schoolwork

How is your DD able to balance the time spent traveling and on the pitch, with 6/7 hours a week of homework?

NO ECNL here but I will say between practices, school athletics and anything extra. My DD has learned to do homework via cab light driving down the road. It definitely takes its toll.

Thanks for the honesty. I can see how she is learning discipline, concentration, and time- management, but we are struggling at keeping academics as the top priority.

Are you saying 6-7 hours of homework per week, or 6-7 hours per night?

If it's 6-7 hours per week, something is screwed up in your scheduling or your kid's time management if they can't find 1 hour per day to fit in their homework.

If your kid has 6-7 hours of homework per night, then I seriously question if your kid is overburdened with too many honors/AP/IB classes, and would recommend that you back them down to on-level in 1 or 2 of those classes so that they can have a life and not be dependent on Xanax by the time they are 18.

6/7 per week. The struggle really presents itself on the travel / tournament weekends where we are rarely getting school work in at all.

Are you committed to Soccer? Do you know soccer girls and parents don't care about schoolwork?

One soccer parent proudly announced her dd just committed to Mokalowa college and got a full ride. LOL.

Time management can take a long time to learn.

My DD spends a fair amount of weekend time studying.  She will have most all homework / studying done by Sunday night for everything she knows comes due the following week.

In-town tournaments allow for ample study time - though her weekend sometimes will be 100% studying and soccer (and little-to-no tv / electronics time).  No game Friday night?  Studying.  Games don't last all day - she will study between games / evenings / etc.  It's a trade-off she know she has to manage.

Travel tournaments can be more difficult but are relatively infrequent.  She can usually find time to squeeze in studying during quiet time, or in the evenings when other girls are running the halls.

I know our clubs 01 team was in Florida for a tourney and between games most of them were working on homework.
Its not an ideal situation but more power to the players who manage it successfully, I know I couldn't of done it.

US Soccer doesn't care about schoolwork or the STAAR test either, apparently.

Cleansheets wrote:US Soccer doesn't care about schoolwork or the STAAR test either, apparently.

You don't need to go to college (or even finish high school) to play on the US WNT - so, ultimately, what is even the point of an education?

Honestly, GDA should require kids to be home schooled anyway.

Who needs school. Just wait for the development to kick in.....usually happens around 25.

I would not take the advice of anyone telling you to take less AP classes or back off so your kid doesn’t need uppers to get through life. After all, when soccer ends it will be the education that persists with them. Those burdening AP classes will help get them into top colleges. These long days and study habits will help get them prepared for life. Let them tell you when enough is enough. The coach tells you to back off on school so they can do more soccer, that would be a problem.
Grades and soccer might get them into a school that allows them a great education and a shot at something really important. Beyond soccer. That is what the DA should be.

I don't think they are quite there yet.

They should be

You would think.

Precisely

This is helpful. Each team is different, but seems the teams we have been involved with, top academic performance is not a priority - more just getting the schoolwork done. I'm not being critical, just trying to find our way through.

KeeperCommander wrote:I would not take the advice of anyone telling you to take less AP classes or back off so your kid doesn’t need uppers to get through life.  After all, when soccer ends it will be the education that persists with them.  Those burdening AP classes will help get them into top colleges.  These long days and study habits will help get them prepared for life.  Let them tell you when enough is enough.  The coach tells you to back off on school so they can do more soccer, that would be a problem.  
Grades and soccer might get them into a school that allows them a great education and a shot at something really important.  Beyond soccer.  That is what the DA should be.

Funny you say this because the 1st point the counselor made in the freshman orientation was to make sure to sit down with your child and review their class request card for next year if they are taking all AP and PAP think long and hard about that because the number one mistake they see is kids over committing themselves with school load beyond what they are equipped to handle.  In addition they had a few recommendations such as go talk to each of their current subject teachers and get their input on their next class etc.  Ultimately they said they strongly discourage students from taking advance level in every subject especially their freshman year, as they put it, simply because they do need to sleep too.

FriscoSoccer2004 wrote:

KeeperCommander wrote:I would not take the advice of anyone telling you to take less AP classes or back off so your kid doesn’t need uppers to get through life.  After all, when soccer ends it will be the education that persists with them.  Those burdening AP classes will help get them into top colleges.  These long days and study habits will help get them prepared for life.  Let them tell you when enough is enough.  The coach tells you to back off on school so they can do more soccer, that would be a problem.  
Grades and soccer might get them into a school that allows them a great education and a shot at something really important.  Beyond soccer.  That is what the DA should be.

