It could be she doesn't know HOW to do the work. I never had to work more than the night before to get excellent marks all the way through school. It wasn't until I got to university that I was faced with the fact that I had no idea how to do research - I mean, I could read and remember, but note-taking and references?? I didn't know how to write a paper - I could write about stuff I was interested in and connect ideas, but it wasn't well-referenced or well-organized. Etc.

I took some classes on how to study. Then, a year or so later, I had the first (and worst) episode of fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue syndrome while a student. I literally could not remember what I was writing about, or learning about, or was in the middle of reading/watching. So I HAD to apply the lessons about essay outlines, etc etc. (I also only did one course per semester with tons of support from the disability centre at my university.)

So it could be that SD has no idea that until now, she's just been skating by. That being a good student doesn't fall in your lap but requires skills, that she can learn and apply.

I teach middle school 7th & 8th grade, and what you are reading is correct. The basics of it are that they move faster, and have more independent work in them. They tend to have more projects, more readings, and of course higher expectations for the quality of work.

However, in history and English in particular, they also get to work on the (IMHO) the more interesting aspects of the subjects that aren't part of the state's mandatory learning objectives for that grade. So yes it IS more work, and extra material is covered. BUT it is much more interesting. IMHO

My DD17 was in honors classes in middle school, so they put her in them in high school. The problem with the high school honors classes is that it was "all or nothing" -- meaning, ALL your classes were honors classes, not just math, or history, or literature/English.

My DD17 is amazing at history and literature. She sucks at math. She's just not a hard-science person. Her first year of honors in high school, she did OK -- had A+'s in history, German, and literature, B- in math and a C in biology.

Her second year she had to get a tutor for geometry an chemistry just to get by with a passing grade. Yet did extremely well (again) in history and literature, and German.

At the end of the year, she asked me if she could NOT be in honors classes her junior year. At first I was surprised, then after I thought about it, I agreed. She's good at *some* things, but not the hard sciences. Fact of life there. Just like my DS14 is amazing at hard sciences, but doesn't do well in his literature and composition classes. One's a left brainer and one's a right brainer.

Is your SD maybe more of a hard science person?

I don't know.... you might want to consider putting her back in regular classes even if she *can* do the work but would rather not. Yes, I know, goes against the grain. I'm a geek, and I come from a family of teachers, so I know how important education is!

The thing is, especially in middle school, I'm not sure doing "extra" work really gets you much. As someone else pointed out, there is SO much going on at that point in their lives, they really need to learn balance. Learning appropriate social interaction, and how to relate to her peers, those are important too. (And too many parent, IMHO, don't really help teach those. They assume kids will figure it out on their own, which is how you get mean girls, and bullies, and loners, and misfits. But that's a separate issue.)

I think what's ringing alarm bells for me is this: "She has many hours of homework each night for SS's." How much time is she spending on homework, total, every night? Does she have time for social stuff? Extracurriculars? Getting to bed at a reasonable hour? TOO MUCH homework is going to stunt her in other ways. Our school system uses the general rule of thumb that a kid's TOTAL homework should be about 10 minutes per grade on any given night. So a kid in 8'th grade should be spending about an hour and 20 minutes on homework - not "many hours" on a single subject. If she is, then I'd say put her back in regular classes, that's too much.

All kids learn differently ~ I struggled with SS & science. Math was my favorite.

Maybe she needs to actually learn HOW to organize herself better & actually learn HOW to studying. Sounds like a lot of stuff here in independent & maybe she is struggling there. Help her plan how to actually do her homework with a planner n how to check off things when they are finished. Maybe she is just overwhelmed n doesn't know where to start. NOT per say do her homework but show her ~ quiet place to study n have all needed material.

We are all big on helping our kids but organization is the first key n time management.

My advice is she is your step daughter and you do care but you may have to back off on this one. you push too hard sd will not do it becuase of you. i could be way off base here but in my case it blew up in my face