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[quote=Anonymous]Hello, OP. I do understand why you're asking this -- and I also get why others are saying, well, it depends on the child, the school, the individual teachers and the level of homework assigned. And those things change all the time.

I would add this: A student who is an interested and motivated AAP level student also is quite likely to be a kid who is equally interested in and motivated to do well in other aspects of life -- like extracurricular activities. So a child who has plenty of homework sometimes thrives quite well with plenty of other activities as well. The key is whether the child (not the parent, the child) is able to use time wisely, not procrastinate, plan ahead, etc.

My daughter has four dance classes a week plus one or more dance rehearsals for many weeks of the year. She also is in Girl Scouts (which is more limited in time commitment) and particiipates in Science Olympiad -- which, though run through the school, is entirely extracurricular, so all the study time is outside school hours and it can be considerable at certain points in the year. She has homework as well as a lot of longer-term projects, which she prefers because she can plan out how to do things little by little over time.

But another child might need much less going on, or could handle more. Transportation time could be a factor too -- if a kid has to spend time getting home on a bus and then be driven to an activity after getting home, that child could end up spending a lot of time on the road that's not spent on homework, projects, etc. Also, the whole family's schedule for weekends, and the family attitude about weekends, should be a factor; my kid spends a lot of time on weekends on Science Olympiad just now (not all year long) and also works on weekends on long-term school projects and that's fine with us, but I know families who resent any school intrusion into weekends. So factor that in.

Also if your child is currently younger (up to maybe 3rd-4th grade), be aware that if he or she is in sports or dance or certain other activities - the level of those activities really ramps up around 5th to 8th grades. Kids who want to continue certain activities find themselves expected to do that activity several days (or nights) a week plus on weekends as they get older. So factor that in as they get older -- some kids will drop certain activities and others will end up spending ever more time on them. As long as it's what the child wants and it makes the child thrive, that is just fine, but some other activities likely will go by the wayside so there is room both for school and the main activity. It's kind of a pity that kids can't sample more activities but unfortunately some activities demand more as kids reach middle school age. That is just a choice for the child to make in conjunction with the family.

If your kid is just not into activities -- let the child lead! [/quote]

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