Paging All Parents of High School Students!

Does your high school age child have homework every single night? If so, how many hours worth of homework and studying for upcoming quizzes and tests do they typically have to do each night?

Replies

  • SVCat
    SVCat Posts: 1,483 Member
    My Sophomore aged son hardly has any homework. I have to constantly check his online account to ensure he's on top of it. He may average about 3-4 hours a week on assignments, studying, projects. It's actually very concerning.
  • stardancer7
    stardancer7 Posts: 276 Member
    A Gr 10 and a Gr 12--it probably averages out to a couple of hours a week. But we're semestered (four courses per semester, 75 minutes per day) and neither is doing math or a skill-based subject that would involve being assigned practice work. I am a high school teacher and I almost never assign homework--practice makes permanent, not perfect--and I believe they can show me they've met the course expectations within the class parameters. If they mismanage class time or take longer to grasp a concept, or miss class because of sports etc., then they will have to take the work home or see me during lunch.
  • Crucker73
    Crucker73 Posts: 53 Member
    My daughter is in 10th grade and she has homework every night but not in all of her classes. She will always have some sort of homework in AP World History, Chemistry and Alegbra 2. If she doesn't procrastinate and puts her phone away she has about 2 hours per night.
  • tweetybaby69
    tweetybaby69 Posts: 258 Member
    My daughter is a junior and has homework every night, she has 3 AP classes and the rest are honors and she has about 2-3 hours a night. But not all the subjects at once.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    My son is a Jr. - a couple hours a night average. They have 6 classes and only go to 3 each day. This semester he has PE, ceramics, and English on one day so the nights he does homework for those classes are lighter since it's only for one class. The other nights he has a lot more homework.
  • ellenxmariex3
    ellenxmariex3 Posts: 165 Member
    Does your high school age child have homework every single night? If so, how many hours worth of homework and studying for upcoming quizzes and tests do they typically have to do each night?

    I know I'm not a parent but I just graduated in 2011 so I figure my imput is still somewhat valid.

    Freshman-Sophomore Year - all honors classes - 2 hours per night
    Junior Year - mostly honors, one AP - 2.5 hours per night
    Senior Year - all APs - 3-4 hours per night

    I did go to a Catholic school known for giving a lot of homework though. I think I do less homework in college than I did in high school!
  • RGv2
    RGv2 Posts: 5,789 Member
    It depends on the schedule. I had a 4 period day, all AP classes, and barely had homework. Once I got to 11-12th grade I barely had anything because I was out of classes to take, so I had 75 minutes worth of study hall.

    It just depends.
  • magj0y
    magj0y Posts: 1,911 Member
    My oldest didn't have a whole lot, but she wasn't in AP. She's in college now and struggles.

    Extra homework is GOOD, they will do better in college.

    My youngest goes to a tech HS and is in mostly spec. ed courses, so not much homework, but I give her makeshift work to keep her skills up.
  • Thank you very much for your input on this everyone! :)
  • Our oldest is a freshman. She doesn't have homework every night, the 4th grader gets more homework and projects. She's a straight A student...... ironically- 4th grader isn't.
  • kristarablue2
    kristarablue2 Posts: 386 Member
    It will depend on the school district and how rigorous the academics are, but absolutely high school students should have at least two - three hours of home work a night if not more. They have at least 6 classes and it is not unreasonable to expect a min. of 20 - 30 min per class.
  • A review by researchers at Duke University of more than 60 research studies on homework between 1987 and 2003 showed that, within limits, there is a positive interaction between the amount of homework which is done and student achievement. The research synthesis also indicated that too much homework could be counterproductive. The research supports the '10-minute rule',the widely accepted practice of assigning 10 minutes of homework per day per grade-level. For example, under this system, 1st graders would receive 10 minutes of homework per night, while 5th graders would get 50 minutes' worth, 9th graders 90 minutes of homework, etc.[3]
    Harris Cooper,[4] a professor of psychology and chairman of the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke, said the research synthesis that he led showed the positive correlation was much stronger for secondary students --- those in grades seven through 12 --- than those in elementary school.[3]
    Many schools exceed these recommendations or do not considered assigned reading in the time limit worthwhile.[5]
    In the United Kingdom, recommendations on homework quantities were outlined by the then Department for Education in 1998. These ranged from 10 minutes daily reading for 5-year-olds, to up to 2.5 hours per day for the pupils in Year 11 aged 15 or 16.[6]



    my son is in 8th grade and has more homework than his sister in 10th grade. I am an elementary teacher and I wonder about that ratio...
  • lamoursuffit
    lamoursuffit Posts: 267 Member
    When I was in school I very rarely had homework and never studied. Still don't study. If I ever had to I'd be **** out of luck because I don't know how :L
  • kellyyjean
    kellyyjean Posts: 499 Member
    My daughter is in 10th grade and she has homework every night but not in all of her classes. She will always have some sort of homework in AP World History, Chemistry and Alegbra 2. If she doesn't procrastinate and puts her phone away she has about 2 hours per night.

