HW load?

[Anonymous]

DC is in 10th grade (MCPS) and has a very large homework load this year - starts immediately after school, breaks for sports practice and dinner and then resumes and is staying up until midnight to get it done. DC also uses the open period as a time to do work and is good about working on a schedule on Wednesdays. Ninth grade homework was nothing like this, so I am struggling to understand is this typical increase from ninth to tenth grade, or does it relate to distance learning? Would be interested to hear how this is going for other high schoolers.

[Anonymous]

I think it's a distance learning curve. The wheels are falling off the bus for my Freshman. It went from super easy to large assignments the past week. Her grade went from A to F, and I was shocked. We are regrouping the next few days to see what the heck went wrong over the last five days.

[Anonymous]

FCPS put a time limit on homework for HS kid of 1.5 hours for core classes, 1.75 for APs. Per week. Including work assigned for asynchronous Mondays. Report to teacher than principal of its frequently being exceeded. FCPS is doing nothing else right right now. But having my junior limited to 10 hours of homework a week, including evenings and three day weekends is so nice.

Maybe push MCPS to limit homework during distance learning?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FCPS put a time limit on homework for HS kid of 1.5 hours for core classes, 1.75 for APs. Per week. Including work assigned for asynchronous Mondays. Report to teacher than principal of its frequently being exceeded. FCPS is doing nothing else right right now. But having my junior limited to 10 hours of homework a week, including evenings and three day weekends is so nice.

Maybe push MCPS to limit homework during distance learning?

Our school told us 60 minutes per core class and 75 for IB. Some teachers took this to heart. Others are piling it on. Those same teachers give huge workloads during class, so class work becomes additional homework. Ninth grader is drowning.

[Anonymous]

This is OP. My child takes 7 classes, 4 are honors and 3 are APs. So following the above guideline, she should have almost 8 hrs of hw per night. I guess that realistically is what she is getting, but that seems insane to me after spending until 3pm each day on a screen in a room by herself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. My child takes 7 classes, 4 are honors and 3 are APs. So following the above guideline, she should have almost 8 hrs of hw per night. I guess that realistically is what she is getting, but that seems insane to me after spending until 3pm each day on a screen in a room by herself.

No, not per night. Per week. In total. I agree, she seems to have way too much work.

[Anonymous]

My 9th grader (non-MCPS) takes 5 honors classes has minimal homework right now. Last night was virtual back to school night and most of the teachers said that they aren't giving much homework because the kids are on screens so much they want to limit additional time. He maybe has 30/day between all of his classes. I expect it to pick up some.

[Anonymous]

My 10th grader non MCPS has between 30 min - 2 hr per night. Only one AP class.

[Anonymous]

AP classes can be hours of reading, depending on the class.

[Anonymous]

Is that MCPS? I know for a fact that teachers in "x" language department of a Bethesda HS are being REQUIRED (by the head of the department) to give a test EVERY WEEK, plus mini-tests throughout the week. And homework, daily. Some people are overachievers and don't seem to understand the concept that kids need a rest/break after staying all day glued to a screen.

I am not sure if this is a county-wide thing or just this particular department in this particular HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is that MCPS? I know for a fact that teachers in "x" language department of a Bethesda HS are being REQUIRED (by the head of the department) to give a test EVERY WEEK, plus mini-tests throughout the week. And homework, daily. Some people are overachievers and don't seem to understand the concept that kids need a rest/break after staying all day glued to a screen.

I am not sure if this is a county-wide thing or just this particular department in this particular HS.

If you want things to change op, e-mail the teacher and complain. Be straight forward and ask her if the amount of work she is assigning is because the head of the department is asking. If she says no, ask her to down it back... if she says yes, e-mail the head of the department and complain. If you get nowhere, complain to the principal... if you still get nowhere, e-mail the school board and cc the principal, head of the department, and teacher.

Done and done.

If you people don't complain, nothing will change.

[Anonymous]

For regular students, homework time will depend on:

1. The number of advanced classes he's taking compared to last year. Depending on how you and your child strategized the four years of high school, there can be quite a big jump between 9th and 10th grade. We knew this and chose to frontload 9th grade a little.

2. Distance learning has less instructional time and teachers warned there might be more independent work, particularly for AP classes, which have a national exam. That's mostly reading time that they should have done in class, so it should not lengthen your child's day significantly.


My son has low processing speed (with an IEP and a 100% extra time accommodation) and has ALWAYS taken the entire day to do his work. His productivity improves a little bit each year, which barely makes up for teachers giving more homework in the upper grades. His processing speed is a great handicap, as it affects all areas of his life (tying shoes, eating, everything!) and it means curtailing his extra-curriculars to almost nothing now in high school. Now he actually has a little more free time because he's not wasting time in commute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FCPS put a time limit on homework for HS kid of 1.5 hours for core classes, 1.75 for APs. Per week. Including work assigned for asynchronous Mondays. Report to teacher than principal of its frequently being exceeded. FCPS is doing nothing else right right now. But having my junior limited to 10 hours of homework a week, including evenings and three day weekends is so nice.

Maybe push MCPS to limit homework during distance learning?

WOW!! Wish we were in FFX