help!!

[crazy mum]

hi everyone.

my ds is going for test this year. our area come under CEM.
i was looking under birmingham region the information about practice material..
but we only got some books out of the list like s&s mental maths 3, susan daughtrys further practice papers & her graded test papers 1 and bond papers 9-10 years for non VR,VR,Maths & english, s&s english skills3, wh smith maths challange for 9-10 year old,maths dictionary, non VR 1 by learning together,s&s punctuation and AE tution book no3 for spelling and vocabulary...
all these books been suggested by his teacher and pay him £50 pw and he does 1 test per week which is by nefr papers.

By looking at the practice material recommended at your website i'm thinking do we need more books what if the teacher is not covering everything...
Eventhough my ds got all above books but his teacher only doing 4 out of them. do you think if its enough beacause his first exam in july. To me we are running out of time.
His teacher is taking everything really slow don't know why??

Shall i buy cgp &ips practice papers or what shall i do? I'm even thinking to get a ipad for him to practice on 11+ apps.
Anyone please help me!!

[scary mum]

I'm not in your area, but this sticky from the top of the Birmingham section might help:

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/ ... 11&t=30114" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(PS don't panic! People on here who know about CEM will be along to help you!)

[um]

Can I confirm that your child is in Year 5 and will be taking the examination this July/September?

Also, that your child's tutor has told you to buy the rather large array of books mentioned, and yet is only going through 4 of them with your child?
How many hours per week does your child spend with the tutor, and does this consist of teaching, or the tutor looking at him while he sits and completes a NFER paper?
For a start, if your child will be taking CEM papers, they do not need to practice traditional VR. They need to build their genuine literacy (vocabulary, comprehension, reading skills).
Secondly, since you have asked for frank replies, many of the papers and books you have mentioned are at too low a level for this stage. You should be looking at age 11-12, not 9-10, at this stage, and AE Vocab 3 is probably more suitable for Year 2 children.

You can practice 11 plus games and apps online - you don't need an ipad. If you buy him an ipad and he is a 'normal' 9/10 year old, he will not use it to play 11 Plus apps.
There are downloads available from this website.

[crazy mum]

hi UM yes he is in year 5 and an hour tution a week. which doesn't involve any teaching all he gets an homework which gets marked by his teacher and he does corrections for test been taken for the previous week.

reason i sent him for a tution because i'v got a 1 year old baby so i can't help him that much and this teacher was recomended by one of friends but now i just don't know what to do. because to me that tutor does not do anything and i still have to check his work and everything.

he is only getting 1 page of homework out of them books every week. which i think it is not enough like you said he sets him at the very low level.I feel helpless. Shall i take him out of tution or what? I'm stressesd all the time just want the best for my ds which every parent does..

can you please pm them online 11+ apps. that will be very helpful..

Thanks scary mum and UM.....

[um]

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/shop/V ... -Software/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[champagnemoet]

hi crazymum.i can sense how distressed you are,its very difficult i know. my daughter sat grammar exam last year.can i first ask what level your child is at? seriously they need to be a comfortable level five to be sitting this exam.many parents have children tutored and sometimes for 2 years.personally i think this is madness.you say you have a small child,then you are at home in the day?if this is the case prepare tests for your child when they are at school,download,synonyms,spellings,times tables.the books you want are bond 10 to 11 years and do a test at least 3 times weekly in pencil rub out the answers and do the wrong ones again after 4 weeks increase to 5 times weekly but instead of 40 minute test do 20 min tests.be serious and comitted,your child must want it .ditch the tutor your intuition is correct and spend that money on a babysitter so you can devote to child.this is my opinion and no doubt there will be some objections.im a single mom 2 kids work full time yet i did all of the above without any tutor.it was hard ,my child passed the grammar was offered a place which we turned down because she also secured a scholarship at a private school.you dont need a tutor. good luck

[crazy mum]

Thanks you guys for your advice. Much appreciated..

[ginx]

crazy mum

I agree with champagnemoet's advice, except I don't think your dc has to be on a "comfortable" level 5 in year 5 to pass the 11+. My dd2 and several of her class passed and not all were level 5 in both literacy and numeracy. My dd was on 4a for literacy (but 5c for maths).

Also, don't panic too much; it's April - you've still got time. I feel for you, though, with a baby to look after as well. Good luck. You're in the best place for advice.

[Okanagan]

On the other hand it's not that unusual to get a good level 5 or even level 6 in primary but not pass, so school levels are not really that accurate a predictor.

[muminbrum]

Hi crazy mum,

I also went through this process last year with a younger child and a baby in tow and working FT - it is hard to juggle everything. I guess I was quite naive but we just did bits here and there giving DS exercises to do and then going through them with him when things were quiet or the baby was in bed. There are also lots of other things that you can do to support him such as playing number and word games when out in the car and most importantly in my opinion getting him to read. The whole family can go to the library and at weekends/holidays we have time after lunch when everyone reads for half an hour even the baby if he is refusing to have a nap.

We were mostly DIY but DS saw a tutor a few times in the summer holidays largely because he was worrying that all his friends had tutors but I think it did help him to go to a strange house and do some work/tests with someone else.

I also wouldn't worry too much about SATS levels although I agree that we should be realistic about our child's ability but nothing ventured.....

Hope you manage to sort out a routine that works for you all