Paging All Parents of High School Students!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.