<p>I took a study hall freshman year and will never take one again.</p>
<p>I got zero work in it, kids were always throwing stuff, and I got the same grade I would had I not taken it at all.</p>
<p>My two kids, at a competitive high school, took a full load ninth grade, and then usually had one free period each of the other years, when they did not have to take PE because they were in a sport. They didn't have to go to study hall, but could be in library, outside, home, whatever. I think with honors classes, it's great to have some daytime hours to study, go to the library, think, etc. Some of their friends had two free periods, which seemed like lacking to my kids, and some had none, which seemed like driving yourself crazy with the overachieving.</p>
<p>I teach in a (low achieving) school with no study halls. Everyone has to be in class all the time, so kids are taking PE all the time (even twice a day!). No time to go to the library. Not much of a studying culture, really. No one wants to imagine supervising them in study hall, since they don't study.</p>
<p>When I went to high school, we had study halls and could go to the cafeteria to hang out, go to the library to use resources and study quietly, go to a smaller library/lounge in another building, or hang out outside. I can't imagine having no time off during the day for ambitious kids. They need study time. Non-studious kids perhaps do need to be kept busy.</p>
<p>Our oldest son took a study hall every year of high school. He was by temperament able to use the time well. Fwiw, he is now at his first choice, top tier school.</p>
<p>On the other hand, another child would not (we think) likely use the time well. That one has not had any study halls.</p>
<p>S is a sophomore taking 4 APs. He has a rigorous EC schedule of piano practice, jazz band, and accompanying singers and vocal groups. He has a daily study hall and uses it very well!</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone who responded! I've heard that at her HS, study halls are basically social hours, but she's involved in sports, so maybe if she got the socializing over with in study hall, she would have more time to get work done after practice.</p>
<p>I wish she'd take SAT prep instead, but she is opposed to taking any more math because this year has been so difficult. She doesn't even want to take the SAT (her freshman ACT was in the mid 50% range for UVA, despite an abysmal math score). I had her evaluated and tried to get her a 504 for math (she has a nonverbal LD and a 38 point gap between Verbal and Performance IQ), but because her math PSATs and achievement test scores are above average, and because technically she is not failing (they count only last semester's C as an official grade), the school would not grant it. IMHO, that's penalizing her for using her gifted verbal skills to compensate for the NVLD, but there's nothing I can do. At the meeting the committee said "that's a gifted profile, not a LD profile" as if a kid can't be both. After that, the psychologist recommended no more HS math. </p>
<p>So we're hoping that colleges look at her strengths in languages; she will not present as a well-rounded kid, but senior year she wants to take a 3rd language (Arabic or Chinese) at the local CC, so maybe her linguistic ability will compensate for the math to some extent.</p>
<p>I do like the idea of having her sit in on a math class -- I don't like going the last two years of HS with no math -- but the school won't allow that. However, she can audit Pre-Cal at the CC, so I'm going to try to talk her into doing that. It would be as no-pressure a math situation as possible.</p>
<p>
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I wouldn't worry about the "most challenging" curriculum because that will be applied to senior year more than anything.
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I'm not sure that this is very sound advice. Because to take the most challenging curriculum in Senior year, you usually will have had to take the appropriate courses in all the prior years. You can't typically jump into AP Calculus without what comes before, can you? Or into Honors IV Subject A, if you haven't been in Honors level in prior years.</p>
<p>That said, my S who took "the most challenging" courseload did have some study halls. Prior to his time in hs, I looked askance at the idea. We didn't have them in the dinosaur age at my hs.</p>
<p>I came to like them for a reason I never would have contemplated: at our hs, students on the honor roll can leave the campus during study hall. We live near school and my S often came home. I realized that this was excellent baby-step preparation for managing his time in college, when days would be less structured, the structure would be up to him, and wise use of his free time would make a big difference in how he fared. For those hs study halls, sometimes he came home and rested, sometimes to do some homework, depending on his needs on a given day.</p>
<p>My S is at a "very selective" college, as are a goodly proportion of the Honors/AP kids from his hs.</p>
<p>I'm sort of glad that we don't have any worrying or decision making about this for my children. They know what they will be taking every year from the time they started at the high school, and the only excitement is findging what time of day or who will be in the class, because they don't get to choose that. Oh, and evidently, as seniors, they get <em>one</em> class choice -- AP Statistics or AP Calculus. The other big excitement is which fine arts elective they will get for the year, for intersession. Because of this, colleges can't look at the IL (study hall) period and wonder if the students took the most rigorous course load, because all students have taken the same course load. :-)</p>
