Last minute confessions..........

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nicolajane1971
Posts: 156
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2012 4:55 pm

Last minute confessions..........

Post by nicolajane1971 »

It's mighty quiet here on the Birmingham forum, Kent is heaving with the confessions of parents last minute cramming (or not) over the summer holidays.

Shall we all confess to our sins, worries, prayers, amusement?

My DS is a late starter, total 8 weeks, we're doing around 8 papers a week at the moment along with a couple of tutor sessions to cover areas of the curriculum that he has not yet learn't. We seem to be bumbling along and actually, the closer it gets, the more relaxed I get, not because he is giving outstanding results (did have a mental dance on the 86% English paper as he was 55% three weeks ago!), but because he has worked so hard with very little complaint. He is a superstar regardless of the results, but aren't they all?

Off on our hols at the weekend so the pace will drop somewhat but at least there will be extra hands to help out.

Happy holidays everyone and may your superstars be as chilled as mine. Must say this journey has really not helped my Pinot consumption, taken to buying boxes now!
Manana
Posts: 710
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 3:22 pm

Re: Last minute confessions..........

Post by Manana »

nicolajane1971 wrote:It's mighty quiet here on the Birmingham forum, Kent is heaving with the confessions of parents last minute cramming (or not) over the summer holidays.

Shall we all confess to our sins, worries, prayers, amusement?

My DS is a late starter, total 8 weeks, we're doing around 8 papers a week at the moment along with a couple of tutor sessions to cover areas of the curriculum that he has not yet learn't. We seem to be bumbling along and actually, the closer it gets, the more relaxed I get, not because he is giving outstanding results (did have a mental dance on the 86% English paper as he was 55% three weeks ago!), but because he has worked so hard with very little complaint. He is a superstar regardless of the results, but aren't they all?

Off on our hols at the weekend so the pace will drop somewhat but at least there will be extra hands to help out.

Happy holidays everyone and may your superstars be as chilled as mine. Must say this journey has really not helped my Pinot consumption, taken to buying boxes now!
Eeek-8 paper a week plus tutoring! When are you squeezing those in?

We're doing two papers a week, plus some 'bits and pieces'! I'm trying to focus on spelling and vocab at the moment really. I think DS would break down if I tried 8 papers a week though.
nicolajane1971
Posts: 156
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2012 4:55 pm

Re: Last minute confessions..........

Post by nicolajane1971 »

I know, it's not ideal but we only started when they broke up for Summer - I guess the good thing about last minute preparation is he hasn't got bored or resentful about it.

I work from home too so my younger kids have been dispatched off to holiday club three days a week and DS gets lots of lovely quality time with me, that's a novelty in itself!

After this I don't think he'll complain about his miniscule amounts of homework from school!
lottie78
Posts: 112
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2012 11:13 am

Re: Last minute confessions..........

Post by lottie78 »

Hi all,

We only started in march and don't feel remotely prepared. With Ds coming from an average primary school where 11plus isn't even mentioned let alone any work done towards it I feel on the back foot before we start!!

Ds has done so well, we have had tears, tantrums shouting matches etc and he's still only 9 but he has come on leaps and bounds. So regardless of result he should have a good year 6.

Some days his confidence is through the roof other days he says he's thick, it has been such an up and down journey for us both. I often feel like the worst mom in the world and he's enduring an awful punishment for being bright!!
He does understand how important it is but also it's not the end of the world if he doesn't go to grammar school.
I just want to know that at least we tried and will have no regrets.
With so little time left we are doing abit most days but having days off here and there to go out and enjoy the holidays.
There is a definite correlation between time left till exam and my wine consumption.... I wonder if I can make some Maths questions up using this information???
Oh well not too long left!!
Manana
Posts: 710
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 3:22 pm

Re: Last minute confessions..........

Post by Manana »

lottie78 wrote:Hi all,

We only started in march and don't feel remotely prepared. With Ds coming from an average primary school where 11plus isn't even mentioned let alone any work done towards it I feel on the back foot before we start!!

Ds has done so well, we have had tears, tantrums shouting matches etc and he's still only 9 but he has come on leaps and bounds. So regardless of result he should have a good year 6.

