Is Taking All Honors Classes Freshman Year a Bad Idea? A Teacher and Mom’s Perspective
Last August, I leaned across our kitchen table at my 14-year-old son Milo, whose fall freshman course schedule was spread out between a crumb-covered strawberry Pop-Tart and a brand-new graphing calculator he’d been peeling the plastic off for 10 minutes. He’d checked the honors box for every single core class: honors biology, honors algebra 2, honors English, honors world history. No electives that weren’t weighted. “All the guys on the JV soccer team are doing it,” he said, tapping the paper with a pencil. “Coach says if I want a shot at D3 when I’m a senior, my transcript needs to look stacked.”
As a former 9th grade guidance counselor, I felt that familiar twist in my gut. I’d sat through dozens of these conversations as a counselor, and I’d seen every outcome: the straight-A middle schooler who crashes and burns by midterms, the quiet kid who surprises everyone and aces every class, the parent who insists their kid can handle it until the kid ends up in my office crying at 8 a.m. before a final. I knew the hype around weighted grades and college admissions had parents and kids convinced more honors equals more success. But I also knew most 14-year-olds are still adjusting to the size of the high school, the new social dynamics, and the jump in work difficulty from middle school before they even open their first honors textbook.
But I didn’t say no. I also didn’t say yes automatically. We struck a deal. First, he’d start the year with the full honors schedule, but every Sunday for the first three weeks, he’d write down how many hours he spent on homework each night, no rounding up or down. We’d also count time for soccer and any other activities, to see how it all added up. Second, if after the first six-week grading period he wanted to drop one class to regular, there would be no guilt, no lecture about quitting, no “what will your teacher think” speech. We’d just go to the counselor and change it, no questions asked. He agreed, because he got what he wanted: the chance to try it his way.
The first three weeks went exactly how I expected. After two hours of soccer practice after school, he’d eat a quick dinner and start homework around 7. He finished most nights between 10:30 and 11, and a couple nights he stayed up until 11:30 to finish an English reading assignment. When we added it up, he averaged 3.5 hours of homework a night, and got an average of 7 hours of sleep a night, well under the 8 to 10 hours 14-year-olds need. He bailed on his monthly gaming night with his cousin, said he didn’t have time, and he stopped bringing his camera out on weekends to take photos of the creek behind our house, something he’d done every weekend since he was 10.
At the six-week mark, his grades were solid: three Bs and a B+. That’s nothing to scoff at, but when I asked him how it felt, he shrugged and said, “It’s not that I can’t do the work. I just don’t want to not do anything else. I wanted to join the photography club, and there’s literally no way to fit that in.” He asked to drop honors world history and move to regular. We did it the next day.
Within two weeks, his homework time dropped to an average of 2 hours a night. He started getting 8.5 hours of sleep, joined photography club, and started bringing his camera out on weekends again. By the end of the semester, his grades in the three remaining honors classes had all gone up: two As and a B+. He still made all-region JV soccer, and he told me mid-December that he actually enjoyed his classes again.
From my years in counseling, this outcome isn’t surprising. The biggest mistake I see parents make is assuming that all honors is the “best” choice, regardless of their kid’s other commitments or energy levels. Colleges don’t actually penalize you for having one regular class freshman year. Most admissions officers I’ve talked to would rather see a student get As in three honors classes than Bs in four, because it shows you know how to manage your load.
For parents wondering what to do with their own freshman, the trick is to take the emotion and the peer pressure out of it. Instead of arguing about what’s “good for college,” try the 3-week time log I used with Milo. It takes 10 minutes a week, and it gives you hard data instead of just “I’m tired” versus “you’re just lazy.” If the numbers add up to less than 8 hours of sleep most nights, or no time for any activities the kid cares about, it’s too much. And always build in a no-guilt drop option early in the semester. Most high schools let you change schedules within the first six to eight weeks without it showing up badly on your transcript. Dropping one class early doesn’t mean your kid can’t handle harder work later; it means they’re adjusting to high school, which is exactly what they should be doing.
This year, Milo’s a sophomore. He’s taking three APs, regular art (to keep up his photography skills), and he’s still playing varsity soccer. He still says dropping that honors history class was the best choice he made freshman year. I still get texts from other parents asking me if letting their kid take all honors is a mistake, and I don’t give them a yes or no. I just tell them to count the hours, and let the kid be part of the decision. Some kids can handle it, and some can’t, and neither choice ruins their chances of getting into college or having a good high school experience. The right schedule is the one that lets them be 14 (or 15, or 16) while they’re still in high school, not just a name on a transcript.
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