I have a 5th grader and this thread is frightening to me. Makes me want to move to the small town where I grew up. Too much.

Oh wow...I feel your pain, OP. My junior daughter took AP Government last year, and it took 3 hours/night just for that one subject. It was BRUTAL. She ended up getting a 3 on the AP test, which qualifies for college credit (since most people taking the class are HS sophomores). She has some attention issues, so it was especially difficult to get through the dense readings. I helped her quite a lot in the beginning in terms of parsing the material, but later she picked up a bit of speed.

This year, she's taking 5 AP classes plus two others, and she spends a good 6+ hours a night on HW. It's depressing, and we just finished talking for 30 minutes about what I can do to help her with time management. I told her about this thread, and she said to send you her best.

Mine probably did 2-3 in 9th grade (with AP Gov), the same in 10th grade (with APUSH), maybe 3-4 in 11th with 3 APs, same in 12th with 5 APs. 4s and 5s on all the tests and high GPA. Like others didn't do all the readings in history/gov classes. I think AP Gov should get easier - my DC thought it was pretty easy and got a 5 on the AP.

DC1 3 to 4 hours, at Wm and Mary
DC2 15 minutes, at GMU

Anonymous wrote:About an hour freshman/sophomore year.

Less than a half an hour junior year.

About an hour and a half senior year.

All honors classes except for required classes. 1 AP freshman, 2 AP sophomore, 5 AP junior, 5 AP + 2 post AP senior

AP History and social studies classes have a lot of homework, generally, because there is a lot of material to cover. DS was very lucky in that he liked history enough to know enough to just not do the reading in AP US/Euro/World (and got a 5 on all of them). If he had done the readings junior year he easily would have had as much homework as yours.

Weirdly enough, I've seen that as the classes transition from honors to AP, the homework turns into unchecked suggested studying. So it's easier to avoid doing it.

My DS is the same-- very good at estimating what needs to be done and skipping what doesn't. He is also a very aural learner, so he gets a lot out of lectures and class discussions. He's also very well-read and has a strong and long-standing interest in history, geography, government, politics, economics, so he has a strong base of knowledge from which to draw. And he's a good, fast writer. These attributes really pay off in social sciences, english, languages.

1 AP freshman year (score=4), 1 AP soph year (score=5), now a junior taking 3 APs and 5th year of language. I'd say he spends 1.5 hours per day on homework.

All AP except electives. About 2-3 hours max. She makes all As. She is smart, but more importantly, she has great time management skills. I wish I could have said the same for her older brothers.

10th grade. only one honors class. I'd say 3-4 hours per day.

5-6 hours.

Why so much less junior year PP?

About an hour freshman/sophomore year.

Less than a half an hour junior year.

About an hour and a half senior year.

All honors classes except for required classes. 1 AP freshman, 2 AP sophomore, 5 AP junior, 5 AP + 2 post AP senior

AP History and social studies classes have a lot of homework, generally, because there is a lot of material to cover. DS was very lucky in that he liked history enough to know enough to just not do the reading in AP US/Euro/World (and got a 5 on all of them). If he had done the readings junior year he easily would have had as much homework as yours.

Weirdly enough, I've seen that as the classes transition from honors to AP, the homework turns into unchecked suggested studying. So it's easier to avoid doing it.

Freshman 2 hours a day all honors classes no aps

About 5 hours per night but she has a learning disability so she will need more time than the average student. The bigger issue for her is when she has 5 tests in one day. It is very stressful.

3 is "normal" around here.

I think 4 is too much unless it is exam time.

About 3.5 to 4hrs a day. No electronics in the room. All honors AP classes.

Mine uses 4 hours each day and AP Government takes about two and half. I feel that is too much especially on one subject. Does AP Government, US/World History usually take that much time? I can't imagine how this is going to work in junior year.