weekend work

[Roadrunner]

If you child is in high school, how many hours of work are they putting in over the weekend? Do you have a "rest day' when there are no academics done at all during the day? 

Just curious. 

[Jean in Newcastle]

Zero on weekends.

 

 

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[8filltheheart]

My kids do whatever they can to not do school work on the weekends. Sometimes labs or papers may be done on a weekend, but most of the time, no.

[OrganicJen]

Sometimes if my son has ongoing projects he works on them a bit on weekends too...like practicing a poem he has to memorize a few times.

[Julie of KY]

minimal on weekends. 

 

My oldest did almost nothing on weekends. My 16yo likes to work ahead on weekends so that he had more free time during the week - or to just finish a course earlier in the schoolyear. He'll end up "finishing" several credits before the schoolyear is over. At that point, I tell him he can spend his extra time doing something educational - reading, programming, etc., not just playing computer games. My third high schooler does not do weekend work except sometimes to review Spanish with me.

[teachermom2834]

My high schoolers have gotten into a routine of taking Friday afternoon/evening and Saturday completely off and then doing some work on Sunday afternoon. It seems to help them ease back into the school week to start thinking about it on Sunday. We also use Sunday to glance ahead at the week and make sure we know what we have coming up.

 

Over the years I have suggested working a bit on Saturday to completely free up Sunday but they seem to be fried by Saturday and just want the whole day off. My college kid reports that he does the same thing now that he is away. Saturday off and back at it for a few hours Sunday afternoon/evening.

 

My 9th grader did a physics lab today. That is the kind of thing he likes to get out of the way when he has a chunk of time and sometimes extra hands around if help is needed. I am going to work with the same kid on a 4H project tonight. The sorts of things that are not necessarily difficult but may be time consuming seem good for weekends for us.

[freesia]

Mine take one day off for sure. Sophomore and junior year ds had work on Sat day and Sunday evening. I'm pretty sure that was mostly from lack of focus during the week. It was good for him, actually. This year he is handling his work so he doesn't have weekend work.

 

Dd so far hasn't worked weekends for ninth grade.

 

We did add an alternate week Friday morning enrichment co-op this year so I am thinking there will be weekend work for some at some point. Our goal this year, though, is a broader social circle.

 

I think work on the weekend depends on the kid. Dd is very focused and conscientious. If she had weekend work it would mean her load was too high. Ds is more scattered and takes lots of breaks. That's fine, but I don't think he should have less work bc of it. He just has to know that his work style means more time to complete. Dd, on the other hand, needs to learn to take breaks if she is stressed and use weekends if she needs balance.

[TracyP]

None, for the most part. My dd originally planned to complete labs on weekends, but we both found it stressful. We gave up that plan after just one lab. Friday is a light day, so she has time to finish up schoolwork then if something comes up during the week. Sometimes she starts working ahead on Sunday night, but that happens too sporadically to count.

[regentrude]

Before we started DE, they did not do any school work on weekends. Once they started DE, they got to manage their time and sometimes preferred to do some work on weekends, especially things like writing papers or completing reading for Monday classes. I did not keep track of their time.

[mirabillis]

None for 9th grade.

 

Now for 10th, a little. We try to plan it to have none. Labs, papers, reading, studying for tests - that's usually what we need to schedule in when necessary.

[RootAnn]

My dd#2 (9th) doesn't have any. She also doesn't have any online classes this year.

 

My dd#1 (11th) frequently has to work on the weekends. Sometimes, it is because she takes 1/2 day off on Thursdays & Fridays. Sometimes, it is because she just didn't get enough done during the week. Sometimes, it is both. Usually, she's up late on Sunday night doing math homework that is due for her Monday morning class. (The math homework was assigned during Wednesday's class - so she had Thurs & Fri to do it, FWIW.)

Edited October 9, 2017 by RootAnn

[Woodland Mist Academy]

My teen almost always does homework/studying on the weekends. She usually has two or three days during the week that she is in class for several hours in the morning and has commitments in the afternoon and/or evening. That combo leaves little time for studying. If she will be gone all weekend, she sometimes needs to skip one of her outside commitments during the week to get her schoolwork done. 

