Our hometown of Suwanee is one of Gwinnett County's most active communities for kids and teens. The Suwanee Sports Academy¹ alone covers 100,000 square feet dedicated to youth sports development. Suwanee Performing Arts² brings hundreds of young performers into Broadway in the Park and its year-round programming.
Add in the city's 600+ acres of parkland³, which support recreational leagues through Gwinnett County Parks & Recreation⁴, and it's easy to see why so many family calendars fill up fast. That activity culture is part of what makes this city such a great place to raise a family, and most parents wouldn't trade it.
However, as enriching extracurriculars can be, they require moderation. Students need rest to be able to focus and learn, and mathematics often requires step-by-step concentration, especially when solving multiple equations and new concepts.
In combination with a busy schedule, that can mean less time to practice new skills or more difficulty concentrating on homework after a long day. This piece looks at why a full schedule can affect math and what Suwanee parents can do about it without giving up the activities their kids love.
Math can reveal the effects of fatigue or reduced study time relatively quickly, particularly when your child is learning a new math problem or concept.
It can place substantial demands on working memory when it asks students to remember numbers with multiple steps and rules. Fatigue and competing demands can make this work more difficult, although the effect varies depending on the child, task, and schedule.
We can explain part of this through Cognitive Load Theory. The brain has a finite capacity for processing new information, and fatigue adds to the load already competing with learning.
When cognitive demands become too high, students may rely more heavily on memorized methods rather than developing a deeper understanding. That can make it harder to transfer the idea to a new problem.
Sleep counts here too. Extracurriculars plus homework afterward can push bedtime later than usual. Less sleep makes it harder to concentrate in class the next day and stay focused during homework.
Studies using TIMSS data have found associations between sleep deficits or sleepiness and lower mathematics and science achievement. In one Norwegian analysis, the estimated mathematics difference associated with sleepiness was roughly equivalent to somewhat less than half a year of schooling.
None of this means extracurriculars themselves are the problem. It just means that students (and their families) need to approach their schedules mindfully to maintain capacity for a challenging subject like math.
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There isn’t one schedule that works for every child. Instead of focusing on the number of activities, pay attention to how your child is handling their routine and whether it’s starting to affect their math abilities.
For example, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that young athletes have regular time away from their organized sport, including at least one day off each week and a longer annual break. The study focuses on reducing the risk of overuse injuries and burnout, but it also highlights the importance of giving kids time to rest and recover.
How can you tell when your child's schedule may be affecting math?
Look for changes in how they approach their work, especially if those changes tend to show up during busier weeks. If homework starts taking longer or recently learned material becomes harder to remember, compare what you notice during busy weeks with times when their schedule is lighter.
Here are four signs their schedule may be getting in the way of math:
If a 20-minute math assignment regularly turns into an hour or more after practice, your child may simply be too tired to focus. After a full school day followed by sports or another activity, sitting down for math can take more effort than it would earlier in the day.
Math gets harder throughout the school year, and a new unit may naturally take more time. Comparing homework from this year with assignments from last spring won't tell you much.
Instead, watch what happens with similar assignments at different times. Does your child finish the same type of work faster on a weekend morning or on a day without activities? If the difference happens consistently, their energy level may be affecting homework time.
Sometimes a child understands a new math concept during a lesson but struggles to remember how to do it a few days later. They may not have had enough time to practice on their own.
A busy week can leave little room for that extra review. Your child might understand Tuesday's lesson, head straight to activities after school for the next few days, and return to the concept later without having practiced it in between.
Double-check that your young learner understands the concept in the first place. Ask them to explain how they solved the problem in their own words. If they can explain the idea in their own words without too much guidance, they may understand the concept but need more practice to retain and apply it. If they cannot explain it yet, they may need additional instruction.
Pay attention to changes in attitude towards math, homework, for instance. The signs to watch out for are increased levels of procrastination or frustration. A student might give up on a problem sooner than they normally would or become discouraged by work they usually manage well. This can be more noticeable when the math is already challenging.
Tired students have less patience for work that requires concentration.
Keeping track of whether the frustration tends to happen after practices or after school activities, especially on busy days, can reveal a lot about the timing. Then compare those evenings with days when your child has more free time.
Of course, the schedule isn't always responsible. Your child could be struggling with a particular skill or reacting to something that happened at school. If the same frustration appears on both busy and quiet days, take a closer look at their confidence and relationship with math.
Good grades don't always mean everything feels easy. Your child might still be earning the same marks while spending more time on homework or needing more help to get through it.
