S/O too much homework: how many hours does your kid have per night?

[Anonymous]

^^ I can speak to only the Langley AP courses. They are killers - truly taught on college level - the science ones, which require additional lab time are the time sucks. I can't think of any AP course there that is a walk in the park homework-wise.

[Anonymous]

Side question -- how many pages of reading = 2 hours of reading and note-taking in a HS history/social science class? (I'm a very quick reader, so I can't tell what's slow vs. what's thorough vs. what's normal for a 15 yo).

I'm a very fast reader with an English degree, and I still find the material slow going. Some examples of what she's been reading: John Locke's Second Treatise, Of Civil Government; John Roche's Founding Fathers: A Reform Caucus in Action; Charles Beard's Framing the Constitution; James Madison's Federalist papers (various ones); cases such as McCulloch v. Maryland & Gibbons v. Ogden; James Bryce's Merits of the Federal System, etc.

Exciting stuff like this: "To the extent that they shared an institutional base of operations, it was the Continental Congress, and this was hardly a locale which inspired respect...Robert de Jouvenal observed French politics half a century ago and noted that a revolutionary Deputy had more in common with a nonrevolutionary Deputy than he had with a revolutionary non-Deputy; similarly one can surmise that membership in the Congress under the Articles...worked to establish a Continental frame of reference..." etc.

And John Locke is awesome, but he can be dense for a 15-year-old: "A state also of equality, wherein all the power and jurisdiction is reciprocal, no one having more than another, there being nothing more evident than that creatures of the same species and rank, promiscuously born to all the same advantages of Nature, and the use of the same faculties, should also be equal one amongst another, without subordination or subjection, unless the lord and master of them all should, by any manifest declaration of his will, set one above another, and confer on him, by an evident and clear appointment, an undoubted right to dominion and sovereignty."

I helped her suss out the flesh of some of those sentences, but still, that takes time to read. And on top of the readings above, there were lengthy textbook selections that required Cornell notes (a specific note-taking system that is in vogue). There were also photocopied readings that they had to tackle.

I'll say that it's definitely slowed down after the first month and initial exam. Also, seeing now that this is in Private/Independent Schools, I realize my daughter's HW issues might not be relevant--she's at Roosevelt in Prince George's County. Oops...I just like complaining about HW!

[Anonymous]

Thanks for answering my question re what's a reasonable amount of reading in 2 hours.

As luck would have it, your examples are all texts I know.

And re AP Gov -- the dirty secret here is that the reading can be incredibly turgid, but the concepts aren't hard (if you have a good lecturer) -- or many, for that matter. And it's probably also the case that a few well-chosen examples (one about federalism, one about separation of powers/conflict between branches, one about the scope of executive power) get you far.

But, of course, the goal isn't just to get a 5 -- it's to read and think about Locke. And if you're doing that right, it does take time. (Roche and Beard OTOH probably each rate a paragraph).

[Anonymous]

You're welcome, and I know the texts in the sense that I studied them 26 years ago in college. My DD is definitely enjoying Gov quite a bit, and she's learning as well...I just wish she could get to bed earlier!

[Anonymous]

I hear you!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So is thinking while you read, jotting down questions, looking back to cross-reference, making connections, etc.

Yeah, obviously, if the map is as big as the territory then it's not very useful. But neither is superficiality.

An ideal reader sees both forest and trees. (And has a sense of what kinds of trees are where and why.)

A lot of kids over annotate -- it drives up the time for homework significantly. It is worth experimenting -- at least on a nightly basis, the child can be encouraged to read a few nights without highlighting/note-taking, and see how it works for them, with the goal of finding a happy medium and getting to bed at a healthy time.

[Anonymous]

When I went to high school in the late 80s-- a public school, taking mostly AP or Advanced classes, I had tons of homework. How much? Not sure but sometimes I wondered how I would get it all done. And I took a speed reading class (I was a geek). When I got to a SLAC, it was so comparatively easy! Sure there were two hours of homework for every hour of class, but I was only in class 16 hours per week instead of 32.5.

[Anonymous]

And you were probably only taking 4 classes rather than 5-7.

[Anonymous]

Right. And I didn't have to get up at 6:30 am. So I guess my point is that serious college-prep high school work was intense then and it's intense now.

[Anonymous]

NCS, 11th grade, 1-2 hours a night (2 APs)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would you take 5 or 7 AP's senior year.

In MCPS you literally need 1 class to graduate once you are a senior.

To go to college? Colleges want to see a progression of classes so if you've been taking honors/APs you can't drop down to on level your senior year.

No, they don't because they are getting kids with no social skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A recent StA grad told me that in HS he was at school from 7:30-7 with sports and then had 4-5 hours of homework. Does this sound right?

No. Medical field calls that abusive. It is

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A recent StA grad told me that in HS he was at school from 7:30-7 with sports and then had 4-5 hours of homework. Does this sound right?

No. Medical field calls that abusive. It is

It does not sound accurate for St. Albans. A little bit atypical on the sports side in terms of staying at school until 7 pm, although, depending upon where a student lives, getting HOME at 7-7:30 pm is accurate (and students who do both sports and theatrical productions can be at school until 9 pm).

Not typical on the homework end. Either the student was not using time during the day (for example, there is generally 1-1.5 hours between the end of lunch and start of sports); or 4-5 hours was the time spent in the bedroom, but with the considerable distractions (see some of the prior posts); or possibly the student took the most rigorous course selection and struggled somewhat with the material.

My college friend teaches there and mentioned that a couple of years ago asked a Chinese exchange student at STA what was a typical amount of time spent on homework at the student's "home" school in China. When the student replied "five hours" the STA kids in the class went crazy with disbelief, shock, and horror (it was funny, my friend said). The typical STA boy just does not spend that much time on homework. However, with sports, and even more if they are into the arts, they are definitely very very busy.

[Anonymous]

I have high school kids in private and in public. I actually think the pressure in the public school was worse, and here's why. In private school my son had a block schedule with longer classes meeting every other day. Sure, there was a lot of homework assigned but kids had two days to do it all for a particular subject. Also, the private school day started later (8 am) than the public school day (7:20 am) and was a longer day overall, building in more free time for starting homework, seeing teachers, etc. Even with sports after school the day was more balanced and manageable that what my public school kid encounters at his "W" public.

[Anonymous]

What is the typical schedule like for a child who is in school/activities from 7am-7pm and then has 5 hours of homework? When does he eat breakfast and dinner? At home? On the go?