Given the significant reduction of workload, these weekends fulfill the purpose of enabling students to focus on other events on the weekends.

As a senior, I have been through the stress of attempting to balance an extracurricular life with my schoolwork. I have noticed that on homework free weekends, the burden is relieved of me where I spend my weekend dreading staying up into the late hours of Sunday night, rushing to finish the work assigned of me. Instead, I am able to focus on events like enjoying the high school experience of prom and homecoming, or being able to dedicate my full time and energy to college apps.

Humanities senior Shivani Levine also believes that Homework Free Weekends are helpful.

“I definitely notice that I have more free time, and I feel like I begin the week a lot less burned out than usual.”

With many studies coming out that demonstrate the effects of a heavy homework load on student stress levels, Homework Free Weekends are crucial to maintain a mentally healthy student body. A study published by the Journal of Experimental Education found that “most students experienced distress and/or lacked time to engage in important life tasks outside of school.” In addition, 72% of the students in the study were stressed due to schoolwork and 82% reported experiencing at least one physical symptom to stress.

Going forward, monthly homework free weekends rather than one per semester should be an idea administration considers. The amount of stress it relieves and free time it permits is extremely beneficial and influential to student’s happiness.