Some days his confidence is through the roof other days he says he's thick, it has been such an up and down journey for us both. I often feel like the worst mom in the world and he's enduring an awful punishment for being bright!!
He does understand how important it is but also it's not the end of the world if he doesn't go to grammar school.
I just want to know that at least we tried and will have no regrets.
With so little time left we are doing abit most days but having days off here and there to go out and enjoy the holidays.
There is a definite correlation between time left till exam and my wine consumption.... I wonder if I can make some Maths questions up using this information???
Oh well not too long left!!

How about a ratio question!? For every 75cl bottle of dry white wine in the house, mummy and daddy share it with a ratio of 4:1. If there are five bottles each week, how squiffy does mummy get ;)
lottie78
Posts: 112
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2012 11:13 am

Re: Last minute confessions..........

Post by lottie78 »

Lol, Ds would be confused at mommy sharing a bottle of wine!!!
nicolajane1971
Posts: 156
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2012 4:55 pm

Re: Last minute confessions..........

Post by nicolajane1971 »

How funny, DH drinks red therefore I drink white, no sharing, ever!

I certainly get that 'not remotely prepared' feeling, and you're right, all we can do is know that we tried. I do have a huge amount of guilt about not making the decision until the end of term BUT, at the end of year 4 he was bright enough to do the exam but categorically would not have applied himself. I was utterly convinced he'd had a mediocre year 5 only to find out when I saw his report that it had been the most amazing year in terms of maturity and application...... and then his Head teacher collared me to double check that he was doing the 11 plus. Whoops. I must chuckle though. When I said he hadn't been tutored, she sweepingly said, 'Oh just buy some papers, he'll be fine', what a crock of £$%^! How much is not covered in curriculum?

I'm definitely taking the 'on a wing and a prayer' attitude, and let's be honest, it doesn't matter how well or how badly they do in the run up, it's on the day that counts.
nicolajane1971
Posts: 156
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2012 4:55 pm

Re: Last minute confessions..........

Post by nicolajane1971 »

I also keep telling myself that the Birmingham numbers must be way down this year................... we can but hope!

That's on the basis that a) quiet forum and b) it's a low birth year

Wishful thinking. 8)
ChessDadPlus
Posts: 28
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2012 11:02 pm

Re: Last minute confessions..........

Post by ChessDadPlus »

nicolajane1971 wrote:It's mighty quiet here on the Birmingham forum, Kent is heaving with the confessions of parents last minute cramming (or not) over the summer holidays.

Shall we all confess to our sins, worries, prayers, amusement?

My DS is a late starter, total 8 weeks, we're doing around 8 papers a week at the moment along with a couple of tutor sessions to cover areas of the curriculum that he has not yet learn't. We seem to be bumbling along and actually, the closer it gets, the more relaxed I get, not because he is giving outstanding results (did have a mental dance on the 86% English paper as he was 55% three weeks ago!), but because he has worked so hard with very little complaint. He is a superstar regardless of the results, but aren't they all?

!
What types of papers, questions are you tackling and level of difficulty?

Btw congrats on the improvement to 86%
nicolajane1971
Posts: 156
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2012 4:55 pm

Re: Last minute confessions..........

Post by nicolajane1971 »

Hi chess dad,

Thanks for your words of wisdom on my various posts.

Given our short time scale the priority has been to fill the gaps, predominantly done by the tutor, then practise papers etc with me.

We have a whole variety of practice papers to include Bond, Letts, GL, AFN and Susan Daughtrey, no idea on the level of difficulty, we are just trying to expose him to as much as possible, whilst trying to get the message across that he may see none/some of these in the exam, but most importantly he has the 'technique' to have a go at anything he may see.

I have printed loads of past papers from various grammars which we will work through over the next couple of weeks, then of course we are trying reinforce his mental maths/times tables/vocab as well.

Whilst being an avid reader, his preferred books are by no means 'classics' (unless you include Cherub etc!), at this late stage there is no benefit to forcing him to read outside of his preferred genre, he is doing so much already with little complaint.

By the way chess dad, you have left me somewhat intrigued with what your 11 plus journey has been, would you be kind enough to share?

If I've missed anything really obvious, your comments and suggestions are always gratefully received.
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