<p>My DD is a freshman in H.S. She signed up for cross country which requires practice daily for 2 hours. At night she is so tired by 9:30 pm and she has trouble keep up with her homework by Friday. She has heavy course load: 4 PAP, 2 AP, P.E. She has lots of interest and she wants to join Student Council, UIL, Academic Decathlon, and Drama Club, to name a few. Those activities have not even started yet. With Cross Country uses up so much of her time and energy, I don't know how she will survive and keep her grades up.
How does your Freshman adjust to H.S.? How late do they study every night? How did they manage time wisely to get everything done? I want to convince her to drop cross country, but I hate to do it, since she is trying so hard. As a parent, I feel like I should support her.</p>
<p>Transition to freshman year is hard, and she has a tough course load. My D is packing up her stuff now after an away game kept her out until 10:00. Some nights she is up until midnight, and she gets up between 5:30 and 6. The other things your D wants to join sound like too much - maybe one for when cross country is over. She should find out what the time commitment expected for each activity is. She also needs to learn to prioritize - what is due tomorrow, what can wait another night, etc. It is helpful if she can get the homework list ahead of time and work ahead on the weekends. Learning to use free time wisely to get work done is also very helpful.</p>
<p>My D’s grades are always a little lower until the fall sport season is done, then she picks them up.</p>
<p>Sports are important, other EC are also important, but I believe that grades are more important than anything else. Keep that in mind. Try to find a balance.
HS is about discovering and trying new things, but there is a limit to what one can do.
I would not say anything as long as my kid keeps the grades up - when / if they start coming down, then I would intervene.
BTW - what does PAP stand for?</p>
<p>That’s Pre-AP.</p>
<p>Like honors?</p>
<p>goodbetterbest,</p>
<p>I think your daughter maybe over-extending and it is OK for you as a parent to give her feedback. It is hard to do it all and do well in everything. It is important to prioritize; that is a skill that will help her from this point on since throughout life she will have to decide what things are more important to attend to first.</p>
<p>In our experience, colleges look for strong academic records first and foremost (especially the more selective ones), then some passion the person has shown commitment to. The person does not have to be all over the place; it is important to identify the one thing or few things that is/are important and then to do well with the activity (activities). </p>
<p>My son focused on community service and an online political newsletter he started for freshman year in H.S. He gradually built up school activities and became Class President the senior year. It did not happen overnight. He loved theatre, but was not given roles as a Freshman, since his school tended to give roles to more senior students (or students within a known network). That was a good thing because we found out that theatre took up many of his waking hours aside from studying his senior year spring semester when he finally got strong parts in school plays (and when he thankfully had more time to enjoy theatre without worrying about college applications).</p>
<p>The suggestion to get as much work done as possible in the weekends is a good one. Have her talk to teachers to see if they can provide assignments to prepare or complete work during the times when she is freer and less tired (which sounds like the w/e).</p>
<p>GL, High School years involve a lot of activities and responsibilities, leading up to college applications and admission. By the way, starting test prep in 10th grade is a good idea and that too involves time management. So the freshman year is as good any to start learning to manage time and making priorities.</p>
<p>She’s in two AP classes as a freshman? My older son was in one (Comp Sci), but that was highly unusual. In our school sophomores may take one AP and there are probably a handful who take two, but no more. Sports take up a lot of time, and I think my kids were probably well served by getting involved in other activities instead.</p>
<p>At our school, cross country would replace PE. Does she have to do both?</p>
<p>I would limit her ECs to one and ONLY let her add another if she can demonstrate that she can get all homework done, get good grades, and not have to stay up too late. </p>
<p>I am very much against doing any ECs/sports which hurt one’s GPA. I have seen too many students (and parents) who think that doing lot of EC’s or doing a big sport makes up for an average or “good” GPA when applying to college. </p>
<p>And…having a lesser GPA can prevent a student from getting scholarships…even with a high test score.</p>
<p>ILoveLA, I wish at our school sports would replace PE! Even when they miss PE class for a sporting event, they have to find time to make up the PE class or get a 0 for the day.</p>
<p>
Does that go for the other subjects, too? In my school system, if a student is absent for a school activity (including school sporting events), it is an excused absence. Your school does it in a different way?</p>
<p>Wow - having to make up PE is crazy!</p>
<p>OP - I think you’re wise to be keeping an eye on things; your D does have a lot on her plate. Not only does she have to get everything done, but I would put in a good word for getting everything done and STILL have some down time and get a good night’s sleep. Anything she can do to be as efficient as possible on the school work - I know there are books out there about cutting your study time down but having even better results.</p>
<p>I agree with everyone - keeping those grades up is important, and so is actually learning the material and enjoying the act of learning! And staying sane should be at the top of the list!</p>