Funny you say this because the 1st point the counselor made in the freshman orientation was to make sure to sit down with your child and review their class request card for next year if they are taking all AP and PAP think long and hard about that because the number one mistake they see is kids over committing themselves with school load beyond what they are equipped to handle.  In addition they had a few recommendations such as go talk to each of their current subject teachers and get their input on their next class etc.  Ultimately they said they strongly discourage students from taking advance level in every subject especially their freshman year, as they put it, simply because they do need to sleep too.

so our counselor made the same point - kids doing 3 or 4 activities and taking all AP classes, so you should re-think taking all AP classes

ummm, what happened to re-thinking doing 3 or 4 activities?

FriscoSoccer2004 wrote:

KeeperCommander wrote:I would not take the advice of anyone telling you to take less AP classes or back off so your kid doesn’t need uppers to get through life.  After all, when soccer ends it will be the education that persists with them.  Those burdening AP classes will help get them into top colleges.  These long days and study habits will help get them prepared for life.  Let them tell you when enough is enough.  The coach tells you to back off on school so they can do more soccer, that would be a problem.  
Grades and soccer might get them into a school that allows them a great education and a shot at something really important.  Beyond soccer.  That is what the DA should be.

Funny you say this because the 1st point the counselor made in the freshman orientation was to make sure to sit down with your child and review their class request card for next year if they are taking all AP and PAP think long and hard about that because the number one mistake they see is kids over committing themselves with school load beyond what they are equipped to handle.  In addition they had a few recommendations such as go talk to each of their current subject teachers and get their input on their next class etc.  Ultimately they said they strongly discourage students from taking advance level in every subject especially their freshman year, as they put it, simply because they do need to sleep too.

And they should leave time for 20 hours of soccer per week, if they want to develop properly.

lulu22 wrote:6/7 per week.  The struggle really presents itself on the travel / tournament weekends where we are rarely getting school work in at all.  

Well, sorry, without knowing more details, I can't help you. Finding 1 hour per day for homework should be no problem for a kid in any select sport. My kids have all averaged 2-4 hours of homework per night, and found no problem keeping up with select sports, middle school sports, high school sports, marching band, etc. It's rare that they are up past 10pm doing homework. Depending on the time of their practice, they usually have time either between the end of school and the start of their practice, or at least a couple of hours after getting home from practice. Sometimes, they are doing homework in the car going to and from practice, but honestly, even that is more than exception than the norm. It requires some self-discipline and not spending hours in front of the TV or buried in their phone, but I would not say it was difficult for any of my kids.

DeltaTauChi wrote:

lulu22 wrote:6/7 per week.  The struggle really presents itself on the travel / tournament weekends where we are rarely getting school work in at all.  

Well, sorry, without knowing more details, I can't help you.  Finding 1 hour per day for homework should be no problem for a kid in any select sport.  My kids have all averaged 2-4 hours of homework per night, and found no problem keeping up with select sports, middle school sports, high school sports, marching band, etc.  It's rare that they are up past 10pm doing homework.  Depending on the time of their practice, they usually have time either between the end of school and the start of their practice, or at least a couple of hours after getting home from practice.  Sometimes, they are doing homework in the car going to and from practice, but honestly, even that is more than exception than the norm.  It requires some self-discipline and not spending hours in front of the TV or buried in their phone, but I would not say it was difficult for any of my kids.

We are just in middle school and am looking to the years ahead where I imagine the academic load becomes heavier. Also, maybe it is a matter of my expectations, as I expect Dd to do more than just "keep up" academically. I think my confusion and struggle lies the attitude of over-achievement on the pitch, and just "keep up" in school

SickofStupidity wrote:

FriscoSoccer2004 wrote:

KeeperCommander wrote:I would not take the advice of anyone telling you to take less AP classes or back off so your kid doesn’t need uppers to get through life.  After all, when soccer ends it will be the education that persists with them.  Those burdening AP classes will help get them into top colleges.  These long days and study habits will help get them prepared for life.  Let them tell you when enough is enough.  The coach tells you to back off on school so they can do more soccer, that would be a problem.  
Grades and soccer might get them into a school that allows them a great education and a shot at something really important.  Beyond soccer.  That is what the DA should be.

