How does your HS student balance school (high GPA and AP classes) and HS sports?

[Anonymous]

My HS child has ADHD, and needs the sports every day to keep him focused. It gets the energy out.

HS and sports is about time management (not one of his greatest strengths). An exec function tutor once a week helps keep him on task, sports (2 varsity) keeps his body healthy, and he knows that as far as school, that is his number one job/priority, and of he wants to continue with sports and the rest, he needs to keep up the gpa. And he has.

[Anonymous]

You won't really know until she's in HS, but the good news is, since track and lax are spring sports, she'll have time to get adjusted to the rhythm of HS and more demanding classes. Also, the teams may have different cultures and personalities so I recommend going to both, check out captain practices and having her talk to the coach. Find out how many meets/games they play, how long are practices and extra workouts, how far they travel, how often (and is Spring Breal included in that timeframe), are the kids nice and is it a fun experience. Then ask academic specific questions like how many kids are typically in honors/AP classes, what academic support, if any, is provided, and how do kids normally balance academics with the team's requirements.

My friend's son is 2e and is strong in math, but really struggles in English, Social Studies and language. It's not that he can't understand or do the work, it just takes him much longer. He's in advanced math and flies through that homework, but generally needs 2-3 hours to complete a fairly simple writing assignment. He's a very smart kid, but just gets distracted and goes down the rabbit hole with whatever he's exploring in that moment. He was devasted when he didn't make the JV team for his sport, but it was really a blessing that he didn't because he was so far behind in his class work. I think he'll draw on lessons learned this year to do better with his time management and organizational skills, but we won't really know until he goes through it.

Often the problem for 2e kids is their grades may not reflect their actual ability, but they're not low enough to draw the attention of counselors. Don't let your daughter get behind or down on herself, and work with the counselors to make sure she's in the right level of classes. She can always make adjustments to her schdule after classes begin if she's struggling or wants more challenging options. She can decide to pursue track/lax/martial arts once she gets a baseline with her academics.

[Anonymous]

sounds like your kid wants to drift toward track and away from team sports.

support that.

[Anonymous]

I would just caution you to let her be a kid. If sports bring her pleasure, encourage them, but watch to be sure that she isn’t overwhelmed with too much work. We push our kids too hard in this part of the world. Their mental health suffers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - if this is relevant my child is in public school. FCPS. Had no desire to apply to TJ so just run of the mill public school.

thi

That has no bearing on anything.

An AP class is an AP class. Calculus is Calculus.

OP either your child is capable or not. If you do not know already then they are not.

Mine did varsity sports and outside activities, and great grades no problem. The bottom line in our house. Grades come first. Could care less about sports.

[Anonymous]

My 10th grader does theater program, which at his HS is just as demanding from a time perspective as any sport. He also has adhd and executive dysfunction. He tries to run for fitness most days (I add that because even with a high time commitment activity, he has to add in time for that most days). He took 1 AP class in 9th grade and takes 2 AP classes in 10th and generally has a rigorous schedule.

It is tough, not going to sugar coat it. And, yes his grades could be better if he didn’t do theater, BUT we think that outlet is just as important to his well being and growth as any class. He loves theater and would have a much worse HS experience if we didn’t allow it. There are a lot of late HW nights, he gets less sleep than is ideal, and often plays catch up, all because he is not skilled at utilizing his small pockets of free time.

He doesn’t do much on the weekends besides schoolwork and play practice or activities, but that is fine with him since many of his friends are in the theater program, too.

And starting in 11th grade, while he’ll still have a rigorous class schedule, he has opted out of double period AP science and another highest rigor class because he knows he needs to have some balance (he’s still taking 4 AP, all core subjects).

The best advice I can give is let your child lead, be there to support, and realize they may stumble in order to see what they can and can’t handle / manage.

[Anonymous]

My DD ended up doing what she absolutely loves and dropped the other activities. She simply didn’t have time for it all. This year is brutal with her class schedule and at least 15 hours a week of one sport— the sport she loves and is absolutely passionate about. Plus she takes music lessons and must practice her instrument. ACT exam and soon AP exams coming up. It’s crazy stressful and I honestly don’t know how she will do it all. She spent the entire day today doing homework and studying. She sometimes gets 6 hours of homework.