<p>Limit her to one EC and her sport. Isn’t Cross Country a fall sport? It should be over by November. Then, she can add something else, if her grades permit.</p>
<p>Two activities that she loves, beyond her class work are enough. Most schools see a menu of twenty activities, and probably ignore them. Colleges are looking for passion, beyond the classroom. But of course, they are looking at GPA first, unless your child has a rare athletic gift.</p>
<p>It’s very early in the freshman year. I encourage you to step back. Your inclination to support her is right on. Let her find the correct balance between academics and ECs on her own.</p>
<p>What your daughter is experiencing is typical for freshmen in academic high schools. Most students figure it out by the time they finish the year, and they learn a great deal about themselves and how to manage their work and time in the process.</p>
<p>We call it ex-gymnast syndrome. And neither of the ods seems able to step back. The senior? Starts her day at 6 am with dance, goes to marching band at 7, has all 7 class periods full during the day, then goes to diving after school. It’d be managable, if not for all the extras - All State rehearsals on Monday, then tonight there’s “extra” band practice and Thursday is an away diving meet . . . . I made the kid stop working during diving season, but she’ll go back to her job in November. She is having a terrible time keeping up with her homework this year, but she is a senior.</p>
<p>And freshman d is following right along. I told her try whatever she wants and decide what she really likes because next year, if she wants to drive, she needs a job. So, there’s band, jazz band, percussion, cheerleading, diving, track and softball on the list. Oh, and piano lessons and fencing club. I’m taking fogcity’s approach, though, and stepping back. Eventually, if she gets tired enough, she’ll give up something.</p>
<p>Our daughter was in a similar boat her freshman year and has continued that schedule through high school. Heck I think it is fair to say the majority of CC kids have similar demands on their time. I think the big question is how do they cope. This is a typical day in the life of my daughter. Up at 5:00 a.m. Runs to gym (1.5 miles) does weights, runs home and is back by 6:15 am. Quick shower, hair, makeup, breakfast, out door by 7:30. Band officer meeting or private music lesson at 7:45 am. School starts at 8:45. School…6 APs plus one period of band. School ends at 4:20. Band practice 4:45 to either 6:30 or 7:30 depending on day. (And this is Texas…lol…marching on black parking lot surface during the hot part of the day…lol…very draining…) D comes home, eats dinner, grabs a shower and takes a 1.5 hour nap. She wakes up at 9:00-9:30 does school work until 1:00 am ish and rinses and repeats. She has done this all 4 years. It works for her…I don’t know how she does it. Sometimes, when the weather gets cooler (late October or November) the naps go away and she is in bed by Midnight or so. Of course on game days she goes straight until Midnight and she has a marathon sleeping session on Saturdays…lol.</p>
<p>D. was in year around club sport all thru HS (started when she was 5). Daily practices (with travel, shower…, social after practice - about 3.5 hours), weekend out-of-town meets, club meets, HS meets (in a middle of the week). She also was doing piano (still does it in college) and art. My rule was simple - homework had to be done before practice. However, she did not need to adjust in HS. This rule was established when she was 5 years old. We usually were back from practice around 10pm. Another rule - straight to bed after practice. Worked like a charm, graduated #1 in her HS class, did not need much adjustment in college either. Manages her time without me just fine. She piled up tons of EC’s at college, but had to give up her sport, simply not possible with very challenging academics. But still has Music minor and having ball with it. </p>
<p>Advice - develop rules and priorities and stick to them. Without sufficient amount of sleep, it will not work in that young age. My D. needed about 9-10 hours. Best wishes.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the suggestions and comments. They definitely will help my daughter balance with academic requirement and EC. She was 1st or 2nd place in her GT class in Junior High. Now she got 45 in Psychology AP and 32 in English Pre-AP because she didn’t get the homeworks done on time. I know it’s still early. But I don’t want the situation deteriorating further. I already told her some of your suggestions and I will show her the comments this weekend. She is trying different approaches to catch up at school. Thank you again and I love this CC site!</p>
<p>S is a sophomore this year and had similar problems last year. I realized that he really didn’t know how to organize and prioritize. Ninth grade can be hard because the teachers don’t really hold your hand and remind you when things are due. We made S use his planner every day and I checked it. Even if he didn’t have homework due, he had to write “no homework” for that class. He also checked Blackboard every night. I helped him make timelines for long term projects. S has intense ECs (at a performing arts magnet), but after the first six weeks he seemed to catch on and had very few missed assignments for the rest of the year. So far, this year (after 3 weeks) he seems to be on track without my help.</p>
<p>Second exactly what fogcity said. But at the same time, if this is the case,</p>
<p>Now she got 45 in Psychology AP and 32 in English Pre-AP because she didn’t get the homeworks done on time.</p>
<p>I think she should start pulling back on the ECs and make sure that she has enough time to at least finish her homework and keep her grades up. She can still join the activities later, when she feels fully comfortable with the high school workload, but it will be hard to mitigate a horrible grade once it’s in permanent record at the end of the semester.</p>