How much homework is too much? High School

[georgiegirl]

Just wondering what you think is an appropriate amount of homework is for high school.

What about an honors English class (not AP) on the block schedule? (Block schedule is when the students only take 4 classes at a time. So a a year long class only take one semester. And a one semester class only takes one quarter.)

I’m trying to figure out if I’m off base in thinking DD’s English teacher is assigning an unreasonable amount of homework (then gaslights the students, claiming they should be able to complete the work in 45 minutes and if they can’t, they have poor time management skills). FWIW, I’m an adjunct professor at a local liberal arts college, and my expectations for outside work is significantly less than DD is assigned.

[ahisma]

DH is a HS English teacher, I'll ask him tonight. In general, he only tries to assign reading and occasional writing assignments - many of his students have jobs, provide childcare for working parents, etc.

For context - DS1 is a freshman, in honors English, and I don't think I've seen him have any homework of note for English at all. He had to read a novel over 250 pages (otherwise his choice) over the summer, but that didn't seem notable given the timeframe.

What is the block schedule?

[SnuggleBuggles]

That's hard to answer. I feel like most things were long term vs daily assignments. Like they have x days/weeks to write a paper or that period of time to read a book and do some related work. I don't recall nightly assignments. If there were long nights of homework, it probably was because there was procrastination involved.
I feel like there is always one of those teachers that thinks their work is the only thing the kids have to do and have unreasonable expectations.

[georgiegirl]

DH is a HS English teacher, I'll ask him tonight. In general, he only tries to assign reading and occasional writing assignments - many of his students have jobs, provide childcare for working parents, etc.

For context - DS1 is a freshman, in honors English, and I don't think I've seen him have any homework of note for English at all. He had to read a novel over 250 pages (otherwise his choice) over the summer, but that didn't seem notable given the timeframe.

What is the block schedule?

Thanks. Block schedule is when the kids only have 4 classes at a time, so each class is like a double. A year long class takes one semester. So Honors English is just one semester. So technically she should have double a typical amount of homework, but for many classes that just isn’t realistic, especially if the student ends up with all academic classes one semester, and there isn’t anything “easy” to balance it out (like PE, art, music, other random electives.).


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[georgiegirl]

That's hard to answer. I feel like most things were long term vs daily assignments. Like they have x days/weeks to write a paper or that period of time to read a book and do some related work. I don't recall nightly assignments. If there were long nights of homework, it probably was because there was procrastination involved.
I feel like there is always one of those teachers that thinks their work is the only thing the kids have to do and have unreasonable expectations.

Good to know. DD spends 2-3 hours on this class nightly, and similar amounts on the weekend. Last Wednesday, they had an essay due, a vocab quiz, a reading quiz, and they had to read two chapters and make annotations (new book…different from the topic of their essay). They have 4-6 quizzes a week (vocab, grammar, reading), plus lots of reading annotations, and essays. And then the teacher has the gall to tell them they should only be spending 45 minutes a night on homework, and if they aren’t, then they aren’t using their time well. She’s a very hard grader (the average grade on the first essay was a C, and the highest grade was a B), so of course all of these high achieving honors students are freaking out and spending tons of time on everything.


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[SnuggleBuggles]

Good to know. DD spends 2-3 hours on this class nightly, and similar amounts on the weekend. Last Wednesday, they had an essay due, a vocab quiz, a reading quiz, and they had to read two chapters and make annotations (new book…different from the topic of their essay). They have 4-6 quizzes a week (vocab, grammar, reading), plus lots of reading annotations, and essays. And then the teacher has the gall to tell them they should only be spending 45 minutes a night on homework, and if they aren’t, then they aren’t using their time well. She’s a very hard grader (the average grade on the first essay was a C, and the highest grade was a B), so of course all of these high achieving honors students are freaking out and spending tons of time on everything.


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That's ridiculous. And sounds like a bunch of unnecessary busy work. Does she know the weight of each type of quiz and assignment? If a vocab quiz isn't really a large % of her grade, she shouldn't stress about studying for it if is taking away from bigger things she should work on.

[ang79]

My 9th grade DD1 is taking Honors Language Arts right now on a block schedule. Class periods are 1.5 hours long and I think she gets some of the assigned work done during class. I know she has had small amounts of homework for various classes but it is very doable (not hours worth) and easily completed even when she gets home at 8pm from a tennis match. So far I’ve heard her talk about having to read Lord of the Flies and study vocabulary words but I can ask for more details when she gets home tonight. She also has a study hall period each day that can be used for homework if they are not busy with other activities.


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[Moneypenny]

OP, what you describe sounds very similar to Honors English at DD's HS (also using the block schedule). The teacher has taught this way for years (so school admin is fine with this), there are frequently tears in class, it's very stressful, etc. And, the teacher is annually voted the "best" teacher in the school by the kids. Many students say it's the hardest class they've ever had, but they also learned the most. Do you have the sense that it might be similar at your DD's school? I'd be upset with the gaslighting aspect - the teacher at DD's school makes no apologies for the amount of work she assigns and is very up front with the fact that the class will require a significant amount of time out of class.

This is neither here nor there, but DD chose not to take that class, which DH and I were fine with. I just don't see the need for all that stress, especially when she has other Honors and AP classes she's taking at the same time. She took regular English and makes good use of the school's writing center, which is an optional resource they have available. She feels like she's learned the same amount of stuff, but in a much lower-stress environment that way.

[bisous]

DS1's Honors English class was like this...in the first few weeks! It dropped down significantly after that. But I really think that this was this particular teacher's plan. DS1 and my DN both had her and it was the same for both of them. I would hate to make that gamble though without knowing ahead of time if this is what the teacher always intends! I will say that DS1 has had "Honors" English for every year since then (past two years have been IB) and only the Freshman year class was OOT.

I will say that around here high school AP classes are more difficult than the classes DS1 has taken at the local community college, which I realize might be different in purpose than the college that you teach at. At least comparing DS1's high school AP classes to the our local CC, the AP classes almost work to winnow kids into levels of achievement. They're looking to find "A" kids vs "B" kids and so on. The CC classes are looking to see that all kids achieve mastery and are actually much more supportive and reasonable.

[hbridge]

This is why block scheduling is so hard! Kids don't have time to delve into the subject, to take their time to do the work and understand the concept/ideas/text/ect. Everything is too compressed and rushed. DC attends a private school with traditional scheduling, however, I have tutored kids with block scheduling. It's too fast, especially for math, if the students gets confused, they are done for the entire class.

OP, I would speak with your students and see what they are thinking about the class. It may be the challenge they needs and will become less stressful as the year goes on or NOT. You can talk about executive functions skills and time management to see if there is a way to make the class less stressful with better planning. That is a lot of work due on a Wednesday. Do they have plenty of time or is the work generally assigned the night before? The teacher could be working on time management and prioritizing... ?? This is a freshman/sophomore class? If it continues to be an issue, definitely check in with the teacher. However, also remind your child that it will be over in January so they just need to buckle down and get it done for a few month...