<p>jlauer-</p>
<p>have you sat down with your son to see if he is handling the work in the most efficient way possible? Three or four hours a night really is too much–I agree that the teacher may be unrealistic in her expectations and just may not be a good teacher overall but maybe you could help your son cut down the amount of time he is spending by observing him as he is doing the work to see if his study skills are adequate. This is NOT criticism of your son. It’s just that I think the reading/writing skills needed in the AP history and English classes are different than what a student could get by with earlier.</p>
<p>My sons each found the adjustment to the AP level history courses a challenge because of not just the volume of reading, but the level of reading as well. Chapters are not 1–12 pages, they’re 30- 50 pages; no cute little boxes telling the students the highlights of each little subunit, no bullet points done for them, no illustrations, etc. The writing is more dense, the vocabulary at a higher level, the ideas more sophisticated–it just takes a lot longer to get through it. </p>
<p>The formal homework is more involved too–it’s no longer just answering the questions at the end of each chapter. Then there is the informal homework as well–it is essential to take good notes on all the reading because there is no other way to go over all of the material before each exam, and that is time consuming too.</p>
<p>My sons each got better at it as the year wore on but it took time.</p>