Upper school homework load?
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Anonymous
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My DC is a junior at a MoCo school. He takes AP and honors classes. In the High School Course Bulletin, beside each course name is a indicator of how much time each night that course requires. In my opinion, they waaayy underestimate the amount of work.
For example, AP English 12th grade (Literature/Composition) indicates only 20 minutes/night. This is ridiculous because just the reading alone for the class would take at least that amount of time. Then when you add in the papers they have to write and studying for tests and quizzes...... well, you get the point. My DC is a very good student and a fast reader but he is looking at 35 - 45 minutes minimum, each night, for that class alone. Then add on foreign language 5, AP or Honors World History, Calculus and Molecular Genetics plus a couple other classes it becomes a major endeavor. If I'd had to go through this back in the 70's I'd probably be flippin burgers somewhere instead of working at NIH. |
Anonymous
| I'm one of the PP whose kid has 4+ of work every night. Yes, I think it's ridiculous. What I observe is a child performing like a robot, just going through the motion of getting work done right, and moving on to the next subject. There's no time left for what I consider "quality study time', just a few hours left to sleep before it's time to get up and repeat - a vicious cycle. Add HS sports and club sports, and you have tons of walking kids that are sleep deprived. Sad..after this semester I'll be making some changes, something got to give and it would probably be sports.... |
Anonymous
| seems like most of the posters on this topic have kids in public school where school normally starts at 7-8am. Any one with kids in private care to chime in? Does the extra hour of sleep and/or more time to study make a difference for private school kids? |
Anonymous
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NCS has a homework policy. There is a limit to how much homework each subject can assign in a night. I think this works somewhat in 9th and 10th grade. Of course, the school does not restrict how much time is spent studying for tests. There are girls in 9th and 10th grade staying up until the wee hours (1 am and 2 am) . And sports re not the only time consuming activities... drama and music are also very demanding.
In 11th grade all bets are off. The work load is heavy. Same holds true for public. |
Anonymous
Where did you get the idea that private school kids have more time to sleep and study? Most private's start at 8. Upper school requirements for many include and arts and sports requirements. Most private school kids I know don't get home till 7. Add in junior year craziness of SAT's, AP's and college visits and most juniors public or private have no time. It is just a bad year all around. |
Anonymous
What "extra hour"? My DS is in 11th grade at STA, leaves for school at 7:20 am, has sports until 5:30 pm, gets home by 6:00 pm (unless it's Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, when extracurriculars have him getting home at 8:20 pm, 7:10 pm, or 9:20 pm), eats dinner with the family (except on Tuesday or Thursday), and usually gets to sleep at 1:30 am. It's not just homework after dinner; it's also writing and editing he does for extracurriculars and writing for fellowship applications. I stopped tucking him into bed years ago. |
Anonymous
| No wonder kids these days feel the need to take Ritalin just to get by in school. This set of posts is truly depressing. |
Anonymous
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Just not our experience, at two different "big 5" schools, yes my kids worked/work very hard, and some weeks are really tough, but both found that being efficient/planning/focusing has prevented many really late nights. Both kids worked very hard during the school day, during free periods, lunches, during class when there was small group time or labs they finished, to get work/reading done, so that they had a real jump on the evening. Both did one very serious club sport, and played 2 sports throughout high school on the school teams, and did other major ECs they enjoyed such as music or school leadership. Were in the top tracks for math/science/languages, and are now at top 5 universities/LACs.
They felt well-prepared for college, but still had plenty of fun and enjoyment during high school. They were lucky to not need much SAT prep, finding standardized testing pretty straightforward, so that made junior year a lot less stressful and time-pressured. We also made it clear that being perfect not required, asking about grades kept to a minimum, they were plenty self-motivated. Anyway, it really isn't always that bad is my point, and focused girls who are not too hard on themselves do exist and can get through the process while staying sane and pretty happy. |
Anonymous
| And there are schools that de-emphasize homework. |
Anonymous
Which are these? They are the ones we want to keep in mind for HS. And how much of this homework is reviewing notes or studying vs. assignments and new reading? |
Anonymous
^ And you're lucky that you live so close! There r some kids that have the same schedule, but add an extra hour in the front and on to the back if you're commuting via the beltway. So they're leaving home by 6.30 am, after getting to bed probably at 1 am. |
Anonymous
I think the more "progressive" schools: Burke and Field, for instance. Also the more "out there" schools such as the New School of Northern VA, School for Tomorrow, Gardner School-- we plan to explore some of those. |
Anonymous
The PP is probably thinking MCPS, which starts at 7:20 and our bus picks up at 6:40. So that is a 40 minutes earlier start. The rest of the schedule sounds familiar, although my DC is typically in bed at 12:30. 1:30 sounds brutal. I think the hour earlier my DC gets to bed is probably a real benefit to health, and even academic performance. Is your DS abe to catch up on sleep on weekends? |
Anonymous
DS does sleep all he can on the weekends, but (including transportation time) he has an 8:30-to-2:30 activity on Saturdays and a 12:00-to-4:00 and a 4:15-to-6:30 activity on Sundays in addition to homework and studying and the other extracurriculars. DH and I had always limited the number of extracurriculars the kids did when they were little: the limit was two extracurriculars, as in "pick two." But once they get into upper school, you lose all control as they sign up for this club at school or get elected for that leadership position. Sometimes something does give -- he will skip something when he's got too much to do -- and that's fine. |
Anonymous
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I don't think this trend is new or that it matters much if you are in public or private. 30 years ago, taking 2 AP classes and being an athlete who competed fall, winter, spring and summer, meant I had practice until 6pm, then hw until about 11pm, sometimes 1AM every night. The difference maybe: I truly chose both the class work ( I loved History and Biology) and the sport ( I was training for the US Olympic trials), but I think many kids today are just pushed by their parents who are like agents, not parents, pushing their kid to have the perfect resume, not to necessarily find out who they really are.
In the Washington area you get that in both the MOCO/FFX publics and teh privates. In fact, some parents choose public eventhough they know the school offers less, because their view is , since the school is less competitive, their kid will get the Harvard accept. They weigh this factor in the 4th grade or even pre-K. Wecome to Washington: home to the insane parent. Hey, maybe that can be the new logo for our football team..... |