A few families around us are choosing a different board/school combination mainly to create more time for coaching. I want to understand the trade-offs from parents who actually did it, especially if the child later changed plans.
The biggest change for us was moving from daily checking to one weekly planning conversation. The child had more ownership, and we still knew what was coming up. We changed our approach after about a month because the first plan was too hard to sustain. Keeping one non-academic activity made the week much healthier for us. In our house, the practical routine mattered more than the ideal plan.
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We found coaching brochures made every path sound urgent. Talking to two older students was much more grounding. We are in Chennai and this came up for us last year.
Sleep was the first thing we stopped compromising on. A tired teenager studying two extra hours was not actually learning more. We changed our approach after about a month because the first plan was too hard to sustain.
That is reassuring. We are trying to avoid making this a bigger issue than it needs to be. We revisited the arrangement after the next round of tests. We are in Kolkata, so local logistics may be a little different.
The biggest change for us was moving from daily checking to one weekly planning conversation. The child had more ownership, and we still knew what was coming up. Keeping one non-academic activity made the week much healthier for us. In our house, the practical routine mattered more than the ideal plan.