Homework

Does she not get a study hall? My 7th grader has between 30 and 60 minutes a night. Less if she has study hall that day. My sophomore averages 60 minutes a day, less if she has study hall.

It does sound excessive. But maybe since it's a private school, they pile it on so parents feel they are getting their money's worth.

Having been through this before I will just offer one piece of advice. Leave her in Orchestra. The Orchestra class is probably somewhat of a breather for her, not to mention at that age she will automatically have something in common with peers (that is very important)

Starting in about 7th grade choices will have to be made. Kids cant do it all and it is important to let them navigate what interest they want to commit to and school work does need to be a priority.

Good luck,
DH

The rule of thumb here thru elementary school has been 10 minutes per grade. (4th grade=40 minutes)
You're describing work WAY over that.
Maybe more disturbing, there is research to show that amount of homework does NOT equal more learning. So I would have issue with the philosophy behind all that time for homework.
(Mine just started middle school and I've yet to get a feel for his homework load.)

Yes, it is excessive.

Studies show that kids that do homework actually have lower grades than kids that do not ever have homework.

If you sit them side by side and test them the kids that did not have homework will generally have higher grades. Study after study is showing this.

I don't know why this is true but there are too many researchers finding the same thing to quickly dismiss it.

I plan on telling the teachers they will not be doing this. You are the parent, say no. Tell the teachers they need to coordinate their work because they are each sending too much home and your child is a child.

Kids should have some free time. If we counted school as work then they've already put in their 8 hours by the time they get home.

How many adults have to work 8 hours per day then go home and have 2-3 or even 4 hours of work at home, each and every day.

There are labor laws that prohibit this if the child is actually bringing in a paycheck. But it's just school so the teachers think they're supposed to send this much stuff home every day.

Tell them no, they have to coordinate homework. If a kid is involved in anything extra, like church, like trying to have a part time job so they can save money for college, like spending time with their family, anything outside of school then they need free time in the evening.

When I was in the youth leadership at church every month in our area meetings every single youth leader would report that their youth stopped coming to church and stopped participating in activities because they were bombarded with homework, hours of homework should not interfere with a youth attending church.

We all know I hate homework and think it's wrong if a teacher can't teach during school hours. I truly think if they can't do it then there is something totally wrong going on in that classroom.

Last year our girls teacher flat out told me, I am in fear of losing my job if these kids don't show the percentage of improvement on their testing. I cannot teach anything in this classroom that is not on the standardized testing because if these kids don't do what is expected I will be fired.

That's just sad. Kids need freedoms to explore an idea, if all the light bulbs over their heads are going off and they're learning something, it's a peak moment. The teacher should be able to focus on that for as long as the students want. It shouldn't be where she has to say "Sorry kids, I know we're excited about electricity and how it works (or what ever topic ther=y're studying) but it's time to focus on math for the next 4 hours then we're going to sit quietly and read for the next 2. This stuff isn't important".

Updated

Yes, it is excessive.

Studies show that kids that do homework actually have lower grades than kids that do not ever have homework.

If you sit them side by side and test them the kids that did not have homework will generally have higher grades. Study after study is showing this.

I don't know why this is true but there are too many researchers finding the same thing to quickly dismiss it.

I plan on telling the teachers they will not be doing this. You are the parent, say no. Tell the teachers they need to coordinate their work because they are each sending too much home and your child is a child.

Kids should have some free time. If we counted school as work then they've already put in their 8 hours by the time they get home.

How many adults have to work 8 hours per day then go home and have 2-3 or even 4 hours of work at home, each and every day.

There are labor laws that prohibit this if the child is actually bringing in a paycheck. But it's just school so the teachers think they're supposed to send this much stuff home every day.

Tell them no, they have to coordinate homework. If a kid is involved in anything extra, like church, like trying to have a part time job so they can save money for college, like spending time with their family, anything outside of school then they need free time in the evening.

When I was in the youth leadership at church every month in our area meetings every single youth leader would report that their youth stopped coming to church and stopped participating in activities because they were bombarded with homework, hours of homework should not interfere with a youth attending church.

We all know I hate homework and think it's wrong if a teacher can't teach during school hours. I truly think if they can't do it then there is something totally wrong going on in that classroom.

Last year our girls teacher flat out told me, I am in fear of losing my job if these kids don't show the percentage of improvement on their testing. I cannot teach anything in this classroom that is not on the standardized testing because if these kids don't do what is expected I will be fired.

