<p>My S is raising sophomore in high school. His schedule is some what hard with double science courses. I don't want to him to struggle and to spend too much time on study. I would like him to have sometime for extra curriculum activities as well. How many hours should a sophomore spend on its home work and study?</p>
<p>Assuming 6 academic classes, about three hours per day (half hour for each class), more when projects are involved. Many school-based ECs are scheduled right after school., 2:30 to 6 or 7pm.</p>
<p>I think it really depends on the school and the child. A heavy workload at one school is a very light workload at another. Some kids are also more efficient at getting down to work and getting things done.</p>
<p>For example, both of my kids spend about 4-5 hours every night on homework, reading and studying. That's not unusual at their school, and, in fact, the school actually tells kids that that is the minimum they should spend. My son is a bit more efficient than my daughter at getting his work done so he often spends less time than she did on the same classes but rarely is done in less than four hours. It does make extracurriculars difficult, especially as we live an hour commute each way from their school, but somehow they both manage to get it done, keep up their grades and still have time for fun. Some teachers have really laid on the work, however, and there have been times when fun and rest have had to be set aside to keep up.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, they both have friends at our local public school taking the same level of courseload (i.e., honors and AP classes) and they seldom spend more than 2-3 hours a night on homework/studying. </p>
<p>So, I'd ask around about the classes your son is taking, the teachers teaching them, and how much homework/studying is typical for your school because it can and does vary widely.</p>
<p>And then you've got kids like mine. You said that your kids did between 20 and 25 hours of homework a week. I'm not sure mine did 25 hours of homework all last year. I have no idea when or where it did it. I know for a while he was doing English extra credit in Architecture until he got caught. Then he started doing it during Web Design. I saw Pre-Calculus homework a half dozen times. I did see Music Theory homework only because I found out from the teacher that he wasn't doing it (because he thought it was stupid), so I grounded him from the computer until it was caught up.</p>
<p>He was the only sophomore in English 11 and the only soph in Pre-Calc. And got one B in all of last year (not in either Eng 11 or Pre-Calc.) </p>
<p>I have no idea.</p>
<p>Peg</p>
<p>I never had much homework in High School, but I also never took many AP or honors classes. Actually a lot of the time I would do my homework during the ASB meetings, since they very seldom ever discussed anything that involved me.</p>
<p>My D took 6 academic subjects last year (the usual for her school is 5, about 10% of the class take 6) and averaged 4 to 5 hrs/day on weekdays with another 8 to 10h each weekend. I frankly don't understand the need for this. These kids sit in class 7 hrs/day then have EC's for 3 hr/then have 4 to 5 h/d of homework. I'm a physician and I don't work that many hours every day.</p>
<p>Quilt, I agree with you. I've talked to many graduates of my kids' high school and they almost all say the same thing: college is MUCH easier than their high school was. I'll admit I do sometimes wish they went to a less demanding school.</p>
<p>I had 2 to 3 hours worth in elementary school. :X Of course most of it was worthless crap that did not teach me anything...</p>
<p>my 12 yr. old has 3 hours daily and 6-8 hours over the weekend.....not sure what the point of all of that is....If that's middle school I shudder to think of what high school will be like. (private)</p>
<p>I think the PTA had a formula a while back which was about 10 minutes for every grade level...so a sophmore in highschool would have about 100 minutes of homework....I would suggest that is before you add any special honors or AP type classes that require extra work. I think a 1/2 hour per core subject is a reasonable minimum for highschool.</p>
<p>As an 8th grade teacher, I tell my students they can stop at 1/2 hour for my class, but if they don't complete my work within that half hour...I want them in for tutoring. When there is a test, I urge them to study longer. I suggest to parents of middle school students that they have a well lit, flat, away from the TV space to work on homework at the same time every night....and if they don't have homework for some strange reason...spend the same time studying or reading books. I give homework every school night.</p>
<p>PS. an 8th grader in his or her room with a computer connected to the internet can easily get an hour of homework extended to three after all the instant messages are read and responded to...I get plenty of them and they are not all about the math.</p>
<p>While I was in High School (class of 2003, so only a few years back) I was not as involved in a ton of things, but gave considerable dedication to those things which I chose to do. My job in ASB was to run everything technical. Basically what that came down to was controll all of the sound and video (which almost always had me doing the filming and editing) operations for the school. My best friend at the time did this along with me, and we made a pretty decent team, but still we pulled insane hours for High School students. My general day eventually had me getting there around 6:45 (my first class was at 8 mind you) and not leaving the campus until after 8pm at night. Of course once I got home I had homework from other courses that I had to worry about. </p>
<p>If the event was big enough however the teachers would cut me some slack. One time in paticular my school was hosting the Every 15 Minutes program (basically the dramatic anti-drunk driving demonstation). I arrived on campus at around 5 in the morning to prepare the sound and video equipment for the day. We did not end up leaving the campus until around 2pm the following day. In that case my teachers all bascally let me off the hook for work missed.</p>
<p>In hindsight I realize I was putting in over 12 hours a day not including homework, but this is prep somewhat for college. I've spent the last two years at a CC, but still during finals time there were more then a few nights when I had to stay up all night to prep for an exam. If the homework is meaningful (and not just busy work!) I don't think that having a good deal of it really such a bad idea.</p>