 

She tries to have at least one weekend day when she doesn't need to do any work, but that depends on many factors, including stress levels and whims of the moment.

[Alice]

So far in 9th grade, none. Except studying a bit for Latin. He has an outside class and the quizzes are always on Mondays. 

[chiguirre]

Trinqueta puts in about 3 hours a day on weekends if she's home. She also has a couple of hours of rowing on Saturday and choir on Sunday. If she's sailing, she's away from Friday night to Sunday evening.

[Loesje22000]

1-2 hours max.

I try to keep the sunday as no academics, but it seems dd keeps the saturday as academics free.

[mschickie]

The goal is for everything to be done by Thursday night (except Bible) because Friday is co-op.  Dd is in 9th and the only thing she has scheduled for the weekend is a couple of pages of reading for Bible.  Some weeks she does that on Friday others over the weekend.  Occasionally she has gotten behind and has had to do one or two things like a math or science test on Saturday but that has been rare.  We will have to see how the rest of the year plays out.  I do a schedule for her on Sunday for the following week.  She knows that everything on there needs to be done by the following Sunday night unless I agreed to move it because of something unexpected (illness or something like that).  

[igbu]

2.5-3 hours Saturday mornings hopefully as “study†time or get ahead time but often it is catch up time as DS is very busy with ECs at certain times of the year...DS try’s to be done by noon...he’s says most of his friends are not waking up until 10-11 anyways. We use an 30 minutes Sunday night as time to prep for the coming week

[Donna]

Dd does not have any schoolwork assigned on the weekend. Before starting DE classes, dd did schoolwork on the weekends only if she had not been able to complete it during the week due to other commitments. Now she sometimes choses to begin her DE work for the coming week on the weekend to free up time during the week and we usually meet online with her Irish tutor on the weekend. Often weekends are too busy to fit in any schoolwork or we are in the midst of traveling.

[Roadrunner]

My teen almost always does homework/studying on the weekends. She usually has two or three days during the week that she is in class for several hours in the morning and has commitments in the afternoon and/or evening. That combo leaves little time for studying. If she will be gone all weekend, she sometimes needs to skip one of her outside commitments during the week to get her schoolwork done.

 

She tries to have at least one weekend day when she doesn't need to do any work, but that depends on many factors, including stress levels and whims of the moment.

This is our situation. I tried so hard to make weekends work free, but we still end up wrapping one thing or another and it usually takes longer than we want. Aops writing proofs for class come to mind. They are known on occasion to suck up entire Saturdays.

[dereksurfs]

Learning time management has been one of our biggest goals for high school including work/life balance. Let's face it, even adults struggle with this in their lives.

 

Initially, this was a big problem for our son who is a perfectionist and turns classes he likes into hobbies. When we discovered homework overtaking his nights and weekends his Freshman year, we helped him by creating a schedule to follow during the week. This allowed him to see that taking time off was doable if planned. We also set limits on late night work with weekends completely off. This really helped him focus on managing his time better including dealing with procrastination. Now in his junior year, this particular semester will most likely be his busiest semester of high school. Given that, we have allowed some leeway including occasional Saturday work as needed. Sundays are always off and week nights have time limits as well. Kids need their sleep.

[Garga]

In the book, "That Crumpled Paper Was Due Last Week", the author tells her readers (distracted non-homeschooled kids who often have adhd) that they need to expect to have 2 hours of homework each night, including 2 hours on either Sat or Sun.  I *think* she recommends this because scattered, distracted people might not be focusing as much as they should during the week?  Or because they need to deliberately prepare for the week ahead?  I don't remember now, it's been a long time since I read it.  

 

I was letting that guide us and being ok with my son having up to 2 hours of homework on Saturday, though he only had homework about every other weekend or so.  Since I'm in control of his schedule, I made sure it was easy stuff, like watching a Great Course lecture that he didn't get to during the week.

