100%. I’ve fit in here far better than at my old school and the opportunities are literally endless.
Anyways, there’s consultation periods 4 days of the week (1 hour long), lunches are 2 hours long, and the entire time between the end of classes and study hall (which varies a lot based on many factors, but usually at least 1.5 hours and up to as much as 5). Freshmen also have free periods during their fall term.
This all applies to the new COVID schedule, by the way, which will likely stay (or be slightly modified) even post-COVID.
Happy you found a good fit! It makes a big difference when you are in a place where everyone wants to learn and being smart is cool. How would you describe the culture?
This describes pretty much every boarding school I know of and most of the prep schools in MA. Even the prep schools that are known for being full of jocks - the kids will tell you being smart is where it’s at. So if that’s what you are looking for in a school you will find it easily.
Pre-COVID, classes began at 9:00 on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, 9:30 on Wednesdays, 8:00 on Mondays, and 8:30 on Saturdays, so I’d say it’s likely. If you have a lab during first period on Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday, though, you’d begin at 8:15 or 8:35 depending on the class.
IBES (second form science) is a lab course.
And the culture is definitely very academic—I actually had a conversation yesterday about this, a friend of mine was remarking how people in his old school would try to bully him by saying “you’re smart,” while he joked that it’s not even an insult.
No. There is a designated study time starting at 8, but not a study hall. You can study in your room or the library, etc, subject ro dorm check-in times.
Our experience also. Often it’s balancing the many activities, sports and clubs. As kids get busier and take more advanced classes, the sleeping can decrease.
Also, if a kid has a class or two where they are able to do very little studying or have to do a lot, that can change the number of study/sleep hours.
As I have mentioned before @ homework there are a few factors at play:
Your student’s personal learning style - every student is unique in their learning style, abilities, perceptions. Keep in mind that some of the challenges students experience adapting to BS homework are those common to all students entering high school.
The level of preparedness on the course subjects. There are some students who already had some basic Physics and/or Chem coming into boarding school. Some of the international students we know already had more of a foundation in some courses. This gave them an advantage and those entry level science & math classes seemed easier for some of them. OTOH, if you’re a student who is a relatively sophisticated writer and/or a REPEAT, it might take you less time to get in gear for a term paper.
Your student’s ability to organize, initiate and complete the work.
Level of abstraction and the ability to analyze complex material. For those of you “fresh” to high school, the material often demands more abstraction at the high school level. The questions might look less like “what” and more like “why” and “how”.
The pace is faster IMHO - so you have to keep up - try to anticipate what is coming next and understand the WHY your teacher gave you that assignment.
The level of the course(s) your student is taking will often predict how much homework you have. If you enter 9th grade as a kid taking Honors 3 Mandarin, be prepared for more homework than a student who is just starting at Level 1.
I am sure there are other factors, so add them if you wish. Bon Chance!
One more thing @ homework at Boarding School…If your kiddo needs silence and no distractions, it might be difficult to study in the dorm room with a roommate present.
Forgive me for digressing, but once I was playing in a tournament at Bay Hill and there was a person in the gallery eating Doritos - it was most distracting. Fast forward 10 years, and Kiddo had to endure this whilst trying to study in a dorm room smaller than a jail cell.
If your kiddo is in such a situation OR if your kiddo has any type of assessed learning difference, please consider taking your concerns to the appropriate counselor, advisor, support services, or academic dean to request an exemption from doing homework in the tiny dorm room. Some schools make “lowers” do their homework in their own dorm rooms - other schools have study halls in the library or study hall rooms. Personally, I really like the arrangement for studying at Taft.
Homework load is completely influenced by the individual kid. I’ve had 2 sons at Hotchkiss, and the one w/poor time management (+ emphasis on his social life!) would be up until 2 am doing homework his junior year, while his brother was always in bed by 11 and got his homework done in less than 3 hours. The younger one had way better grades too. Same school, different kids. So don’t be freaked out when you hear of kids taking hours and hours to do work, or that they are up until 4 am every night (I heard this about Hotchkiss!). That may be very true for the individual child, but is not true for all or even most.
People are probably tired of me posting this, but I strongly believe success at a demanding school is NOT tied to intelligence, once you hit a certain level, it is tied to top time management skills. If your child doesn’t have super strong time management skills, consider dropping down a level in terms of how demanding the school is. Again, not dependent on intelligence level – the kid can be super, super smart but if they don’t have great executive function they may do better at a school where they can work at a slightly slower pace.
This is important. Opportunities are abundant. If you want, you can do the school play and your sport, and your 3 other cool activities, plus volunteer at your favorite cause, all at the same time. Learning to say no is part of the journey.
I recall that how much time you spent on homework freshman year was something you needed to consider when picking classes sophomore year. If you found yourself up at midnight every night, that was your first indication that in at least a few classes, you might be well advised to step down in rigor.
Another factor, though we may not need more variables, the teacher. A student can get the most difficult teacher or the easier one. Can impact work load a lot. I think excessive homework is often a kid in classes which are too difficult for them, poor time management or inability to go to the teacher and get help on specific areas. Every great student needs to learn how to manage their workloads.
My kid was extremely protective of their single free block during the first two years, particularly during primary sport season. Now there is a free block again due do scheduling issues and there is even time for a family movie on an occasional school night, AP load notwithstanding.
I think the issue is that many of these kids can do well if they put enough time into whatever hard class, but I agree with this.
Over the years we’ve learned to focussed our energy where it matters. Taking the hardest classes for the sake of doing so is pointless. Taking a step back in areas that are not really the focus allowed for extra classes in the area of interest. A more rewarding experience for sure.
Yes. This is exactly the issue because the teachers are giving an amount of homework so as to purposefully force kids to let some things go. It is a well known strategy at top schools to force kids to prioritize.
In addition to this I am also coming from the perspective of having two kids at these schools who also played/play and outside of school sport that requires national travel. I do not think that top schools are actually compatible with out of school sports and if I had it to over again I would have insisted that my kids took a more chill approach and went to a day school. Or a less rigorous BS.
One thing DS learned (the hard way) was the importance of balancing course load during the planning phase. Classes that don’t play to your strengths will require more time. Very advanced classes, even in subjects you love, will require more time. It helps to have a mix of classes – it makes homework less tedious. There often isn’t as much choice freshman year, but after that, striking the right balance can make all the difference.