That's just sad. Kids need freedoms to explore an idea, if all the light bulbs over their heads are going off and they're learning something, it's a peak moment. The teacher should be able to focus on that for as long as the students want. It shouldn't be where she has to say "Sorry kids, I know we're excited about electricity and how it works (or what ever topic they're studying) but it's time to focus on math for the next 4 hours then we're going to sit quietly and read for the next 2. This stuff isn't important".

My kids hate homework with a passion that burns so they take every opportunity at school to get it done. I have a 7th grader and a freshman, they get it done in 30 minutes or less.

I think it just depends on the child but perhaps you need to talk to them and see what is going on. I am always amazed how little common sense parents use when it comes to homework. Like the biggest mistake I see is making kids do their homework the minute they get home. They need a break and making them do homework at that point is inefficient. It will take an hour to get a half an hour's worth of homework done. Why do that?

So since we are talking junior high, treat them like semi adults. What do you have to get done, how much time will it take, what do we have going on. If that happens to mean getting someone homework done before and after the extracurricular activities so what? The object is to get the homework done, not force a silly schedule to work.

That sounds like a lot of HW for MS. Before you start dropping her from orchestra which I think would not be a good move.... observe a few things and communicate with the teachers.....

Our schools, very good public schools, do have HW for all grade levels and the parents are informed early on about how much time a child should spend on HW. IF the child is spending more time that what was communicated to you, then you figure out why? The teachers want to know if your child is spending more than the time they say because it could mean that they as instructors are not communicating properly or they need learn how to engage each student better in the classroom.

Look at the time management skills... Most classes I know of do have a portion of time for students to start on HW and ask questions if needed. Is she using her time wisely at home and at school?

What subjects are taking the most time and focus to see if there is a need for supplemental instruction in that area?

Grades 6, 8, and 10 were pretty tough around here in order to help students establish good time management skills. 6th is a huge step because our middle school is grades 6-8. Our high school is grades 9-10, and senior high is grades 11-12 therefore grade 8 and grade 10 was a little harder in order to prepare them for the next transition which is vital to GPA, etc for college.

How many extracurriculars do you have? A music class in school is required here in 6th grade. Student can opt to stay in music after that. Same with foreign language.

Most of the high school work was assigned at the beginning of the 6 weeks as far as projects, etc. Some students choose to plan and knock it out ahead of time whereas others are up all night the day before it is due. There are no study halls around here, it is up to the student to plan how to get things done.

Many times with a new school transition, the students are hit pretty hard with HW and projects to get them used to what it will be like as they move on up the ladder.

I would monitor what your child is having the hardest time with, and go from there. Communicate with teachers.

Rule of thumb is 10 x their grade. So if in 6th grade= 60 minutes. We aren't grading practice work at our school so spend some time watching what is being done, have her keep good notes in a planner and then just ask the teacher. I tell families to stop their students at the hour mark, finished or not. Then write a note that it took your student this long.

I agree- that's too much. My daughter is in 8th grade at a private school, and has WAY too much as well. I have talked to the principal about it, and he said that they aim for 10 minutes x grade (as others have said). I think they assume that the ones complaining just have whiny kids who don't like to do homework. My daughter comes home and gets right to it, I never have to bother her. But most nights she has time for nothing else, and I hate that- for all of us, we get no family time.

So it is important to ask the school what the expectation is and why, and if you are getting more than the expectation (which you surely are) then point that out.

Honestly, things haven't really changed at our school, and it's a really hard thing to change- they have their standards and think they are doing the right thing.

And different studies show different results, so don't get too hung up on that- you can find a study that supports whatever you think. Generally, though, most studies tend to find some benefit in homework, but only up to a point. What that threshold is seems to be what changes. Good luck, we're right there with ya!

Our kids school says 10 minutes per grade, but it only goes to 5th. So my 1st grader should have 10, 3rd grader has 30, and 5th grader has 50. Sometimes it takes more because they don't get it easily...but rarely.

In 3rd grade my daughter struggled like there was no tomorrow. She has alawys been a straight A student and things come easily to her. Her teacher was the problem. Doesn't mean that is always the case though.

I would talk to the teachers who are giving too much in your eyes and see if your child is struggling or if they are giving too much and go from there.

I think 3 hours is excessive, so maybe you want to rethink this school.

Think about it -- would you want to go to work all day and then come home and do three hours of homework? If a school is any good, they don't need to drown their students in busywork.

Family time is as important or more important than school, and extracurricular activities are also very important.

Three hours is way too much for middle school. I totally agree with Gamma G's response.

There are some good comments already. Particularly regarding using time appropriately (versus dragging out the homework process at a grindingly slow rate because they hate it), and letting them breathe and have a snack before they jump right back into school work after they get home.