[Anonymous]

No sleep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD will be starting HS next year. She currently plays recreational basketball (winter) and lacrosse (spring). She does taekwondo year-round and has a strong interest in wanting to run track. I told her we wouldn't do rec league track and she had to wait for HS. Track meets take all day! Well, her local HS basketball team is highly competitive so I doubt she will make the team. That leaves lacrosse and track. They conflict in the spring so she will need to choose 1. I suspect she will pick track. Depending on how demanding track is she will have to make a decision about taekwondo.

My question is it looks like track meets every day from 3-6:30/7 pm and has a lot of meets, even in the week. How does your HS student balance school and sports, especially if they take a few AP courses (I know freshman either take 1 or no AP classes, but I'm thinking long term). My child is smart but also has ADHD so it takes her longer to do school work than a neurotypical child so I'd love to hear from everyone but especially from people who have 2e kids with ADHD. I'm looking for their strategies. Study on way to games? Do homework in the mornings too? What?

To give you a sense of the type of classes she will need to take in HS, she is a math person. She wants to go to college for computer science so needs to take a decent amount of advanced math and science. She will take Algebra II Honors in 9th.

HS was so much easier in the 90s. I don't recall being overloaded and I played several sports. So I can't just reflect on my own experience to answer my own question.

How? By being smart, organized and efficient. No secrets involved. Most kids in lots of AP classes in my DCs’ school have something going on every day after school and weekends (sports, band, MUN, robotics etc).
A

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - if this is relevant my child is in public school. FCPS. Had no desire to apply to TJ so just run of the mill public school.

thi

That has no bearing on anything.

An AP class is an AP class. Calculus is Calculus.

OP either your child is capable or not. If you do not know already then they are not.

Mine did varsity sports and outside activities, and great grades no problem. The bottom line in our house. Grades come first. Could care less about sports.

You seem equal parts ignorant and arrogant. You’d care about sports if your kids were great at them, and there is zero reason OP should be able to project out her kid’s HS career at this point.

[Anonymous]

My DS is in 9th grade in FCPS. Three sports- cross country, basketball and then track in the spring. Also interested in math, finishing Algebra 2H. Also has an instrument that he plays, but practices only a few times per week outside of school. Things have been unusually because of COVID and since this is his first year in HS, I can’t say what a normal schedule would be like in-person. But can provide some insight- first meets are long, 3:30 to 8 pm, but this has only been once per week. Since school is on an A/B schedule, he can plan ahead and get extra work done before meet days. Second, practices don’t go til 7 pm, right now they go til 5pm. So that gives him plenty of time to shower and get homework done after coming home. Lastly, he knows school come first, so if grades drop, we would require him to pull back from sports. So far, grades are great. We will take things one season at a time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They have to accept that weekends mean homework, especially on long term assignments and assigned reading. My 9th grader chooses to do homework on Fridays and Sundays and keeps Saturdays free.

+ 1 weekend home and late night homework.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - if this is relevant my child is in public school. FCPS. Had no desire to apply to TJ so just run of the mill public school.

thi

That has no bearing on anything.

An AP class is an AP class. Calculus is Calculus.

OP either your child is capable or not. If you do not know already then they are not.

Mine did varsity sports and outside activities, and great grades no problem. The bottom line in our house. Grades come first. Could care less about sports.

Agree that one knows one way or the other (about ability, drive, organization etc) . Don’t flame me —I have a very high iq kid and an above above iq but higher eq kid. They will both find their way.

[Anonymous]

We have one sport at any given time. That’s it. It’s manageable and the kids are fine with it.

[Anonymous]

My DD is a freshman at an MCPS school. She has been able to balance 2 varsity sports plus her courseload that includes 1 AP class. She learned to manage time better but it's going to be a real wake up call next year. This year has been great for letting the kids sleep in, not worrying about commuting to school and Wednesdays off. I'm already starting to wonder how she'll be able to do it all when everything goes back to a more normal schedule next year.