Materials for home tutoring

[chg-2003]

Hi - I have been lurking for a while now and find this forum an invaluable source of information - thank you to all who contribute!

I intend to home tutor DD from September with a view to her sitting Bexley and Kent tests in 2013. She is bright and I'm hopeful that with a fair amount of good humour, time-keeping and bribery we will get there . There's an amazing amount of material available - what does anyone recommend for the above tests (VR, NVR and maths)? I don't hear much about Bond, but I do like their 10-minute tests (we've done a few aged 9-10 ones). My thinking is as follows:

1. Begin with shorter tests to promote confidence and home in on areas she finds difficult, e.g. Bond and IPS

2. Move on to shorter papers e.g. Bond assessment, IPS short papers

3. Do some 'easier' (ha ha) full length papers such as IPS and The Tutors

4. Progress to some fairly tough papers e.g. Bright Sparks

5. Towards the end look at GL Assessment which are apparently the closest to Bexley and Kent tests - these are supposedly easier than Bright Sparks so might provide timely confidence boost as we approach the end??

Have I got this right? Are Bond worth doing or are there better resources? Any other materials people have found particularly good?
Would love to hear any feedback as I'm new to this process and obviously trying to do the best I can for DD.

Thanks

[MadHatter]

Hi, my DS is a 2013 taker too. Your approach sounds similar to my thinking - we started on the Bond 10-minute tests a few months back which were great for getting him into the groove as they're bite sized and he was a bit reluctant. Was easy to switch around the levels to suit where he was at - and because the books look the same I've been able to throw in the odd longer Bond paper without him even noticing (though your DD is probably more observant than my DS)! That said, we've done enough to be able to see where some of his gaps are now so have reached for some materials that deal specifically with those - some pages plucked from Carol Vorderman and WH Smith KS2 texts have given him more confidence with fractions for instance. You are right though, as Bond ultimately don't seem to be the best match for the format of the Kent test we will need to change it up a bit at some point but as they seem to meet least resistance with DS I probably won't take that plunge until at least the Autumn.

I haven't heard much about Bright Sparks - will have to do some research. Sounds a good idea though, if they are more difficult, to build up to them then go onto the GL papers last for a confidence booster. I should think my confidence will be shot to pieces by that point, while DS remains cool as a cucumber!

Good luck to your DD

[chg-2003]

Hi, thank you for your reply. Sounds like you are rather more prepared than we are! Yes, hoping to sneak in some slightly longer practice papers in autumn and spring, sure this will be met with a grumble tho! Best of luck to you and DS - am trying to stay calm and keep things in perspective

[999 mum]

Sorry not any info but a question.

When in your sequence are you going to cover the maths concepts and techniques for each of the types of reasoning questions?

[chg-2003]

Alongside and/or instead of papers as we go - no hard and fast agenda, but I'm planning to halt proceedings to explain and work on individual topics if/when they prove difficult. We have worked on some already and they need to be practised and reinforced. Well, this is my idea at the moment... never done this before, so am preparing to be flexible and accept advice and change the game-plan if necessary