That said, I would also remind you to look at the school you have chosen for your child. In my experience with private school, that is one of the marks of achievement that they love to brag about: how many hours of homework they make their students do. They see it as a GOOD thing and as a higher educational status if their students have tons of homework.

I don't see it that way. There is a limit to how much they should reasonably be expected to do. They have my kids for 8 hours a day. They should be able to teach them what they need to (for the most part) during that time. Homework should mostly be for study time or major projects, and a little review over new material. Not busy work. Not something that requires ME to teach them a concept. And not something solely so that they can brag on their pamphlets about how many hours of homework the students at the school are averaging.
But that last one seems to be a hallmark of many private schools.

My daughter is in 7th grade this year and so far has had more homework than she has ever had. Ever. And, except that she LOVES working on elaborate science projects (that most kids would knock out in 45 minutes and call it good), she would be done, on average, in about 30 minutes a night, or less. But, she is the type that was assigned a science project last Friday (due this coming Friday) that she has spent an hour every night (at least) putting together something elaborate, because she is just that way. Most kids will show up with a few items and their dichotomous key. She, however, has a posterboard with 20 Marvel characters and pages of dichotomous key. Do you know how much searching online she did to find 20 Marvel characters? And she was going for the ones people have never heard of... not the obvious ones. OY.

If you have a more average student (like my son tends to be) then part of the time is likely that she just isn't interested in it and procrastinates through a good bit of the time. Getting her supplies together, only to find her pencil point is broken, so she has to get up and hunt down a pencil sharpener, then sharpen several pencils (just in case) before going to sit back down. Only to realize that she needs to go to the bathroom. Etc.

So.. try the strategies of giving her a defined break when she gets home before she gets started. Have her do a brief checklist (supplies, potty break done, etc.). And have her sit in a place where she won't be distracted or disturbed when she starts working. And see how long she is averaging then.
And really, pay attention to what you have signed her up for with the school. It used to drive my husband crazy, but that was the school's PLAN--for them to have X number of hours of homework, based upon their grade. By high school, by design, they were to expect an average of 2 1/2-3 hours of homework per night.

In 8th grade, our son had approximately 20 minutes homework per subject.
He had 6 subjects so that's a potential for 2 or so hours of homework.
Usually not every subject gave homework at the same time but sometimes it would happen.
If there was some special project going on it could take longer.
That's not even counting 30 min of clarinet practice 5 days per week.
Some days he got a lot of work done at school or on the bus ride home.
The school work comes first before tv or anything else.
If he's got a lot, then he can't go to taekwondo.

If this is just the way the school is, you might have to organize the other parents to ask along with you to get the homework reduced.

Yes it is excessive. An hour tops...which should include reading a book.

Remember..you picked this school and you are paying for it.

I would take a week to seriously observe what is being assigned and watch how quickly your child is getting it done in. Maybe she is dawdling and putting things off. If so then help her with time management and study skills.

If it is really 2-3 hours then go in and talk to the administrators. Talk kindly but boldly. Don't threaten but be resolved to do what is best for your daughter.

They sold you on the promise of one hour a night and now it is 2-3 and cutting into precious down time, family time and extra curriculars. Tell them you are not ok with this and expect it to go to one hour as they promised or you will take your money and child and go elsewhere.

Our district is easing up on homework. The district next to us assigns no daily homework...this mom can only hope!! (they do assign projects and reading deadlines) They are up to date with the latest statistics and studies that show absolutely NO correlation between the amount of homework and rising test scores. In actuality, the studies show test scores/performance go down after an hours worth of studying/homework.

There is so much hype nowadays of promoting extra this and extra that as if it is a good thing. Sometimes just sitting under a tree and talking about hopes and dreams, riding a bike with friends,digging in the dirt and discovering nature or going for a hike is more effective then busy bookwork after a LONG day of school.

Learning happens when a child discovers and is interested. The lightbulb usually TURNS OFF when a textbook is opened and an assignment just has to get checked off on the to do list.

Please don't pull your child out of orchestra. I know my kids soooo look forward to their band and orchestra classes each day. It gives them down time to be with friends enjoying the beauty of music together.More learning, collaborating and exploring happens in that music classroom than at a private lesson. They each take private lessons too....but they prefer the classroom music environment.

When our oldest son was in 5th grade the homework became excessive. It really became a burden on our family. I talked to the teacher about how much homework he was bringing home daily. I discussed when he was starting it and his study habits. I then told her we would do ONE HOUR and that was it..after that he closes the books, packs up and goes to bed to read. I told her that I would accept 0's or low grades if the work was not being accomplished.

