Yr9 snowed under with homework

[roisin]

At the moment he's doing a couple of hours at least most evenings and 4-5 hours each weekend day as well.

He's very motivated and isn't complaining, but I feel quite sorry for him.

He's out of the house 7.45 - 4.15 pm as it is, later on days when he has extra-curric after school.

I know at some schools 2 hrs per night is expected, but it hasn't been her up til now.

That sounds hard work - DS (year 9) actually has very little homework at the moment but I think that it's just a temporary situation while the teachers concentrate on year 11 mocks.

my DD (Y9) was swamped earlier this year, but doing mocks at the moment. I think 2-3 hours a night plus projects. She is in G+T for several subjects, so gets "extension work" on top of other homework. We certainly have seen a ramp up in the volumes of homework this year.

That seems a lot roisin, but knowing your ds he's probably being a lot more diligent than he needs to be.

I can't remember exactly how much homework ds had in year 9 (I'm fairly sure it wasn't as much as you are describing though, which is closer to what he's getting now in yr 12), but I do remember it was a struggle to fit everything else he wanted to do in. Then he found the workload in year 10/11 was a lot less! However when dd was in year 9 at the same school and mostly with the same teachers, she had hardly any homework (and what she did have she tended not to do, but that's another story).

Does he have a timetable for homework? I think it is normal to have 3 subjects a night and each subject being 40 minutes. Can you ask him to record how long he spends on each subject for a week or 2. If there is one subject where he is consistently doing a lot it is worth contacting the teacher with how much time is being spent. It may be one or two over enthusiastic teachers who don't realise the impact. Also, if he is spending too long on one piece it is ok to stop. Write him a note explaining he has spent 45 mons on it and you told him to stop as he had other subjects to do.

Roisin, I wish my DS was motivated like yours...

I'm sure it's just temporary actually. They don't actually have a homework timetable - and I approve of this. The non-core subjects - like music, geography, history etc. tend to set one homework per half term; but it is a longer, more meaningful, project-style piece.

ds1 does enjoy this sort of work and finds it quite satisfying, which is why he ends up spending so much time on it.

Last year he got a bit stressed with history essays (which he completed to an extremely high standard). We did speak to the teacher and he's agreed that in future he will set ds1 a special (less broad) title and also a word limit, so that he can focus on a particular area to a high standard, without writing a thesis on the subject! He's expecting an essay title on Friday, so we'll see what emerges.

DD has loads of Year 9 homework too, and is also very diligent, it does seem to take much of her time. Same as you describe length wise. So when she goes to Guides tonight, she has to get up at 6 to do HW before school tomorrow.

Part of our problem is she does sporty things after school ( which we want her to continue with ) and when there is a match or training she can easily not be home until 6.30pm so that means starting very late.

Why does he have so much homework?

I have 3 DCs (DS2 now in Yr 10)who all attended/attend a state grammar school and have never had that much homework until in the Sixth form.

Seems a bit excessive to me!!

My son gets almost no homework, this worries me slightly. While hes certainly no where near an A student I think there should at least be some homework regardless of his level. But his friends do virtually none either. Hes not just ignoring it either as hes never pulled up for not completing any. Hes Year 9 and I would be amazed if all the homework hes done since year 7 added up to 20 hours, if that!!! I know it sound ridiculous! Thing is the homework he does get is frighteningly simple, colour this in, stick this picture on this page, bring a magazine. Its starting to seem baffling, are the school telling me something by telling me nothing?

Thanks all - it's interesting the differences between schools and between students. We've just been away for a night, so I imposed a 24-hr no homework, no talk of homework rule!

But he's done 3 (quick-ish) ones this evening.
He's got 2 more not too long ones, plus a major history essay (2 weeks for that).

Before the end of term he's expecting another big citizenship pieces, a majro English homework and a big science one (probably over Christmas); plus various quickies!