homework at Holton & NCS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter did the 5 hours of homework a night at Holton and also found the time to do 2 varsity sports. Most of her friends were from the sports teams. People with a lot of talent find the time to do a lot of stuff...it goes back to the saying "if you want something done...go to a busy person". She's at an Ivy now and the homework is even more than 5 hours.

Let's see -- I am assuming that an HA day is 8:30 - 3: 30. Throw in sports -- games/practice with an estimate that your daughter gets home at about 6:30. Then 5 hours of homework and bed at 11:30p? And I assume there is dinner and bathing in there somewhere???? She had better like everyone on her team as I do not see her having the time to cultivate friendships with anyone else. And again, what about pleasure reading, down time?? Or do I have the way an athletic schedule/academic schedule operates all wrong?

[Anonymous]

I have a daughter at Madeira and this sounds about right. She normally has 4-5 hours/night (minimum 45 minutes per class for 5 classes). A couple of things though - first is that they usually have at least one free period during the day so if they use that for homework that gives a little more time in the evening. She also tries to read ahead on weekends as well. She does sports each season so does not get home until 6:30. She comes home and gets straight to homework, with a short break for dinner and a break to shower. Our impression is that this type of schedule is pretty typical in the competitive private and public schools at the high school level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a daughter at Madeira and this sounds about right. She normally has 4-5 hours/night (minimum 45 minutes per class for 5 classes). A couple of things though - first is that they usually have at least one free period during the day so if they use that for homework that gives a little more time in the evening. She also tries to read ahead on weekends as well. She does sports each season so does not get home until 6:30. She comes home and gets straight to homework, with a short break for dinner and a break to shower. Our impression is that this type of schedule is pretty typical in the competitive private and public schools at the high school level.

Maybe. My DD commutes from the burbs to a DC independent. I know she usually has 1 free period a day (every few weeks a day with 2 frees.) And is in theatre. She uses a free, and some rehearsal downtime for some homework and then does homework on the metro. And then hits homework after dinner. I haven't crunched the numbers to figure out if this is 5 hours or not, I always assumed it was close to 3 because we insist that she hit the bed before 10, hopefully with a book she chooses and not required reading.

[Anonymous]

Mine rarely goes to bed before 12.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine rarely goes to bed before 12.

To each their own, but I would not put my child in a situation where she is unable to get to bed by midnight. My DD has to be up by 6a to make the 7a train. No way do I want a teen operating on 6 hours of sleep. It just isn't healthy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine rarely goes to bed before 12.

To each their own, but I would not put my child in a situation where she is unable to get to bed by midnight. My DD has to be up by 6a to make the 7a train. No way do I want a teen operating on 6 hours of sleep. It just isn't healthy.

that should read BEFORE midnight, not by. And this thread really confirms that we made the right school choice for our family and my DD. This is not a flame, we are all lucky to have so many good schools in the area with a variety of philosophies and policies.

[Anonymous]

A recent Fortune Magazine article showed that the USA lags far behind most industrialized nations in education. It seems we have too many protective parents shielding the kids from gold old fashioned work. I agree these schedules are terrible, but we can't afford to leave our kids behind. Otherwise -- they'll all be working for foreign nationals oneday and the USA won't be supreme any longer

[Anonymous]

I agree these schedules are terrible, but we can't afford to leave our kids behind.

Seriously? You think the kids that are "behind" are the ones in top DC privates?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A recent Fortune Magazine article showed that the USA lags far behind most industrialized nations in education. It seems we have too many protective parents shielding the kids from gold old fashioned work. I agree these schedules are terrible, but we can't afford to leave our kids behind. Otherwise -- they'll all be working for foreign nationals oneday and the USA won't be supreme any longer

I question these studies. Not that I don't think that there is always room for improvement in education, but IMO a lot of these studies have a slant toward NOT valuing education, but molding a new workforce. And I think "shielding kids from good old fashioned work" has little to do with the problems in US education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's face it, everyone here wants Ivy schools for their kids. If they can't do 5+ hours every night, college will come as a real shock.

Except perhaps for science/math-related majors, no "Ivy school" requires 5+ hours of work a night. Many rigorous high schools demand much more work than do "Ivy schools." That was certainly the case for me--my Ivy college workload was pretty much a joke after the work that I had had in high school. For me though, this was not really a good thing--I was already too burned out from all the work in high school.

Agree, and a ninth grader is just that, a fourteen year old CHILD. NOT a college student. We will deal with college when we get there.

[Anonymous]

PP -- "we" are not going to college -- the child is...DC parents are too protective

[Anonymous]

I am the pp with the daughter with 5 hours of homework each night. I also agree with Madeira mom on schedule. Ours actually works very well. Daughter plays 2 sports (one on weekend) and has several club activities. Weekly sports game is at end of the day and she's home by 4:30. Family dinners every night. In bed by 10:30 at latest. Some time at school to do homework during daily advisor time. Sees friends every weekend. Manages to read one big pleasure book per week. A little chill time every day. She also chose this for herself - has never complained and seems very happy with the work assigned. I never have to say a word to her - she does it all on her own. May not work for everyone but it does for her.

Have to say that school days should be for school, homework and family. Friends who have playtime during the week are the ones having academic problems and experiencing more stress than they should. It is a great balance and makes the weekends more appreciated.

Will also state that the studies showing US kids lagging behind many other countries is true. Our scores continue to fall or stay constant while other countries zoom ahead. And we're not even close to the top.

It is all about quality and not quantity. We are no longer pushing our kids to their full potential and balance and giving them excuses to slow down or take it easy. And it shows in the world. I think our kids are capable of so much more. I have to say I'm tired of schools that don't encourage competition and say everyone is a winner because they are afraid of hurting feelings. When kids grow up and get into the real world, they find it very hard to cope as a result. We now have helicopter parents calling employers to negotiate jobs, raises and crises for their children.

But that's another topic....

[Anonymous]

I read somewhere that US kids do more homework than a lot of countries who score higher on tests. That would mean that we are not doing it efficiently, we are wasting these kids' time.

[Anonymous]

We are also teaching EDM instead of the systems that make the Asians and Indians so much better in match.

[Anonymous]

Ooops, long day. Meant "math."