We were not going to allow a 10 year old boy to be stressed out over hours of homework after an already long day of school. She understood and we had an agreement. She and I still are great friends and she was thankful I came to her and stood up for our son. That son is now 3 years past that year and is Honor Roll, has great study habits, teachers adore him and he is heading off to Japan as an exchange student in October.

I share that just as an example that it is not that we want our children to slack off. Or that doing less will inevitably make them turn into kids that disregard school, education or authority. But sometimes LESS IS MORE.

Good luck and best wishes!

B.:

Our school doesn't start until next week.

Last year? My then 5th grader had about 1 to 1.5 hours of homework. Our 6th graders are still elementary school here (much to my chagrin).

My then 7th grader had about 1.5 hours of homework per night. However, he would FIGHT about it and make it MUCH longer.

He has private violin lessons once per week as well. And is since he is in orchestra - his grade also counts how much time he spends practicing a week. In order to achieve an "A" - he had to practice 30 minutes per day in order to meet the teacher's criteria for an "A".

On the homework your daughter has - is she struggling with it or fighting it? Or does she "buckle down" and get it done? If that's the case - I would talk with the teachers and the school and say - while I appreciate what's being taught - 3 hours of homework per night is excessive.

If your daughter is struggling? Hire a tutor and get her help.

Our daughter was in an excellent Middle school taking all advanced core classes.

In the sixth grade they really worked to teach the students how to stay organized by using agendas and different folders for homework. They also had opportunities for the kids to at least start their homework at the end of some classes.

The "regular classes" included doing most of the homework in class. So the students that were super involved in sports or other activities could get their work done during the day.

The advanced classes would give out homework on Mondays. Some times things were due each day or on certain days or end of the week.

This way the students had some control over when to do their homework.

In the beginingof 6th grade the homework did tend to take a bit more time, but once the students got into the groove of it, the students figured out what worked best for them. Our daughter and her "lunch Bunch" many times worked on homework at lunch.. Many were in band or voice lessons.

IF your child is taking a long time as you state, it is time it should be mentioned to the teachers and find out what their expectations are exactly.

Remember now that your child is in middle school, your child should take the lead in bringing these things up themselves. Yes, you can be with them when they speak with the teachers, but this is the time your child needs to work on this first by approaching the teacher. Then you can follow up and let the teacher know you are aware.

This way you can see if your child is going to be able to keep up. I promise your child can do this. It is just an accelerated expectation..

I would say two hours is about average. I have two middle schoolers in a private school. I guess you could try talking to the teacher or principal, but when it comes down to it, you chose that school. I assume you decided on private school for a reason. I doubt the teachers are going to change the expectation for your child.

The best tool for you to help with this problem is to have a *detailed* awareness of her homework:

1) What exactly is she spending time on? Does she plow through math problems and there are just so many problems assigned that it takes X hours? Or does she have a research project and she is spending X hours looking up material on the internet? Or does she have assigned reading and it takes her approximately X minutes to read each page?

2) What are her assignments? To what extent is each assignment "mandatory"? Is some of it stuff like extra reading, which might be nice (or even necessary for some kids), but can actually be skipped?

Once you answer (1) and (2), you should have a good idea of the solution here. Some possible solutions: you need to give the teachers an earful, your daughter needs a tutor, your daughter needs better time management skills, etc etc.

ETA: I agree with posts that recommend telling her to "stop" after one hour (and let her teachers know that you plan to do that). The only trick with that is making sure she is responsible enough to "really work" for that hour. Doodling in the margins of her notebook for an hour...won't cut it.

That is way to much homework! This happened to my daughter when she was in sixth grade, there were many days she ate dinner, and did homework till bedtime without any free time. She was not goofing around either and she is a straight A student. Many of the parents complained to the teachers and the homework let up a bit around Christmas time. My son starts 6th grade next week and I am hoping the same teachers give a reasonable amount of homework. I am actually worried about it because my son loves his free time and is very active. It will be a fight to get him to do hours of homework every night! I just don't think there is any benefit to a ton of homework!
I suggest talking to your child's teacher right away, the more parents that approach the teachers the better the outcome.

I think that is excessive, especially since there are no study halls. My 7th grader has about an hour and a half a night. He goes to private school, is on a block schedule (classes are 90 min) and most teachers give them 20-30 min class time for homework. For his latin and spanish, they are shorter as they split the 90 min class, he doesn't get that.

Talk to the school. Teachers don't always coordinate. If there are homework rules and the teachers are not following them, the administration needs to know.

They should also have no problem with skipping out on orchestra. Just ask nicely and have your reasons lined out.