Homework load in 5th and 6th grades at basis dc?

[Anonymous]

As a prospective 5th grade parent at basis dc, can current 5th and 6th grade parents give an estimate how many minutes/hours of homework your child has had daily and did that include Saturday and Sunday?

Any guesstimated breakdown on homework per subject would also be appreciated.

[Anonymous]

For my kid, who doesn't have ADHD or any learning disabilities, it takes 60-90 minutes. Occasionally 120 minutes.

He does homework on M-TH, and some on Sunday. Never does homework on Friday or Saturday outside of prepping for comprehensive exams.

Math is the most predictable / steady load. 30 problems to do -- they are always due on Mon, Tues, Wed and Thurs.

[Anonymous]

For my child, it changed over the year. There is homework most days of the week, especially in math, but only occasionally on the weekends. Also, as the year progressed, especially the last month or so, DC became much more efficient and learned to get more and more work done at school. So much so that DC has less than 30 minutes of work at home on average. My child is not the more focused child, highly distracted in fact; BASIS has helped DC become better at time management.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For my child, it changed over the year. There is homework most days of the week, especially in math, but only occasionally on the weekends. Also, as the year progressed, especially the last month or so, DC became much more efficient and learned to get more and more work done at school. So much so that DC has less than 30 minutes of work at home on average. My child is not the more focused child, highly distracted in fact; BASIS has helped DC become better at time management.

Oh, my DC is currently a 5th grader so I suppose it could be different in 6th grade, especially since there will be comps in all subjects.

[Anonymous]

The homework isn't always the challenge - it's the keeping up with all the teachers and assignments and papers.

Middle school students have 9 different classes with 9 different teachers (not all meet every day). That's a big organizational lift and some students take to it more quickly than others.

So while a particular assignment may just take 15-20 minutes, finding the misplaced paper / directions can take another 30, not counting the angst of having lost it. YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Parent of a 9th grader here -- 60-90 minutes was usual, but math homework (4 nights worth) can be spread over 7 nights, if your child has after school activities because it is utterly predictable.

Things get progressively better. You may need to help your student figure out how to manage their workload for 5-6th. It will be worth it to get them on a good path. I no longer need to do this!

[Anonymous]

The work load for my kid was mostly math which took 2 or more hours a night for math alone because even though he was smart in math, he was not ready for the greater acceleration. Now in 9th grade, my kid is still accelerated but not as much. Now my kid in 9th grade finds math homework and all homework very manageable and the workload actually seems significantly less than 7th and 8th grade.

I recommend not going for the maximum math acceleration unless your kid is very on task. Even going with less acceleration in math would still make your kid more accelerated than most kids in the country! I also recommend trying to get some of the math problem sets out of the way on weekends if your kid is overwhelmed with other homework.

All I can say is that we are glad we stayed at BASIS and almost left several times in middle school. My kid has grown much more independent and I am hardly involved now in overseeing his school work unlike the first few years there.

Also, if you find the math too much, then see teacher for advice. If that still does not work then ask for your kid to be placed in a lower math track which is still advanced!

[Anonymous]

For my 6th grader, it takes at the very least one hour, more often more than that to do the 30 math problems per night. Then there is varying homework for other classes, usually not every night. I've tried to get my child to do the homework ahead on weekends but he rallies against it as according to him, it takes away from the very little play time he has. It's overwhelming for the not organized child and we've tried many ways to find a system that works for him. Still a work in progress.

[Anonymous]

My girl is nearing the end of 6th grade. She's done 5th and 6th at Basis. It was a big leap from 4th to 5th since she went from a "practically no homework" situation to homework every night and lots of subjects and different teachers. My child seems pretty smart and engaged and can focus and she made the transition very well. Basis provides a lot of help in 5th grade for the transition and with organizational skills. Homework or "studying" Monday through Thursday, sometimes a little on Sunday, but from what I remember it was mostly 30 minutes to 60 at the most. My kid loved finally being a little challenged. Sixth grade, however, has been a big difference for us. She's an unhappy stress-ball. She does still do some kind of activity that is non school related most nights (baby sitting; sports; music or something; etc.) but she's so stressed out trying to balance a little bit of fun or activity vs. doing well in school. There's at least 60-90 min every night, but often more like 2 or 3 hours. And that's with her being diligent in doing homework during the day when they have the opportunity to do it during their version of "study hall" etc. Thursday nights are the hardest, where she is studying for multiple tests a night. She starts as soon as she gets home and I have to pry her away from it at 9:30 or so and she's crying with the stress. You don't do a homework and your grade drops a lot. One blown test and your grade drops a lot. It's a lot of pressure. A lot of stress. For us, at least, 5th was great but 6th sucks. 6th grade is also a tough time, esp. for girls. So many things about your body and mind that are changing. I would rip one of my own arms off to get her into Latin instead of another year of this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My girl is nearing the end of 6th grade. She's done 5th and 6th at Basis. It was a big leap from 4th to 5th since she went from a "practically no homework" situation to homework every night and lots of subjects and different teachers. My child seems pretty smart and engaged and can focus and she made the transition very well. Basis provides a lot of help in 5th grade for the transition and with organizational skills. Homework or "studying" Monday through Thursday, sometimes a little on Sunday, but from what I remember it was mostly 30 minutes to 60 at the most. My kid loved finally being a little challenged. Sixth grade, however, has been a big difference for us. She's an unhappy stress-ball. She does still do some kind of activity that is non school related most nights (baby sitting; sports; music or something; etc.) but she's so stressed out trying to balance a little bit of fun or activity vs. doing well in school. There's at least 60-90 min every night, but often more like 2 or 3 hours. And that's with her being diligent in doing homework during the day when they have the opportunity to do it during their version of "study hall" etc. Thursday nights are the hardest, where she is studying for multiple tests a night. She starts as soon as she gets home and I have to pry her away from it at 9:30 or so and she's crying with the stress. You don't do a homework and your grade drops a lot. One blown test and your grade drops a lot. It's a lot of pressure. A lot of stress. For us, at least, 5th was great but 6th sucks. 6th grade is also a tough time, esp. for girls. So many things about your body and mind that are changing. I would rip one of my own arms off to get her into Latin instead of another year of this.

