, but he continues right on working until 11 pm, gets up the next morning, and does it all again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St. Andrew is a cakewalk

SAES is pretty low homework if you take regular classes. It’s lots of homework if you have a full load of honors and AP classes. But the college admission results between the two groups are very different. Same is true at Bullis. There is really no way to hack the system. If you take the most advanced track available, it results in a lot of homework.

This is true. Our US student is taking the most challenging courses, and I'm exhausted just watching him. I get to unwind after work and dinner, but he continues right on working until 11 pm, gets up the next morning, and does it all again.

That's really sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St. Andrew is a cakewalk

SAES is pretty low homework if you take regular classes. It’s lots of homework if you have a full load of honors and AP classes. But the college admission results between the two groups are very different. Same is true at Bullis. There is really no way to hack the system. If you take the most advanced track available, it results in a lot of homework.

This is true. Our US student is taking the most challenging courses, and I'm exhausted just watching him. I get to unwind after work and dinner, but he continues right on working until 11 pm, gets up the next morning, and does it all again.

That's really sad.

This is sad. It is not necessary and honestly I don't think they need to be taking all challenging classes. The days of 4 or 5 APs is long gone. GPA is the most important thing. Kids with perfect SATS are not getting in to schools that kids with much lower SATS are getting into but because they have a higher GPA they are getting in. Only have one teenage experience. I would have kid cut back a bit.

[Anonymous]

Several PPs mentioned the block schedule and the (positive) impact on per night homework load. That makes a ton of sense. Anyone care to make a list for DC area privates that have the block scheduling?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Several PPs mentioned the block schedule and the (positive) impact on per night homework load. That makes a ton of sense. Anyone care to make a list for DC area privates that have the block scheduling?

And, besides homework load management, block schedules have other benefits. They reduce the monotony of a static daily schedule. They allow for some longer class periods to dive deeper into topics or allow time when homework becomes schoolwork. And block scheduling means that for example, a student who might otherwise be struggling in an already difficult class because it's first thing in the morning when they're tired, or right before lunch when they are hungry, or at the end of the day when they're burned out, will experience that class at variable times of the day as the block schedule turns over across the course of a few weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
DD attends a "W" school in MoCo and is in advanced and AP classes. Overall, we think the quality of instruction is good, but the class sizes are large (31 kids and up) and the homework levels are insane. She's up until midnight most nights doing homework and spends about two-thirds of her weekend time on homework, too.

Is there a decent private high school alternative in Maryland or NW DC with a good academic reputation and yet the homework load is more reasonable? I'm thinking smaller class sizes and more accessible teachers would be helpful to her, too.

I realize that moving to private in high school can be a tough proposition because most don't regularly have open slots after 9th grade.

TIA for any guidance you can provide.

Madeira would be a good option. Just across the bridge. Opens a handful of slots after 9th. Mod schedule means only 3 academics per day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd check Burke, Field, SSFS, St. Andrews, Bullis, and maybe Maret.

Signed, Parent of kid who turned down Big 3 for one of those and later got into same selective colleges as kid's friends who went to Big 3

T10 or T20 colleges? If so, it’s probably not Burke. Very few Burke graduates end up at colleges that are T10/20 level selective. The few who do are probably hooked.

You know that is for all schools? Those schools are not taking multiple from one school.