Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy how much homework should my DD11 be doing?

DS11 & DD11 are 6th graders, which is middle school here so a completely different ballgame from 5th grade last year. Regarding 5th grade, which is still elementary school here, there should not be a huge amount of homework if your DD is not 2E and a good student. As 5th graders last year, DS/DD had periodic projects in different subject areas and math and reading/language homework 3-4 days a week. However, they usually managed to get most/all of the regular homework done at school or while waiting to be picked up. I believe that was true for a good segment of the students in GT classes/groups.

6th grade/middle school is a bit different due to more subjects covered and the expectation of independence in preparation for high school. Again, how much homework really depends on the individual kid and specific teacher. DS and DD are in most of the same classes and I can only say that if I didn't parent both kids, I would have had a skewed view of how much homework is given. It's not just a level of giftedness issue but particular strengths/interests and personality. For example, DS would have just fired off a couple of pages, most of it in class or between classes while DD would have labored over several pages in a couple of hours at home. Much of their homework now involves extensive writing, whether it is a 3-page lab report for science or a 2-page researched essay for language arts. There are also periodic projects, which cannot be completed in school due to time constraints. Math homework is probably 4 days a week and likely helpful practice/application of new materials introduced in class now that they are in Pre-Algebra (DD) and Geometry (DS).

As for studying, if they have learned and assimilated the materials when they are taught, then studying beyond a quick review is likely unnecessary for most bright kids at this early stage.

In short, I think 5th graders should only average 30-45 minutes a day while 6th graders should expect 1 to 2 hours. Again, if the kid works fast like DS, then homework will only take a fraction of the time.