Have you reached out to the school to discuss? Are you staying for 7th?

[Anonymous]

Have you reached out to the school to discuss? Are you staying for 7th?

Ummm... there's no reaching out to Basis to complain about their homework or their testing schedule. That's their M.O. That's their educational model. They believe their approach leads to successful kids (and according to US News ratings, it does). If your kid is unhappy or stressed or you don't like seeing your straight-A, hard-working kid get Cs, then you leave. The environment there also just BREEDS grade competition. We've tried all year to give her a variety of stress coping skills (not to mention some perspective on how much a grade in 6th grade matters) but there's something about the constant, weekly testing that just keeps the kids competing with each other. It's like an academic Olympic try-out. As explained in a number of parent/teacher events, the local franchise of Basis has definitely made changes to the way they run 5th grade here (as opposed to their other locations) because they now understand that there's a really big educational gap between DCPS elementary schools and where Basis wants the kids to be. So 5th grade is their transition year. And, like I said, my kid really enjoyed 5th grade. She liked the challenge and the increased responsibility and the classwork. But now, in 6th, the training wheels are off and Basis has a proven "winning" formula that they believe in. You either get on the bus and go for the ride or you get off.

Yes, if she somehow got into Latin she would definitely leave. But she's been trying since 5th to get in there and it's never happened for us. Other options explored but aren't good fits for other reasons. It's really too bad that there aren't more non-private options that are for hard-working, smart kids who like being challenged in our area. It seems to be that there's got to be a difference between THIS and .... an educational experience that is one step up from babysitting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Have you reached out to the school to discuss? Are you staying for 7th?

Ummm... there's no reaching out to Basis to complain about their homework or their testing schedule. That's their M.O. That's their educational model. They believe their approach leads to successful kids (and according to US News ratings, it does). If your kid is unhappy or stressed or you don't like seeing your straight-A, hard-working kid get Cs, then you leave. The environment there also just BREEDS grade competition. We've tried all year to give her a variety of stress coping skills (not to mention some perspective on how much a grade in 6th grade matters) but there's something about the constant, weekly testing that just keeps the kids competing with each other. It's like an academic Olympic try-out. As explained in a number of parent/teacher events, the local franchise of Basis has definitely made changes to the way they run 5th grade here (as opposed to their other locations) because they now understand that there's a really big educational gap between DCPS elementary schools and where Basis wants the kids to be. So 5th grade is their transition year. And, like I said, my kid really enjoyed 5th grade. She liked the challenge and the increased responsibility and the classwork. But now, in 6th, the training wheels are off and Basis has a proven "winning" formula that they believe in. You either get on the bus and go for the ride or you get off.

Yes, if she somehow got into Latin she would definitely leave. But she's been trying since 5th to get in there and it's never happened for us. Other options explored but aren't good fits for other reasons. It's really too bad that there aren't more non-private options that are for hard-working, smart kids who like being challenged in our area. It seems to be that there's got to be a difference between THIS and .... an educational experience that is one step up from babysitting.

Thanks for elaborating.

[Anonymous]

Very dependent on organizational skills. Easy for my DD and more of a struggle for DS. He eventually gets it together and enjoys school. Probably on average 60 min per night. Math is the heaviest load. Most other classes homework can be done at school or commute. But he is challenged and wants to stay. Misses homeworks and turns things in late and gets lower grades. As I've painfully learned, boys get executive skills much later. I hope he gets them soon, but at least before it counts in high school.

[Anonymous]

The one thing to remember and keep reminding your child is that homework is not graded for perfection, just completion. So there is no reason to spend one additional minute on something that they don't get - just take a stab at it and have it explained in class or at teacher hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The one thing to remember and keep reminding your child is that homework is not graded for perfection, just completion. So there is no reason to spend one additional minute on something that they don't get - just take a stab at it and have it explained in class or at teacher hours.

If you are referring to math, then students also correct the even problems for every problem set with their homework. Yes I do tell my kid though not to spend too much time on math problems since they will go over them in class.

Other classes though may be graded for more than completion depending on the subject and teacher.