Speaking of Teens
Episode #44: Teenagers and Homework Overload. Is All The Stress Really Necessary? A Conversation with Christine Kaplan
How does your teen or tween feel about the amount of homework they have? Are they staying up late to get it done and constantly playing catch up on the weekends and complaining because it takes time away from other activities or socializing? And how much time do you spend thinking about and talking to them about homework? For many families it's a major source of conflict, drama, and stress.
This week, I’m talking to Christine Kaplan, LCSW, ADHD life coach, about the endless mountain of homework under which so many of our teenagers seem to find themselves these days. How many hours a week should adolescents be expected to go to school and do work outside of school? If they were hourly employees, many would be putting in quite a lot of overtime.
Much of the scientific research on homework focuses on academic achievement and standardized test scores. But if we’ve learned nothing else since 2020, surely, we’ve learned life isn’t all about “achievement”. Why are we still so willing to sacrifice this generation’s mental health for college bumper sticker? What changes do we need to make to the school work load to allow our teens to experience life more fully and to maintain their mental and physical health?
Access TRANSCRIPT here.
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Sources, Resources and Mentions:
Grab Christine’s “4 Tips to Reduce Teen Stress”
Learn about Christine’s nation-wide ADHD coaching services for Teens and Adults
The Case Against Homework (homework advocacy sample materials)
Stop Homework blog (now archived but lots of great information for potential advocacy)
Example of one District’s policy changes
A good summary of all the different research on homework
NPR-What A Nation at Risk Got Wrong