Funny you say this because the 1st point the counselor made in the freshman orientation was to make sure to sit down with your child and review their class request card for next year if they are taking all AP and PAP think long and hard about that because the number one mistake they see is kids over committing themselves with school load beyond what they are equipped to handle.  In addition they had a few recommendations such as go talk to each of their current subject teachers and get their input on their next class etc.  Ultimately they said they strongly discourage students from taking advance level in every subject especially their freshman year, as they put it, simply because they do need to sleep too.

so our counselor made the same point - kids doing 3 or 4 activities and taking all AP classes, so you should re-think taking all AP classes

ummm, what happened to re-thinking doing 3 or 4 activities?

Everybody's got to figure out what the right balance is for their kids, but if your middle school or high school kid is averaging more than 3-4 hours of homework per night, you'll have a tough time convincing me that's healthy for your kid, and that the extra honors or AP class is doing them more good than harm.

By the same token, if your teenager struggles to get 8-9 hours of sleep per night due to the combination of activities and homework keeping them up past 10-11 pm on a regular basis, you'll also have a tough time convincing me that's healthy for your kid and you shouldn't be looking at cutting back on one, the other, or both.

FriscoSoccer2004 wrote:

KeeperCommander wrote:I would not take the advice of anyone telling you to take less AP classes or back off so your kid doesn’t need uppers to get through life.  After all, when soccer ends it will be the education that persists with them.  Those burdening AP classes will help get them into top colleges.  These long days and study habits will help get them prepared for life.  Let them tell you when enough is enough.  The coach tells you to back off on school so they can do more soccer, that would be a problem.  
Grades and soccer might get them into a school that allows them a great education and a shot at something really important.  Beyond soccer.  That is what the DA should be.

Funny you say this because the 1st point the counselor made in the freshman orientation was to make sure to sit down with your child and review their class request card for next year if they are taking all AP and PAP think long and hard about that because the number one mistake they see is kids over committing themselves with school load beyond what they are equipped to handle.  In addition they had a few recommendations such as go talk to each of their current subject teachers and get their input on their next class etc.  Ultimately they said they strongly discourage students from taking advance level in every subject especially their freshman year, as they put it, simply because they do need to sleep too.

I am going to go out on a limb here and say I half heartedly agree with you. I say that but now I will say this. We are on a soccer forum where everyone here expects their kid to get a scholarship so they practice every chance they get. But we don’t apply those same principles to academics? That’s stupid.
That being said my DD wants to go to Stanford. AP classes it is any chance she can.

KeeperCommander wrote:

FriscoSoccer2004 wrote:

KeeperCommander wrote:I would not take the advice of anyone telling you to take less AP classes or back off so your kid doesn’t need uppers to get through life.  After all, when soccer ends it will be the education that persists with them.  Those burdening AP classes will help get them into top colleges.  These long days and study habits will help get them prepared for life.  Let them tell you when enough is enough.  The coach tells you to back off on school so they can do more soccer, that would be a problem.  
Grades and soccer might get them into a school that allows them a great education and a shot at something really important.  Beyond soccer.  That is what the DA should be.

Funny you say this because the 1st point the counselor made in the freshman orientation was to make sure to sit down with your child and review their class request card for next year if they are taking all AP and PAP think long and hard about that because the number one mistake they see is kids over committing themselves with school load beyond what they are equipped to handle.  In addition they had a few recommendations such as go talk to each of their current subject teachers and get their input on their next class etc.  Ultimately they said they strongly discourage students from taking advance level in every subject especially their freshman year, as they put it, simply because they do need to sleep too.

I am going to go out on a limb here and say I half heartedly agree with you. I say that but now I will say this. We are on a soccer forum where everyone here expects their kid to get a scholarship so they practice every chance they get. But we don’t apply those same principles to academics? That’s stupid.
That being said my DD wants to go to Stanford. AP classes it is any chance she can.

100% behind you KC that the emphasis should always be on academics over soccer.  However, I will caution you or any parent about academics the same way I would caution you or any parent about soccer.  Just like some kids are cut out for DA or ECNL, while some kids aren't, some kids are cut out for Stanford or Princeton, while some kids aren't.  The key for any parent is to balance enthusiasm and encouragement with a healthy dose of objectivity.  To be hell-bent on a specific destination at the expense of the journey and your kid's health and happiness, it bad thing no matter what path you're on.