<p>Well, to be accurate, he doesn’t have 4 hours of homework every day, or even average that much. The average is probably around 3 hours. But the peaks regularly get up into (and over) the 4-hour range, and scrambling to finish projects results in several all-nighters each year.</p>
<p>“busywork I suspect” LOL. So do I. There are many good things about his school, and I don’t want to sound like I’m trashing it, but I do think the homework load is artificially and needlessly heavy–for instance, assigning 30 math problems when 10 would get the concept across just as well, and maybe buy the kid an extra half-hour of sleep so he can understand tomorrow’s math lesson a little better. </p>
<p>The one undeniably good thing about it is that any kid who can survive the place with even a B average is likely to do very well in college.</p>
<p>But, I digress…I guess the point is that there is really no rule of thumb. You really have to know your school’s workload and your kid’s aptitude for time management, and weigh that against how much the EC’s matter to the kid, both intrinsically and in relation to his long-term goals. And know, too, how willing you are to be flexible in your academic expectations if it turns out that you’ve miscalculated and your kid has bitten off more than he can chew.</p>