Should I cut down on my child’s academies?
My child is in 5th grade, and I’m planning to keep only math and English and drop all the rest. But everyone around me keeps saying to add more, so I’m wavering.
It’s not that my child hates going to academies—it’s that they’re so exhausted they can’t do anything once they get home. I’m on the side of at least making time for homework, but I can’t decide.
I’d appreciate advice from parents who’ve been through this.
4 answers
Agreed—this is something the parents should decide. If you go by what people around you say, only the kid gets hurt.
I worried about the same thing last year, and in the end, cutting back was the right call. We kept only math and English, and once my child had time to come home, do homework, and read, their focus at the academy actually improved. In fifth grade, they still don't have the stamina, so I think more than two academies a day is too much. But since you've cut back, make sure to stay on top of those two. If they don't do the homework, they're just going to the academy and getting nothing out of it.
Well, by 5th grade, isn’t it about time to start preparing for middle school? There’s a reason people around you keep saying to ramp things up. If you let them coast now, they’ll have the hardest time when they start 7th grade. Think again about whether letting them drop everything just because they’re tired is really what’s best for them.
If you’re only going to keep two, focus English on grammar and make math about depth rather than racing ahead—that tends to be steadier later on. And if the goal is to carve out time for homework, it’s much more effective to cluster the academy days together so you have one completely free day. We kept Tuesdays and Thursdays open, and they ended up catching up on everything they’d been behind on during those days.