Very shortly, I will be signing up for my high school classes. These are the classes I am looking at taking:
Honors English 1
Honors Geometry
Honors Biology
AP U.S. History
Spanish 3
Intro to Design and Innovation
I talked to a teacher about these choices, then he told me that I will have about five hours of homework every night. In addition to those classes, I am planning on being on the golf, tennis, and debate team. Now I ask: How far away from “reasonable” is this workload? Is five hours of homework per night + the above mentioned extra-curricular activities going to turn me into a stress-ball?
That’s up to you. Students have done more and been fine.
I would say go for it. My biggest regret this year is not taking many challenging courses.
Ahh yay!! Go debate!! (I am a current Junior who has been on the debate team for 3 years and it has changed my life).
Like you, I took really challenging courses my freshman year, did volleyball, debate, mock trial, and many other ECs and I was able to manage. You probably will not have 5+ hours of homework in each class each day, especially if you are organized and manage your time really well (I am not sure because I am not from your school, but realistically, I don’t think it’s possible to have 5+ hours every single day). If you do end up having that much HW, you can still manage, just make sure you have time for HW…you will probably not be going to parties every weekend or going to sleep at 9PM.
5 yours of HW as a freshman with this schedule sounds like a lot based on my experience, but perhaps your school is different. Except for APUSH, this schedule is similar to that of most top freshmen and they seem to handle it. Golf and Tennis are different seasons, so that should be fine. I have no idea what the time commitment for debate is, but if the schedule works with golf and tennis, it may be OK. Alternatively, one EC may have to go away.
Your schedule is very reasonable and doable. I wouldn’t be too concerned about APUSH. I also took APUSH as a freshman, and it was just like another english class. English classes are also usually about a lot of fluff, so it’s almost like not taking a class at all.
Next year (as a freshman) I am taking
Honors English lit/lang (depends)
Honors Algebra/Geometry
Honors Biology
AP US government
AP Psychology
Spanish
Band
I know it’s probably a lot of homework but I think it’ll be good to have a schedule like ours (yours and mine) in the long run.
Yay tennis! 
In my experience, Honors classes haven’t been too intense (but it might be different at your school). APUSH is a LOT of notes, though (at least for me). I spent about 2 hours a night on APUSH this year.
If you manage your time well, I think that you should be able to do this!
No, you should be fine. I am a rising sophmore, and this was my freshman scedule (every core class is honors):
Biology
Algebra II/ Trig
Chinese II/III
Orchestra
English
AP human geography
Geometry
Intro to Programming
- Also part of one of the top 10 ranked mun teams in the US
- Was part of varsity cross country, ski racing (but I suck), and golf
That is a perfect schedule for freshman year. I’m currently a freshman, and I took a similar set of classes, and thus far, I have had no trouble. The only class you may have trouble with would be AP U.S History. But considering that’s your only really hard class, you can devote a lot of time to it, and you’ll be fine.
Seems like a reasonable schedule. Maybe ask a high school counselor for a second opinion about amount of homework. Five hours per night is a little hard to believe. Here is my son’s freshman schedule for next year:
Honors English
Modern World History (honors optional)*
Honors Geometry/Algebra II
Biology (honors optional)*
French III
Foundations of Health and Movement (required phy ed)
Art Foundations (one semester elective)
Digital Media Design (one semester elective)
EC’s: soccer team (fall), tennis team (spring)
- At our high school, some classes can't be registered as an honors class, but you can do the honors supplementary work during the year and get the honors designation at the end of the semester. As a freshman, only English and Math are honors-only classes. The others are honors integrated within a normal class. And at our high school, I have never, ever heard of a freshman taking an AP class.
APUSH is not a good choice for freshman year. In terms of maturity and appreciation, sophomore or junior standing is better.
Ask current freshmen: is your schedule common at your HS and what does it involve?
Just because that schedule is “okay” at one HS doesn’t mean it is at yours. If a teacher indicates it’s 5hours of HW a day, try to confirm that. It sounds like a lot but it may be the situation at your HS and yes 5h a day is WAY too much.