That extra effort can be easy to miss at first. Pay attention to when your child is studying and how long the work takes. If they keep pushing math too late into the evening because activities take up most of the afternoon, there may not be enough time left to work through new material without rushing.
Keep the difficulty of the class in mind too because a harder unit or different teacher can change how much work your child needs to put in. Look for changes that follow the extracurricular schedule. If math takes noticeably more effort during weeks packed with activities and settles down during lighter weeks, the schedule may be part of the problem.
Even when homework gets done on a tired night, a child may have more difficulty retaining or applying the underlying idea.
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Small changes to when and how your child practices math can make schoolwork easier to fit into the week.
Here are four ways to make more room for math without giving up the activities your child enjoys:
If your child has practice or rehearsal in the evening, try fitting in math earlier in the day. After school may be a better time than waiting until they get home from an activity tired and ready for bed.
It doesn't have to be a long study session. Twenty minutes after school can give your child time to review a lesson or finish a few problems before leaving for Suwanee Sports Academy or a Suwanee Performing Arts rehearsal.
Try to leave one evening each week without an organized activity, so your child has a chance to rest and catch up after several busy days.
You don't need to turn that free evening into another study session. If you want to include a little math, integrate it into your evening routine without drawing too much attention to it; for example, you might play a card game or talk through the math involved in a real-life situation like paying for groceries.
Keeping the same evening free each week can make this easier to maintain. It becomes part of the family's regular schedule instead of another decision to make each week.
When weeknights are busy, it can be tempting to leave all of the week's extra math practice for Saturday. Shorter sessions spread throughout the week may be easier for children to manage and give them more opportunities to revisit what they're learning.
For a family balancing school with Gwinnett County Parks & Recreation leagues or other activities, this could mean finding ten or fifteen minutes on a few quieter days instead of setting aside a full hour over the weekend.
Choose times that already fit naturally into your child's routine. The best time will depend on the family, but consistency can make it easier to keep up with practice during a busy week.
If the same math difficulties continue after you've adjusted your child's routine, the problem may need more than additional practice at home.
Pay attention to patterns that your child may be repeatedly struggling with, such as the same type of problem. Other signs are if they ask for frequent help with skills they have already learned or continue to have difficulty even during less busy weeks. Those are good reasons to look more closely at where they're getting stuck.
A math assessment can help identify specific skills that need attention. Once you know where the difficulty starts, you can focus support on those areas instead of adding more general practice to an already busy schedule.
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Mathnasium's specially trained tutors help students make the most of the time they have, however full their schedule looks.
Mathnasium is a math-only learning center that helps students build lasting confidence in math, no matter how full their schedule looks.
Every student begins enrollment with a diagnostic assessment that identifies their current skill level and learning goals. It also shows us how they learn best. We use those insights to build a personalized learning plan around what each student needs.
That plan might mean closing a knowledge gap or simply staying ahead.
We call this approach the Mathnasium Method™, our proprietary teaching approach. It's designed to make the most of the time a student has, especially for families whose evenings are already full.
The results speak for themselves:
94% of parents report an improvement in their child's math skills and understanding
93% of parents report their child's improved attitude toward math after attending Mathnasium
90% of students saw an improvement in their school grades
With over 1,100 learning centers across North America, there is likely a Mathnasium close to you.
Mathnasium of Suwanee supports families across Suwanee and the surrounding North Gwinnett communities.
We focus on efficient support for students whose calendars are already full.
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References
¹ Suwanee Sports Academy. (n.d.). Home page. https://ssasports.com/
² Suwanee Performing Arts. (n.d.). Home page. https://suwaneeperforms.org/
³ City of Suwanee, GA. (n.d.). About Suwanee. https://www.suwanee.com/explore-suwanee/about-suwanee
⁴ City of Suwanee, GA. (n.d.). Welcome to the neighborhood: Gwinnett County Parks & Recreation. https://www.suwanee.com/services/welcome-to-the-neighborhood/gwinnett-county-parks-recreation
Mathnasium of Suwanee is a math-only learning center for K-12 students in Suwanee, GA. Trusted by over a million parents, Mathnasium uses personalized learning plans and the proprietary Mathnasium Method™ to help students catch up, keep up, and get ahead on their math journey.
Our specially trained tutors deliver face-to-face instruction in a supportive and fun small-group environment, working with students both in center and online to develop a deep understanding of math, build confidence, and improve academic performance.
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