 

But I recently started a thread about my son's schedule and almost everyone agreed that we need to back off on his workload.  So, I'm changing things up to get it so he doesn't have work on the weekends at all. 

 

I think the only thing I'll keep for weekends is having him read his literature book on the weekends.  He doesn't enjoy reading for long stretches, so when he has a book to read, I let him spread his reading over 7 days a week instead of 5, so that there's less to read on each day.  Actually, I'll probably just ask him what he wants to do:  Read a longer stretch on M-F with weekends off, or read for less of a stretch M-Sun.

 

 

Edited October 9, 2017 by Garga

[skimomma]

My dd is in 9th grade and she usually has 3-4 hours of schoolwork on weekends.  She hates it.  I hate it.  She has two online classes that just take her more time than she can do during the week....both from time management and focus standpoints.  Lukeion AP Latin, especially, is very time-consuming for a younger student.  It is these classes that end up with leftover work over the weekend.  Dd is a very slow worker.  She always has been.  She only has 6 credits so it is not as though she is overloaded.  I expect the situation to improve next year with no Latin.  Ideally, I would like her to have little or no weekend schoolwork.  

[RootAnn]

Initially, this was a big problem for our son who is a perfectionist and turns classes he likes into hobbies. When we discovered homework overtaking his nights and weekends his Freshman year, we helped him by creating a schedule to follow during the week. This allowed him to see that taking time off was doable if planned. We also set limits on late night work with weekends completely off. This really helped him focus on managing his time better including dealing with procrastination. Now in his junior year, this particular semester will most likely be his busiest semester of high school. Given that, we have allowed some leeway including occasional Saturday work as needed. Sundays are always off and week nights have time limits as well. Kids need their sleep.

 

I'm so glad this helped your son. My dd#1 isn't a perfectionist, but she is a procrastinator. (DD#2 is the opposite of a procrastinator. She'll try to start assignments before they are even explained in order to get them done as far ahead of the deadline as possible.) For years, I've tried setting up a sample schedule for DD#1 to follow in order to get all her work done during school hours. She never, ever follows it. I know adults like this - for whom schedules simply don't work. (Read the planning threads-with-multiple-kids - it comes up a lot.)

 

So, this year, her schedule simply shows when she has online classes. It is set up just like a college schedule - where she has to fit her assignments for the week in between her live classes. So far, she's treating it like a disorganized college freshman does - and cramming her schoolwork in right before it is due while "enjoying" her time "off." 

 

I tell myself that someday she'll learn her lesson. :confused1:  Right?

 

Right?

:leaving:

[Woodland Mist Academy]

This is our situation. I tried so hard to make weekends work free, but we still end up wrapping one thing or another and it usually takes longer than we want. Aops writing proofs for class come to mind. They are known on occasion to suck up entire Saturdays.

 

Much depends on your reasons for wanting weekends to be work free. Do you feel that there is not enough free time during the week? Is there too much work overall? I had to start looking at our weeks as pies rather than calendar grids. Thinking of pies automatically makes things better.  ;)

 

Are all the areas of importance getting a good slice of the pie? Academics, sleep, hygiene, nutrition, relationships, exercise, extracurriculars, etc.  If academics get more than a fair share of the pie, something needs to change with the proportions. If everything looks to be in healthy balance, it might be that a mindset shift is needed. Granted this may not work if there are religious or other set weekend expectations at play, but it's sometimes helpful to remember that every day is valuable and full of possibilities for fun, leisure, and restoration -- not just the weekends.

 

We're still tweaking our schedule and routines for the year, but it is quite possible that for us the pie is sweeter if at least a bit of homework/studying is done every day of the week.

[Woodland Mist Academy]

 

So, this year, her schedule simply shows when she has online classes. It is set up just like a college schedule - where she has to fit her assignments for the week in between her live classes. So far, she's treating it like a disorganized college freshman does - and cramming her schoolwork in right before it is due while "enjoying" her time "off." 

 

I tell myself that someday she'll learn her lesson. :confused1:  Right?

 

Right?