    I would say just about the same as you including the phone. My son has homework always in AP history, Chemistry and Pre Calc. They have block scheduling. So they have 4 classes one day and then 3 different classes the next. Last year as a sophomore it was horrible be cause he procrastinated. This year is much better. But he has at least 1 1/2 - 2 hours.
  • perdie7
    perdie7 Posts: 266 Member
    It will depend on the school district and how rigorous the academics are, but absolutely high school students should have at least two - three hours of home work a night if not more. They have at least 6 classes and it is not unreasonable to expect a min. of 20 - 30 min per class.

    I home schooled my 5 kids until the last two years, my youngest two went to 2-3 years of public high school, and came home with almost no homework.

    I am wondering why people feel they must have 2-3 hours of home work? Why can't they get it done in the 7 hours they are at school? Also, they are at school for 7 hours, with only a 20 min lunch break, plus two - three hours of homework that gives them a 9-10 hour day....how long do you work each day? the average work day is 8 hours, with at least 30 min lunch and two 15 min breaks. So that is asking more of the kids than ourselves.
  • Sharon_C
    Sharon_C Posts: 2,132 Member
    I have a junior in HS and I freshman in college. The high schooler has homework every night--about an hour or so. Sometimes more, sometimes less. The freshman in college (I know you didn't ask about college but I thought I'd throw it out there to compare) has several hours every day--sometimes over 5 hours.
  • souperficial
    souperficial Posts: 122 Member
    I'm not a parent, but I was recently in high school. My school had a block system, so we had four 84-minute classes a semester. It really depended on the classes. For my math and science classes, I had about 15-45 minutes of homework for each every night. For english, it was usually a reading (but I read really quickly, so you can't really time that) or a vocab assignment. For arts/humanities classes, it was rare to get homework. So usually an hour per night. Maybe two. I was in mostly honors and AP classes, though, and I'm pretty sure the standard/essentials classes had a little more homework so the work was reinforced more.
  • spiregrain
    spiregrain Posts: 254 Member
    It will depend on the school district and how rigorous the academics are, but absolutely high school students should have at least two - three hours of home work a night if not more. They have at least 6 classes and it is not unreasonable to expect a min. of 20 - 30 min per class.

    I home schooled my 5 kids until the last two years, my youngest two went to 2-3 years of public high school, and came home with almost no homework.

    I am wondering why people feel they must have 2-3 hours of home work? Why can't they get it done in the 7 hours they are at school? Also, they are at school for 7 hours, with only a 20 min lunch break, plus two - three hours of homework that gives them a 9-10 hour day....how long do you work each day? the average work day is 8 hours, with at least 30 min lunch and two 15 min breaks. So that is asking more of the kids than ourselves.

    ^This!

    I went to what some might call a "progressive high school" and had no homework at all. Before that I went to public school and I never did my homework, it seemed ridiculous to spend my childhood that way. I graduated college with a BA and an MA and an A- average in both, plus I was the English Club president, the staff on 3 literary journals, and a staff on two political student groups. And I worked. HS homework is not the silver bullet! I am a SAHM now but I worked in education and writing/editing and I am hoping to go to law school in a few years.
  • carrietehbear
    carrietehbear Posts: 384 Member
    I graduated high school in '04. We were on a semester block schedule. (4 classes per semester unless you had a split block class like band or chorus that lasted all year) Classes were 90 minutes long. I took mostly honors classes and had homework just about every night. Homework would take me 1-2 hours to complete (longer if I had math that semester). Most of my homework wasn't busywork. (Mostly reading, lab reports, research for essays) I felt like I was prepared very well for college. I have more of an issue with younger students with hours of homework than high school students.
  • my daughter has 7 classes this semester. She also has a study period, so she does a good portion of homework in that class. She averages about 2 hours a night.
  • My 15 year old daughter has all AP courses (5 A's 1 B first 6 weeks) plus shes in the band. 2 to 3 hours of after school band plus 3-4 hours of HW a night. Encourage and help them study!
  • Off10h8ed
    Off10h8ed Posts: 282 Member
    I have a Senior and a Freshman and my sixth grader brings home more homework than they do and she don't bring much home.
    The only time I have ever seen my highschoolers bring home much homework is when they are working on term papers.

    It is good tho because I agree... they are in school 8 hours a day. Why should they have to put in more work in one day that what we do. They are still kids and need a life outside school.