what shall I do?

[southbucks3]

To help we really need to know which schools your child wants to go to, also assuming he is year 5?

Stop panicking, the worst thing you can do is show him your anxiety, children can be very absorbing of others emotions, even if you think you are hiding it. Surely the alternative to grammar us not that terrible?

Tell us your exam area and we can help, but really twenty mins a day is good, mine do that before School starts in the morning (telly ban) and it is not just 11+ focused work, but anything they need a bit of help with, even hand writing or spellings, but that is our fixed time. Never after school, as they have homework and are often tired after school sports clubs, so they shower, eat, homework, read with a hot choccy, pretty much every school day evening. Life has to carry on, test or no test. The fact that you want him outside playing in the sun not studying means you are a normal, caring mum, so you will be fine.

[Guest55]

As sb3 says the 11+ varies so level 4s are fine in some areas.

[mystery]

Yes, we don't manage more than 20 mins before school and that is very hit and miss. However, if I was going off early to work and leaving children with childminder it would not happen at all. You have to work things out based on your own practicalities.

I get confused by this website. People reel off masses of materials they have covered with their child in year 5. In the time we have ( I struggle to get this done as child not a fan of anything that remotely smells educational) we do not get through anything like the materials people list on here. My shelves are full of unused useful books.

[onebigdilemma]

Gosh you are putting a lot of pressure on yourself and your child. As others have said mine can only take 10-15 bursts and this Easter we have done virtually nothing except them reading at night.
How will your child feel if you give up work for the 11 plus and then they do not pass?? A lot for any little one to deal with.
Try and be more relaxed, and remember not just grammar schools are good schools.

[Daogroupie]

I am puzzled as to what posts you are telling us to read? I have been on the forum five years and have never seen a post about 3 hours a day and 10 hours a day in the summer? Any dc who needs that much help will not do well at a selective school. You need to tell us which schools you are interested in. Demands for places varies greatly between schools and region and an English level in one region that would put you in the top 20 would not put you in the top 400 in another. You say that you have never paid much attention to the levels that the school has been given you so that you can keep track of your ds's progress so you have not been actively involved in his education until now. But you are planning to quit your job to help him do some revision. As he is at school most of the day what 11 plus work do you feel needs to be done in that time? Any marking of work should be done with him. Has he done any work at all yet? Little and often is the key. But no real advice is going to be relevant without knowing which schools we are dealing with here. DG

[pushymother]

Do you have the option of applying for flexible working temporarily? I am currently doing a job share as both of us working fulltime with two primary aged children, one of which is prepping for 11+, was becoming too much.

DH is only a year in a new job so my pension/salary is the one taking the hit (as usual ).

He has been informed if he ever has grand plans of running off with his secretary I am taking half of his pension

[magwich2]

If you are really worried about the 11+ the I would say year 5 is a fairly crucial year. You might well want to keep your job and consider a prep school for your child. I don't know what area you are in but where we are we were lucky enough to have a really effective prep school where DCs 2 and 3 went from year 4 onwards. It isn't just the actual practice for the exam but also the better maths tuition and the general practice for sitting exams and being competitive. We will never know how much difference it made but it worked for us - and you would still have your job at the end of it all!!

Good luck anyway

[silverysea]

I would keep my job and use some income for tutoring instead, in your shoes.

[kittymum]

As others have said do it because it's what you want to do (for you) separate to any 11+ stuff. If your cd is in year 5 by the time you've given notice it'll be pretty much half term any way.

I think the pressure on your dc of thinking you gave up working because you wanted them to pass the 11+ would be immense. How would you / they feel if they did not qualify - nothing is a given after all.

If however you've had enough of working and want to enjoy being a SAHM then go for it! I was till 3.5 years ago and still only work 17 hours a week (although the temptation to going back to being a SAHM at the moment is HUGE )

[tiffinboys]

I know some children did lot of after school study for 11plus. Few will admit it. There is immense competition for some schools like Tiffins or QE. 20 minutes a day will not get one any where near it.

Our routine was about hour a day; 40 minutes for a paper and 15 to 20 minutes going over marking and corrections. That for four or five days per week. For a while, we did 2 hours a day and found it very counter productive. When we had a tutor for few months, it was on Saturday for about 1.5 hour and another hour for home work. Otherwise, we did work for about 2 hours on Saturday to consolidate nvr/VR or writing.

Also about 30 to 40 minutes reading every night. DC enjoyed reading and very rarely missed it.

TBH, we did work during summer holidays about 3 hours for 4 days a week. But we also went on holidays for little more than a week, during which DC did continue with reading. Some children will be distracted by summer holidays, as many entrance tests are soon after schools reopen. Skipping holidays once to get place in your desired school is not a bad idea.