:leaving:

 

I keep telling myself that one of the benefits of online classes is learning to manage a college type schedule while parents are readily available to provide scaffolding and support. That realization helps.  (A little. On some days....  ;))

Edited October 9, 2017 by Woodland Mist Academy

[Roadrunner]

Much depends on your reasons for wanting weekends to be work free. Do you feel that there is not enough free time during the week? Is there too much work overall? I had to start looking at our weeks as pies rather than calendar grids. Thinking of pies automatically makes things better. ;)

 

Are all the areas of importance getting a good slice of the pie? Academics, sleep, hygiene, nutrition, relationships, exercise, extracurriculars, etc. If academics get more than a fair share of the pie, something needs to change with the proportions. If everything looks to be in healthy balance, it might be that a mindset shift is needed. Granted this may not work if there are religious or other set weekend expectations at play, but it's sometimes helpful to remember that every day is valuable and full of possibilities for fun, leisure, and restoration -- not just the weekends.

 

We're still tweaking our schedule and routines for the year, but it is quite possible that for us the pie is sweeter if at least a bit of homework/studying is done every day of the week.

I have never thought about the "why." I guess I assumed weekends were meant to be work free, but it seems to me we have too much going on during the week that isn't academic to also finish all our academic work in the course of five days. Since kids love their activities, we have no incentive to drop anything. I think one day of total rest could be a good thing to keep the burnout away, so that's the reason I would like to keep at least Sundays or Saturdays work free. I was curious to see what schedules looked like for kids with full high school load.

[chiguirre]

I have never thought about the "why." I guess I assumed weekends were meant to be work free, but it seems to me we have too much going on during the week that isn't academic to also finish all our academic work in the course of five days. Since kids love their activities, we have no incentive to drop anything. I think one day of total rest could be a good thing to keep the burnout away, so that's the reason I would like to keep at least Sundays or Saturdays work free. I was curious to see what schedules looked like for kids with full high school load.

 

Dd would rather have 7 lighter days than 5 heavy days and a day off but ymmv.

[quark]

I think as we progressed more and more into the homeschooling lifestyle, the lines blurred between the days just as they did between school months/traditional holiday periods. So instead of following a traditional academic calendar, we schooled year round and we started some classes in the middle of February (for e.g.) when most other people would have started them in August. That said, we were a small family then and an even smaller family now and don't have multiple kids' schedules or extended family commitments to juggle.

 

When A started DE, this became more and more unavoidable and soon the days just sort of all merged together. I just made sure that we were aware when Monday was about to start every week so that I could ready myself for all the driving. So yes, my kid did work on weekends. In senior year it was sometimes the whole day on Sat and Sun. But we also took breaks mid day to watch old movies or stayed home to vegetate on weekdays when there were no classes and that might have meant full weekends on some weeks. It sorta worked out okay. Top priority was that sleep time was always protected and I sometimes forcibly pulled the kid out of the chair if the kid was found sitting there for over 4+ hours in a row (as sometimes happens when kids work on proofs).

 

When my kid first started working on challenging math, it took about 3 years for my kid to learn effective strategies such as not taking 12 hours to write just one problem (thinking time would have been way more than 12 and to be fair part of it was perfectionism). A managed to cut it down and work more efficiently at around 13yo. Now, A uses LaTeX almost exclusively (after butting heads with me about it for a few weeks) and although thinking time can still be long, writing time is considerably shorter. I can now say yes, kiddo, mom IS often right! (No, I did not say "I told you so" to A's face although I was tempted to). Hang in there...it takes a while to find their stride. For me, it meant A working on weekends but my kid was not miserable about it (in fact A is miserable when I insist weekends should be work-free). 

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

 

 

Outsourced classes often leave them with some weekend work.

[8filltheheart]

Dd would rather have 7 lighter days than 5 heavy days and a day off but ymmv.

 

I think is where personality comes in to play.  I have had 1 that liked that approach, but most of my kids prefer to get up at 5 and work until 8-9 at night if that is what it takes to have a completely free weekend.  My dd who was incredibly ill in high school spread her classes out longer over the summer rather than lose her weekends. 

