How do kids at schools with 4+ hours of HW per night have time to get everything done?

[Anonymous]

Sleep, family time, time with friends, chores, ECs, etc?

[Anonymous]

They just do. They are amazing and resilient and figure out how to prioritize and not waste time.

[Anonymous]

Ugh - I would leave a school with 4+ hours every single night.

if your high school kid has 4+ hours sometimes due to a test or big essay or whatever, fine, but my high school kid does not have that every day.

I really hope the schools don't go back to full homework and full day classes in the fall -- what a shame.

[Anonymous]

Do some work during break periods in the school day, on weekends… Also, does fewer ECs than before.

I’d say if your child is expecting this much time on HW and wants to do other time consuming ECs that you may want to consider a school with less HW?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They just do. They are amazing and resilient and figure out how to prioritize and not waste time.

Thanks. My question is how they manage to fit everything into the day. Even without spending time on anything unimportant, it seems challenging. If they're at school for 6-7 h and have HW for 4 h, that's 10-11 h already.

[Anonymous]

Sorry this is nuts. My kid had max 3 hours of homework in HS. The amount of time spent is dependent on the kid too. Some are more efficient (less distracted).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They just do. They are amazing and resilient and figure out how to prioritize and not waste time.

Thanks. My question is how they manage to fit everything into the day. Even without spending time on anything unimportant, it seems challenging. If they're at school for 6-7 h and have HW for 4 h, that's 10-11 h already.

Do work during free periods and in the time between the end of school and before EC/athletics/drama starts.
Get ahead on weekends.

[Anonymous]

OP, make sure your kid isn't surfing the web or playing games on computer. A lot of it is time management and staying focused.

[Anonymous]

My kid is a straight A student at a Big3. She will get home from school and sports at 8pm and work until 11pm or midnight--no phone time, no messing around on the internet. Or she'll set her alarm for 4amor 5am and work 2 hours until 7am when she gets ready for school.

It's honestly weird for a kid to do this. My other kids are nothing like this and I'm not either. But this is the type of kid who thrives at these schools and there are many of them that just do it without a thought. There is a decent percentage of REALLY driven kids.

[Anonymous]

Ugh. What a grind. Up until midnight or up at 5:00 am? That just sucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is a straight A student at a Big3. She will get home from school and sports at 8pm and work until 11pm or midnight--no phone time, no messing around on the internet. Or she'll set her alarm for 4amor 5am and work 2 hours until 7am when she gets ready for school.

It's honestly weird for a kid to do this. My other kids are nothing like this and I'm not either. But this is the type of kid who thrives at these schools and there are many of them that just do it without a thought. There is a decent percentage of REALLY driven kids.

This is not a badge of honor. It’s an indictment on the pressures our adolescents face. Professionals should not be working these hours consistently and students definitely should not be.

[Anonymous]

There’s plenty of burnout stories among those kids as well. Some ending tragically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sleep, family time, time with friends, chores, ECs, etc?

For my kids - they go to bed late, see their family at dinner, see friends on the weekends, don’t do chores, ECs are mostly required daily school sports and volunteer hours on Saturday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is a straight A student at a Big3. She will get home from school and sports at 8pm and work until 11pm or midnight--no phone time, no messing around on the internet. Or she'll set her alarm for 4amor 5am and work 2 hours until 7am when she gets ready for school.

It's honestly weird for a kid to do this. My other kids are nothing like this and I'm not either. But this is the type of kid who thrives at these schools and there are many of them that just do it without a thought. There is a decent percentage of REALLY driven kids.

This is not a badge of honor. It’s an indictment on the pressures our adolescents face. Professionals should not be working these hours consistently and students definitely should not be.

Many kids do fine with this. My kid is one of them. I'm nothing like it but my high school daughter LOVES the pace and challenge. She just grinds through work and is always ready for the next assignment.
I wouldn't believe that it could be healthy if I didn't have a kid like this. She'll probably turn out to be a highly functioning professional who lives on very little sleep. My husband is similar---
he was a dual major in college, at the top of his medical school class and then a medical resident who worked 36 hour shifts, went out for drinks and was ready to do it all again the next day. Some people are just very highly functioning
and do okay with a tightly organized, busy schedule.

[Anonymous]

Take advantage of any in-school study halls, work during dinner and stay up late. There is less family/friend social time.