Question about college hours

[Joy1]

Our 13 year old son is in his second year at college (sorry can't do french accents). He only has 24 hours  a week of lessons on his timetable and frequently has less as at least one teacher is away for part of the week! Is this normal? It doesn't seem very many hours to us! He also only has about 1/2 hour of homework to do each day(if that!). Do other college (5eme) kids have the same or more work? Our 10 year old daughter can't wait to go to college in september, she currently has a 27hour week and often up to 1.5 hours of homework to do after school every night!(CM2). [8-)] Joy

[Tourangelle]

that sounds about right for the number of hours if he is not doing any options.  It does seem like very little homework, but perhaps he has gaps in his timetable when he is getting it done.  The  conseils de classe are coming up at any moment, so you should get in touch with the parents who are délégues for this, (at least two per class) and let them know what your concerns are so they can put them to the teachers.

[Joy1]

Hi Tourangelle. Thank you for the reply. He isn't doing options - the only option was latin. He does have huge gaps in his timetable, but he comes home when not in lessons (we only live 10 mins from college) so I know exactly how much (or little!) work he is doing. Perhaps we will raise it at the conseils de classe- but we don't want to make him unpopular with his classmates!!LOL! [:)]I wish he could go back to the UK for a month to be in secondary school there- friends children have lessons for 5 full days at school and at least 1.5 hors of homework per night! Joy

[Panda]

Hi

I'm confused by this as I have often seen people complain that there kids are away from the house from 7am until 6pm when at college??

 

[Joy1]

Hi Blackandwhite. I think this may be because they live a long way from the school. Pupils have the option to come home for lunch and to be allowed to go home if they have no lessons or if the teacher is absent. obviously if they have to catch a school bus they can not go home and are therefore at school for a long day. My son has lessons that start at 8.10am until 3.50pm. However, he only has one day a week when he does these hours! Joy

[Tourangelle]

[quote user="Joy1"] Perhaps we will raise it at the conseils de classe- but we don't want to make him unpopular with his classmates!!

[/quote]

They don't have to say who asked the question!  Are his marks ok despite this apparent lack of homework? I expect you will have a parent's evening after the conseil de classe anyway.  I do agree with the previous poster this is not a complaint I've heard of before either!!!

[Joy1]

Hi Tourangelle. Yes, his marks are fine, a moyen general of 15.4, so we can't complain on that score. The college only has one parents evening a year- in October! We just wondered if so little work is normal? As I said our daughter can't wait to get to college as it will mean less work for her than in primaire! Hopefully in 4eme he will get pushed a bit harder!Joy

[Mackyfrance]

Joy1, that sounds the same as my son, although he does Latin so has less time off during the day. His standard hours are 8.30-5pm although on two days he finished at 4pm plus the half day on Wednesday. Homework is usually 15-30 minutes. I go through his agenda with him, then check his homework but that really is all he gets.

[Joy1]

Hi Mackyfrance. I am a bit relieved that it is not just our son who has this little work! I have no idea how they managed to get through the curriculum! Last week he had just 17 hours of lessons (teachers away) and about 2 hours of homework all week![8-)]  Do you have saturday morning school? How I wish his timetable was better orgainised, if his lessons were spread over the whole school day better he would only have 4 school days a week instead of 6!( I miss having a proper weekend!) Joy