 

No right or wrong answer.  I do think it is a good thing if kids can figure out how to manage their own time to fit everything they want in.

[happypamama]

The only thing that might actually be intended for the weekend is Spanish homework, if her classes end up being Friday and then the following Monday. But that’s very quick, and she loves it.

 

I don’t schedule ANY other work intentionally for weekends. If she’s hasn’t finished something, she will work on the weekend. She might also listen to her current literature assignment in audio form on the weekend while doing something else around the house.

[2_girls_mommy]

Due to extracurriculars during the week, mine often works on the weekend. Generally Saturdays are pretty busy with extra curriculars or work on them (like camping with scouts or volunteer teaching a dance class or working on a badge...) and piano practice usually happens. Sundays my girls go to Sunday school, church, and youth group anyway. So they only have a few hours at home. They will often use those hours in between to finish up math or Latin from the week. I have slow workers in general, so it has been this way for us since about 5th or 6th grade. But we do a lot of out of the house stuff in afternoons and evenings week round. So they generally have homework in the evenings before bed too. :) 

[SparklyUnicorn]

Kid is in 10th.  We school 4 days per week.  I do assign stuff on Friday due for Tuesday.  He usually spreads that out, but I really don't know when he is doing it exactly.  I don't give tons and tons, but I figure I have to give some because we don't school on Monday.  Well and in fact I mostly just assign stuff and go over the answers to whatever needs it and discuss whatever needs to be discussed.  So it's a lot about just checking up on him and touching base.  I give him a lot of flexibility in terms of when he completes assignments.  If he doesn't do much during the day then he will do it at night and I think he prefers that.  He gets the stuff done so I don't have complaints.

 

 

[dereksurfs]

I'm so glad this helped your son. My dd#1 isn't a perfectionist, but she is a procrastinator. (DD#2 is the opposite of a procrastinator. She'll try to start assignments before they are even explained in order to get them done as far ahead of the deadline as possible.) For years, I've tried setting up a sample schedule for DD#1 to follow in order to get all her work done during school hours. She never, ever follows it. I know adults like this - for whom schedules simply don't work. (Read the planning threads-with-multiple-kids - it comes up a lot.)

 

So, this year, her schedule simply shows when she has online classes. It is set up just like a college schedule - where she has to fit her assignments for the week in between her live classes. So far, she's treating it like a disorganized college freshman does - and cramming her schoolwork in right before it is due while "enjoying" her time "off." 

 

I tell myself that someday she'll learn her lesson. :confused1:  Right?

 

Right?

:leaving:

 

RootAnn,

 

Yes, our kiddos are so different aren't they? Our dds haven't reached High School yet and so far have no school work on weekends. Next year our middle dd who works very slowly will definitely be faced with similar challenges. The fact that they love having weekends off is a big motivator. Plus we like to plan a lot of family outdoor activities. We will work with them on time management skills. But as you've discovered for your dd#2, sometimes they have to struggle through it on the their own. Regardless, we'll maintain certain boundaries such as Sundays off and night time limits. We aren't looking for perfection. We just want to help them learn good habits while still at home.

 

Once in college, yes, kids will definitely procrastinate, play, struggle, juggle, cram, sometimes pull all nighters, etc... Most of us probably remember some of that while we were in school as well. I vaguely recall enjoying 'my time off' in between classes while young and naive. lol :tongue_smilie:  ;)

Edited October 10, 2017 by dereksurfs

[daijobu]

My 16 yo daughter always works through the weekends, though on a slightly more relaxed schedule.  Sunday mornings may include some reading of the Sunday New York Times as well as our local paper.  Maybe it's because she's doing 4 APs and has an active extracurricular life, but she's pretty much working like it's a regular weekday, broken up with extracurriculars and attending college info sessions.  

 

One other difference is on the weekends, she's wearing her PJs most of the day.  There are many occasions when she wears her PJs all day, then showers in the evening and changes into a fresh pair of PJs.  (Who needs clothes?)