Just under 7 weeks remaining until the Wal/ W'ton / Shr exam

[DIY Mum]

Just thought I'd share this inspirational video to all those dps diying and it's working great! Or more importantly, for those dps diying and it's not going well (my excuse is that my house is full of brown boxes atm as we're in the process of moving- but I hope to get back to it soon!).

How is eveyone else doing?

[SharonB]

Hi DIY mum, what an inspirational video clip, it should be on the national curriculum for every teacher to watch this, my ds is taking his 11 plus next year so starting to work on some areas atm... hope the house move goes smoothly, i know what it feels like as we recently moved also.

[Bubbles44]

Thank you for posting the video. Very inspirational!!!

My daughter takes the Queen Mary's test in July and the King Edward's test in September. I can feel the stress mounting every day. Roll on October!!!

[JaneEyre]

A nice quote by Winston Churchill:

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity;
an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

Wishing you good luck in your DC's prep!

[DIY Mum]

SharonB- thanks for your wishes...this is our 10th move with the dc (and hopefully, our last for a very long, long time...) lessons to learn- do not move house just before dc's exam.

Bubbles44- is this your first time? Won't lie about the stress that follows especially during the last couple of weeks. Jane Eyre,- just what we need for the final hurdle: please carry on with your charming posts!

[Bubbles44]

Yes DIY Mum. This is my first time, and I am starting to feel really stressed and, to be honest, a bit pessimistic. (Note to self: Try and follow Jane Eyre's wise words ). I know several families who are having their children intensively tutored, and I see all the tutoring centres that are offering intensive tutoring courses throughout the summer, and it frightens me. It just seems to me that the 11 plus is becoming more about money than intelligence. Don't get me wrong, this is a choice that I made myself (i.e. to home-tutor, to try and avoid the mass hysteria, to try and keep my daughter's life as near to normal as possible, to only spend a few hours each week on tuition, etc), but I sometimes feel that maybe, by sticking to what I believe to be right, I might be letting my daughter down.

[muminbrum]

Bubbles44,

Keep the faith. I also chose to home tutor for the same reasons as you plus cost and DS is starting at KEFW in Sept. He has a number of friends who were tutored, some for several years, who didn't get GS places. It is hard not to get sucked in though and we got to a point where DS was worried because he hadn't been to a tutor so he had 6 sessions over the summer holidays. Not sure what he got from it but he felt reassured and I think it was useful to have experience of going to a strange environment ahead of the exams.

Good luck!

[Bubbles44]

Thanks muminbrum! I will try and 'keep the faith'. It's always good to hear success stories from other diy parents.

[Professor Yaffle]

Hi all

I've finally taken my head out of the sand to find that the exam is now 6 weeks today Glad to see there are others out there going through it. We're DIYing too and it doesn't make it any easier that I've done it before as DD is very different in every way to DS. To be honest I just want it all over with now so we can enjoy a lovely stress-free summer before I start again with DD2 who is taking the exam in 2014. Has anybody heard anything more about the consortium joining up with Birmingham/Warwickshire for the 2014 test? I would be very interested to hear any snippets of information on this if anyone knows anything.

Best wishes to all

[Turtlegirl]

Anyone else having a painful half term? We're trying to get work done (also Yr7 exam revision going on in the house) but I've got an 11+er who gives up every time he finds something a bit difficult on a paper. And the rain's not helping either. Gah!