11+ prep without tutors

[PurpleDuck]

Perfectly 'doable' if you have the knowledge and an ability to teach, but as others have pointed out, it can be a long and tricky journey, with a lot of patience required. For me, the worst aspect of the DIY route was the emotional drain (children tend to play up with mum and dad in ways they would never do with a tutor), but we did it.

[tian]

Hi Lego Friends,
Last year I did diy with my ds and yes like the other parents said, it is hard work and sometimes may be frustrating because u don't know at which level is. My ds wanted me to teach him despite all his friends were doing tutorials. Sometimes in order to make more "competitive" I did some tests too and he enjoyed that. It take time and patience but I believe is very worthy and rewarding too. He passed it and in sept he will start his gs.

[maxtom]

We also went down the DIY route and glad we did so.

It worked for us because we liked the flexibility of being able to fit in studying at different times, short and long sessions, doing 11+ while walking the dog or waiting to collect my older child from music lessons, etc. There was also flexibility over what topics we covered and how much we did on each, whereas I think most tutor classes are in groups so would have to meet the needs of all of the children in the group (on the other hand, some children work much better in a group situation...). DIY is also cheaper, though we spent several hundred pounds on books and 3 mock tests.

Personally I enjoyed getting to grips with the 11+ and spending so much time with DS but it wasn't stress-free. I think it might depend a lot on the mix of personalities in your family, not to mention how much time you can devote to it, but it is definitely do-able - though we met several people who told us it wasn't!

[tian]

We also went down the DIY route and glad we did so.

It worked for us because we liked the flexibility of being able to fit in studying at different times, short and long sessions, doing 11+ while walking the dog or waiting to collect my older child from music lessons, etc. There was also flexibility over what topics we covered and how much we did on each, whereas I think most tutor classes are in groups so would have to meet the needs of all of the children in the group (on the other hand, some children work much better in a group situation...). DIY is also cheaper, though we spent several hundred pounds on books and 3 mock tests.

Personally I enjoyed getting to grips with the 11+ and spending so much time with DS but it wasn't stress-free. I think it might depend a lot on the mix of personalities in your family, not to mention how much time you can devote to it, but it is definitely do-able - though we met several people who told us it wasn't!

I totally agree with u regarding time and flexibility. We did every day and how much we wanted.
We did at our speed and covered topics more deeply if necessary. I've never regretted in doing even it can be tiring

[aslongastheirhappy]

Absolutely! We have with our DD who was 29th girl of 1060. She really wanted it for herself and she worked hard during the summer holidays before the test. We did it for our DS this Summer but it was harder as he wasn't as focused... (Football? Test paper? Football?!), so I found it much harder as a parent. I was shattered by the end of the holidays. The other thing is that you do feel a weight of responsibility. It's you, and your child and the test papers. Without sounding too prissy, I did find it was very handy for other parents who were able to question the quality of the tutoring when their child didn't get in! But there are benefits too! Because the buck stops with you, I think it makes you careful to know what areas they are good at and which areas are poor. I know parents who used a tutor and left everything to them. So, good luck, it can be done, it can be stressy, but there's nothing like the feeling, if they pass, of knowing that your child and you have walked the journey together. I know I was proud. Of both of us if I'm honest. Warning: it might also show you how thick you really are. I thought I was reasonably intelligent until non-verbal training proved otherwise!

[ninanina]

[quote="Warning: it might also show you how thick you really are. I thought I was reasonably intelligent until non-verbal training proved otherwise![/quote]

True! When we started I was faster than my dc in everything, towards the end he was faster in every single thing: nvr, calculations and comprehensions and scoring better than me too if we did ANY tests together!

[Aethel]

We DIY'd and are awaiting results bow (gulp!)

The plus is that you can fit it in around your needs: I've got other children and didn't want them hauled way across town for hours while DD went to tutorials, also there were some areas she needed more work than others which I'm not sure would have been catered for with "Standard" classes that are popular around our way.


The down side is that if she doesn't pass the mums at school who did tutor are likely to pity us "for not getting a tutor, it would have made all the difference"....

Sigh!

But it did seem to feel like what we needed. And now I have all the books for DC2 next year....aargh.....

[DIYdad]

We decided against tutoring my DS and he has been fairly successful in results released so far this year.

Our reasons for DIY

• - We, as parents, were committed to help DS succeed and adjusted our personal routines to suit his. For example, I stopped running in the morning because DS was more productive earlier in the day and could use that time to his benefit.
  - We remembered that kids are still 10 and therefore, exams will not cover Rocket science or Brain surgery.
  - Youtube has plenty of videos to teach tricky stuff and it is free.
  - We met a couple of tutors, but felt that they could add only a little value - thanks to internet and forums such as this, we knew as much about formats, type of questions etc as the tutors.
  - Some of the tutoring academies have no control on number of students - a friend's DD went to a class that had 14 students. As a result, the pace of the Class was determined by the pace of the slowest student.

Important - If you want to DIY, be prepared to spend time with your DD/DS. I put in as much as effort as my DS in terms of planning, researching, organising, correcting, teaching etc.

It is a long journey and kids usually respond amazingly well to parents than they would to an outsider. I believe this has made us more closer with our DS and will always look back at this with fond memories.

Good luck.