<p>Study halls at our HS are a joke. Very little work gets done, and the study hall is 88 minutes long, every other day (block scheduling). Kids love them because they're having fun with their friends, hanging out in the cafeteria, supposedly getting homework done. My oldest was put in one for a month while missing gym with a broken foot and said it was fun, but really difficult to focus. She did enjoy the socializing. She would have preferred coming home, but our HS doesn't allow that. Many kids take them but then again, many of these kids go on to county college and find that difficult. A FEW top students take them to keep their GPA high, since an unweighted elective can actually hurt your rank. Instead of taking something they're interested in, they try to game the system. Surprisingly (to them), none of these kids have gotten into their top choices.</p>
<p>Even the coaches realize how little work gets done, so they require their players to go to "their" study hall AFTER school for an hour (in a classroom setting) before practices/games begin. </p>
<p>My youngest would probably like a study hall, since she plays on HS and club teams year round and takes a very heavy schedule (all honors classes), but the guidance counselor told us she doesn't consider that the "most challenging" curriculum when we have top kids taking 5-6 honors classes a year starting out as freshman and by senior year, taking 4-6 APs a year. Most kids don't think to ask their GC how their choices affect them, and in our school, you don't find out anything unless you specifically ask. We didn't know much about the college process until our oldest was a junior because we didn't know what to ask. </p>
<p>I think the decision to take a study hall depends on how your school runs them (if any work actually gets done) and how it's perceived by those in your guidance dept and finally how it's perceived by the colleges your child wants to attend. Not everyone wants to attend the same colleges.</p>
<p>But I've been through the college process twice now, and EVERY school we attended said they wanted kids that took the "most challenging" curriculum required - not the curriculum required to graduate (which in NJ is a joke). Yet our school keeps telling kids they only need 2 yrs of this and 2 yrs of that. They tell kids not to worry about SATIIs, that few schools require them and if taking them, to take them senior yr. School also had my son nuts because he was told he HAD to take SATs during senior yr, even though he was happy with those he took junior year....</p>
<p>Every school we visited said they wanted to see 3 years of LAB science, Calculus highly recommended if your school offered it and you were qualified to take it (meaning you had Pre-calc junior year), and 4 years of language. My son didn't heed that last bit of advice and chose to drop Spanish his senior year (to take 6 APs that interested him) and was told that hurt him at one of the schools that rejected him. He didn't care, though, since he preferred to take what interested him. In fact, my kids always had a difficult time choosing classes because there were SO MANY that they wanted to take and hated to eliminate any. I'm saddened to hear some kids don't have interesting choices.</p>
<p>When my son was visiting top colleges, some admissions people called study halls "missed opportunities." I know when colleges visited our HS, they sometimes walked around and checked out classes. My older daughter told me that a couple colleges visited their study hall (I doubt they were impressed). </p>
<p>If a school requires every student to take a study hall, that 's a different story. I'd make sure my kid's GC included that info in the GC rec, though. </p>
<p>I don't think that independent study would be viewed in the same way as a study hall, even if the students are "located" in the study hall. In our HS, these kids have quite a bit of work to do, their work is tracked on a weekly basis and a grade is given, just like in any other class. This independent study is noted on their report card, just like any other class. I think it may count as an honors class but I'm not sure.</p>
<p>wow... i didn't even know schools still have study hall-my school sure doesn't offer it :/ I would guess that, as it is junior year, she might want to take a full courseload...</p>
<p>MY kids went to private Catholic high schools...study hall???? what's that! hahaha doesn't exist! The best part was when they went to college they figured out they had much more flexible schedules to set-up their own study time.</p>
<p>Oh my god, I would not have survived high school without free periods. That unstructured time to get work done, meet with friends, or go out to lunch (senior year only) was critical to my success I'm sure. </p>
<p>Great for teaching time management skills. I purposely schedule my college courses so I have an hour or two between them, rather a bunch right in a row, because I love having time to unwind.</p>
<p>Some people think I'm crazy.</p>
<p>THANK GOD FOR FREE CLASSES!! i have one at the end of each day, we are on block schedule. one is for an athletic period where i get to do my practices while the underclassmen are in school so i can leave when school is done since my workout is already complete, but i play two sports so i usually have to stay after for the other one. IT is really helpful.
the other period is my studyhall where out school lets seniors drop the course if they have it in the morning or fourth block and lets them leave and do whatever. its amazing, i love it. I am a senior with 6 classes, granted they are all AP though...</p>
<p>My boys were always involved in athletics - so a study hall was critical for them. Older son took 6 AP classes and younger will have taken 5. Their workloads were full and no questions were asked of either of them of their senior year class selections. Both were able to do early dismissal at 1 also. #2 has AP Calc, AP Gov, AP Chem, CP English and CP spanish this year.</p>
<p>Deleted - duplicate!</p>