Middle to High School - Free Time

[Anonymous]

Question for those who have transitioned from MS to HS. When does their free time start to disappear? I've heard that HSers tend to have long days due to their extracurriculars, sports, etc. What time are your HSers getting home in the evening? And do they start doing things over holiday breaks (Thanksgiving, Spring Break) with teams, groups etc? Does this start in Freshman year? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Totally depends what your kid is involved in. Mine did sports all 3 seasons so daily practice or games, often on Saturdays as well. He got home around 5 or 5:30 each day. Usually had at least 2-3 hours of homework the first year, up to 4-5 hours by junior/senior year with a heavy AP load.

Holiday commitments depend on the sport. Mine also did travel soccer which had several holiday tournaments (Labor Day, Columbus day, Memorial Day). High school basketball has games over Christmas break, other sports may have games over spring break. Track sometimes has meets the first weekend of spring break (depending on the timing of break). Our state track meet is Memorial Day weekend. Generally thanksgiving is free, and Easter weekend is always free.

[Anonymous]

I have kids who really value their free time - time to just "be" without being scheduled. They each chose one activity to really get involved in while in high school, and the rest of the time, they come home after school. This gives them plenty of time to unwind and do their homework, while still going to bed at a reasonable hour.

I'm really glad they turned out like this, because I very much need my "me" time too and would hate having every evening and weekend taken up with sports/activities.

[Anonymous]

This is so dependent on the kid and the school. My HS DS plays one sport and is involved in a few other things that don't take up much time. The biggest loss of time for us moving from MS to HS was that his sport starts a few weeks before school starts so we could no longer take a family vacation in August. Now a rising junior, DS has a summer job which limits our trips to see grandparents etc. even more.

During the school year, when his sport is over, he often comes home right after school. And while he takes really hard classes he is content to make mostly "B's" so homework hasn't been a huge issue either, although he probably works an hour or two a day outside of class.

My second kid hits high school next year and this DC plays 3 sports and has a very active social life. Still, winter/Christmas break, in particular, will continue to be free for us.

[Anonymous]

As PPs said - very kid dependent. If your DC is aiming for top tier colleges, probably not much free time. If aiming for a college, any college, a lot more free time.