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Someone please give an example of a typical homework night at Sidwell/St. Albans/NCS/Holton/Landon
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Anonymous
| Can someone give specific examples of a typical night of homework? I am trying to get a realistic picture of what is to come! For example, 1. Read War and Peace 2. write 3-5 page paper on the theme of the book 3. Make a Model of DNA 4. Read two stories in French and summarize both in French. etc.. |
Anonymous
| At the T20 university where I taught, 55% came from publics. |
Anonymous
|
StA, Grade 5:
Monday through Thursday: One easier worksheet (maybe a 2 page grammar worksheet, or a 1 page Spanish worksheet, requiring not too much time or concentration) One harder worksheet (sometimes math, sometimes history) Usually one longer assignment: Science lab report (about 2 pages handwritten), or writing assignment, or history assignment requiring research and writing Plus 1-2 nights a week Studying for a quiz/test the following day |
Anonymous
| PP thank you! Can anyone else give me some examples of other grades or schools? Thanks! |
Anonymous
|
NCS Middle School:
Never yet had 5 hours of hw in a single week, from 4th grade until now. I do overhear girls (mine included) complaining about how much work they have, but then you hear, "Of course I finished it during study, so I don't actually have any homework to do at home. But it was a lot." Generally assigned on Monday for the whole week, to accommodate extracurricular schedules and help them practice planning. Typical week might include a history chapter plus questions, 2 chapters of a novel, a language quiz, a couple of math worksheets, a science sheet. If your child is having trouble she will need to use the study period to meet with teachers to get help, so the workload will balloon. |
Anonymous
| Does STA also have a study period during the day? If so, do boys typically use that time to do work, goof off or get help if they are having trouble? |
Anonymous
| I was reading post in another forum and someone there gave an example of some really super assignments their DC had to complete in HS at GDS, I was impressed with the use of critical thinking skills and wondered if other HS's give this type of work or is it mostly fact memorizing, book work etc.. I would imagine if the work at most schools is as interesting as that poster described, then students may not mind spending hours every night competing these hard but rather cool HW assignments. I would love some imput about the schools mentioned in this forum. Thanks. |
Anonymous
|
This is sort of a rant (okay, it totally is), but here goes. A couple points on homework from a current parent who formerly taught at one of these academically selective DC area independents in the 9-12 age range.
1. My experience was that the kids who used their free periods during the day and before sports had no trouble whatsoever in completing their homework. I would estimate that for 9th graders only about 20-30% worked during free periods -- the rest played on their computers, listened to music, "hung out." Percentages somewhat better in higher grades but the majority of kids did not use the free time during the day. 2. We had a LOT of kids who stayed up very late but much of the time was in "non-productive" time on their computers/phones -- a lot of video gaming by the boys, lots of Facebooking/IMing/texting by the girls, although the boys also used the social networking sites. And dofn't forget lots of time on Youtube by both. Try making your child work without their computer for at least a couple hours at home. Very few assignments on a day-to-day basis require a computer. I'm not being judgmental here--I like to read the NYTimes online, watch stuff on Hulu, and otherwise "waste time" online when I should be more productive. But don't assume because your child is in his/her room with the computer on and books out for five hours that five hours of homework is being done. It's just not so. |
Anonymous
There's study hall daily, when boys do homework and can tutor one another or go seek help from a teacher. |
Anonymous
? That's it? Worksheets? Geeze, I pulled my kid from public because of the @#$% worksheets! I'm glad we're not at STA. BTW, in grade 5, my child does 20 minutes of homework a day, unless there's a paper or special project due. But DC is well organized and works quickly. Any child doing five hours of homework a night is obviously an overachiever who should not be at a top competitive school. A child spending that many hours doing homework every night ought to be at an easier school. I went to an Ivy, and met some extremely boring people there. They knew how to concentrate and study, but they lacked imagination. I made great friends there, but the vast majority were extremely goal-oriented, competitive, and uninteresting. Most of them are lawyers now. |
Anonymous
| I'm sure you were a great solace to your boring, ultra-competitive, pedantic, petifogging, future lawyer friends from your Ivy League days. They are lucky to have dear friend like you who knows "what's important in life," isn't cut-throat, is fascinating (charisma oozing from every pore no doubt), and never, ever, ever crossed paths with the definition of "tortfeasor" or "fee simple." (Yeah, that's law jargon! Boring as hell!) |
Anonymous
| I hear from my friend that her son has substantial work, but her son appears to have time for his sports' practices. |
Anonymous
|
My son is at STA in 5th grade and doesn't do worksheets. At least not at home.
He tends to work in a vocabulary book sometimes at home, do some spanish things (sometimes online), writes up his science labs and that's about it. There are weekly vocab/spelling quizzes but he does not overstudy for them, the work during the week is usually sufficient. He usually does math at school I guess as we never see him doing it at home. Some special projects are brought home (like a project recently on a greek god) while some are done at school only (so parents can't help I am thinking). It is all manageable and he loves it, and while there is some level of busy work, it is not overwhelming. |
Anonymous
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NCS a couple of hours per night 9th + 10th grade with studying for tests additional. Doable. Some kids take longer, need more time.
Junior year- sky's the limit. Lots of homework --lots of studying. Very stressful. Not sure any of the schools are different, including top publics. |
Anonymous
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Maybe you could try generalizing just a little bit more.... and I bet you beg some of those people you deride for job leads and all.
I went to an Ivy, and met some extremely boring people there. They knew how to concentrate and study, but they lacked imagination. I made great friends there, but the vast majority were extremely goal-oriented, competitive, and uninteresting. Most of them are lawyers now. |