A good way to set a time for curfew is to let the time home be whatever grade they are in. When in 9th grade - 9:00, 10th grade - 10:00 and so on. At our house, the time changed on the first day of each school year. We didn't have an argument about time because they were responsible for getting to stay out later, by passing to the next grade.
I live in the country and when my children were young, I would tell them as soon as the street lights came on they had better head for home summer or winter didn't matter as when they came on it was getting dark and would give them just enough time to get home before it was completely dark. I got tired of hearing them say they didn't know what time it was, but all street lights come on at the same time.
I think that might be okay for lower grades but my son was 15 in the 10th grade and there is no way in the world I was letting him stay out till 10 pm at that age. Or even 11 at 16. Not even 12 at 17, because he might be responsible to get himself up for school but I am the one that would be responsible for a child who couldnt stay awake in school. We raised the bedtime by a half hour after 15 and it went up half an hour every year on his birthday. But on school nights he always had to be home two hours before bedtime.
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