Does Your Middle School Kid Spends ALL Day Doing Homework?

Move the computer into the family room.
Make her do her homework at the kitchen table.
If she has homework to do on the computer (and it's in the family room or kitchen) you'll know exactly what she's up to.
If they are assigning lots of homework, you need to know that. If they aren't covering enough in class and the kids have to make up for it at home, you need to know that, too.
I think you'll find out a lot if you move the computer and if you speak with the teacher.
LBC

My daughter is in 4th grade and has an hour or two of homework almost every night and up to 4-6 hours of work to do on weekends. She is in the upper levels of all subjects and goes to a gifted/talented class, also, so she has very little time in school to do her work.

Have you had your daughter describe the work that is due? Have you watched her while she works? I suggest doing so.

I know that my daughter can take twice as long to do her work if she is allowed to be distracted by music, our pets, or anything else going on around her. I wonder if your daughter enjoys schoolwork and is taking extra time to do it, or is letting herself be distracted by other things while in her room.

I know that I am supposed to be writing a paper for school right now, and instead I am answering questions on Mamapaedia!

No, my middle schoolers seem to not have enough homework. They're in 8th grade and it's usually less than an hour a day. If I hear "I did it during class" one more time I'm going to scream...why the hell is there time IN CLASS to do homework? Teach the whole friggin 50 minutes! Sorry...side rant.

My mother went to a very tough elite exam (public) high school for 9th and 10th grade and worked herself to the bone to get good grades. Hours and hours and hours a night on homework. She finally reached a point where she couldn't do it anymore and went to the neighborhood school and it was a much better fit.

Definitely talk to the teachers about what the expected amount of homework is and what she should do if it takes, say, longer than a certain amount of time for a subject.

If the school is more challenging, she may also need to stay after and work with teachers to catch up. My step-daughter switched to our school district in the middle of 7th grade and it's much harder than the district in her old town so it took her staying after a few days a week for the rest of the year to really catch up. Her teachers were very willing to work with her and it was a nice way for her to get to know her teachers and meet other kids who also stayed after.

I would maybe take the computer out of her room and have her do the homework at the kitchen table. I think maybe she might be doing other stuff than homework. no way she should have 6 hours plus of homework per night. no matter what her schedule is.

Is it all assignments from the teachers, or is she also studying and trying to do extra? And is she using her time effectively, or is she mixing in homework with playing on the computer, texting friends, etc.? Is she just being a perfectionist who wants to get straight A's all the time?

Most schools have it set up so that you can view daily homework assignments for your child's classes on-line - is this an option and have you looked into it? Do you know specifically what her homework consists of? Doing a certain number of math problems, reading X number of chapters in a book, writing assignments, and so on?

Meet the teacher, but at this point in the year, this shouldn't be a sudden surprise. If there have been parent-teacher conferences before, that's when you could have been told what the goals for the class and what the teachers expectations were. Without more specifics, it's hard to judge if this is really excessive or not. At least she is trying her best and her grades reflect that.

I also know that my stepsons had homework during the week, but rarely on the weekends. What are her weekends like?

Our daughter took all honors classes in middle school. She spent a few hours a night working on it. But she was also pretty organized.

I agree to meet with her teachers and let them know. This seems excessive to me for middle school.

Was she like this before the move? Maybe she feels like she need to do extra to be comfortable in her new school, or worries she doesn't know as much as the other kids in her classes. Or maybe, the school is in a different place in the curriculum and she is having to do some background/catch up type stuff to catch what is going on during class. I moved in 10th grade, and what we were studying in my original World History class was WAAAAYYYYY different from what the focus was at my new school. I was LOST. I could have used a few weeks of just reading, to get up to speed, since we had been doing a whole different time period at my previous school. I didn't, because I was lazy like that, and I got by. But maybe your daughter isn't like me... ;)

And yeah... I find that with my 8th grade son, who cyber schools at home, that he will sometimes run programs in the background that he thinks I don't know about.... lol.

I hate the amount of work we are doing at this new private school. They want illustrations at least once every month and they must be perfect.
There is no such thing. It wastes hours in my opinion.

I would check out the homework assignments and check to make sure she is really working. It could be totally true. Two private schools here pride themselves on HOURS of homework for 10 year olds. Ridiculous!

My son is in 6th and he MIGHT do 15-30 minutes per night. He gets some done at school. Your daughter's schedule is NUTS!!!

That's my second-graders schedule. She is at a school for the gifted, and we knew that was coming. On the flip side, my husband, her daddy, is from China and told me that is exactly what he had all through school. He always compares the test scores between the 2 countries, so it makes it hard to complain. :)

My son's in 7th grade and this year (and last year) he can have about 20 min of homework per class (that's 5 classes - 20 min clarinet practice, 20 min core classes (4) and there's no homework for PE).
BUT it's not often he gets homework in every class every day and occasionally there's a project which will take more time than usual.
They do not assign homework on Fridays or over the weekend and although some homework is on the computer, a lot of it is not.
So there's a few things I'm wondering about your daughter's situation.
Are her classes too hard for her? Does she have to spend this amount of time to get a good grade?
Or maybe she has a hot button on her computer (she's doing something else and then when you walk by she hits a button and a document/spreadsheet pops up to make it look like it's homework she's working on instead of Facebook or some game).
Yes, talk with her teachers and get a feel for what her homework is like.
It could be all the work is legitimate.
Maybe if she has a real interest in graphics illustration she could take a class in it.

The homework load is ridiculous! My middle school son in 7th grade does homework every night into the night just like your daughter. And one of my HS sons, the senior, does work often until midnight or later. It is unreal how much homework they both get. My other son, who is in 9th grade only gets a small of homework each night, some nights none at all. IT makes me so mad that they load these kids up with so much to do. It's just wrong. Everyone needs some down time!

It seems like your child is going through the same thing my son is going through in school and he's only in 3rd grade. My son is also an A B student. The teacher gets the work from the school district..maybe try going to PTA meetings and board meeting so that you can get your voice heard. I think its crazy myself...because every time my son has 5 different homework to do not including spelling words he has to learn by the end of each week. Don't stress over it to much. Am sure going to the meeting will help you.

My oldest son is in 8th grade. He is in all pre-AP classes and makes As in everything except math (he makes Bs in math). He is extremely organized and is good with time-management, and he has a couple of hours of homework on some nights, none on other nights.

He does his homework in the kitchen, unless he needs the computer, and then he's on the computer just off the living room.

I teach AP English (11th and 12th grade), so I am very curious about the work they are assigning in middle school. I like to see how they are preparing the kids before they get to high school even though my son is in a different district than where I teach. My son does his homework on his own unless he has a specific question, but I like to see what he's working on, especially if it's a project.

If I were you, I would see what it is that is taking her so much time. I know you mentioned some projects, but should they really be taking her so many hours, or is she surfing the internet during much of that time? I also think you're doing the right thing by meeting with her teacher. You mention that she enjoys drawing. Maybe she could take an art class, and focus her on artistic skills there. She sounds like a good student, but you might want to encourage her to spend time relaxing with friends and family. We all need down time. :)