GCSEs suddenly over. Laziness ahead!

[poiuy]

So 16yr old son no longer has revision to do. His results will be out in July and it is touch and go whether he will achieve 5 GCSEs at Level 4 and above, which kids kind of need to open doors to their next life chapter. He has a place at college to do a non-academic subject, which he will do at Level 2 or Level 3 depending on his grades. What are other parents in this situation doing? Should we let them just sit back and do very little until September?! Anxiety already kicking in and it is not helped by the fact that we are all confined to home. It seems such a waste and I' m not good at letting the kids just sit around with no purpose. I've tried suggesting a schedule or routine, getting some exercise etc but Xbox is already the big addiction.
I'd be interested to know how other parents approach this very long period post GCSEs before college/6th Form in the current climate!!
I've also got a 22 year old son so they are both very happy but it does not feel quite right that they are doing so little and having no purpose!
Perhaps I should be grateful that we are all well and ok, but surely this is also a time to be grateful for that and strive for something or at least to help others?

[Judashascomeintosomemoney]

Our school is still sending GCSE work (for the subjects where they hadn’t finished the work) right up until each subject is completed. As they would have done had they been in school. And they do expect it done. Each day has deadlines for work to be digitally handed in. Once each subject is completed, because no revision is now required, they will be sending Year 12 A Level work (or equivalent) for the courses each student wishes to study. And they expect that done to deadline too. Parents are getting a daily email update from school so we know what our children are supposed to be doing. All teachers, who are well (including those self isolating), are available by email, and phone of necessary, to help the students. My two seem to have done more work the last three days than when they were in school! In our case, they have the benefit of not having two plus hours travelling time so they’re also getting free time. As there is no revision as such, they will have a ‘holiday’ over Easter.

[afromom]

I'll be interested to see others suggestions, DP and I were having this exact conversation about DS this morning. He doesn't want to do anything other than watch things on his phone and play Xbox. His PE teacher (also his tutor who he loves) is posting sports/fitness related challenges on the school Instagram for them to have a go at and upload, but he's not even interested in that (normally very sporty and active).
We've decided to give him this week then start forcing some interaction with us and give him sone jobs to do. Given his current mood it's going to be tough, but I don't want him sinking into a depression over the next few weeks with no focus.

[ZarkingBell]

Mine are having lots of game time, which is fine. One still has school work.

The one going to college next year is learning some skills on line which should be useful next year, and in his chosen field.

Are there any on-line courses they could do to teach themselves a new skill? Doesn't need to be qualification related if that's not an option. Learn how to mend something? Play guitar? Learn to cook their favourite foods? I'm also teaching mine improved household skills whether they like it or not! The floor cleaning has gone quite well but the loo cleaning still leaves a lot to be desired.

[ZoeandChandon]

My dd is still being set work online and having to return it by deadlines.

[soniamumsnet]

Hi @poiuy we're moving this over to the Education section for you.

[ItWasntMyFault]

My 16 yr old ds has had work set but has refused to do it and its impossible to make him. He's got a college place lined up and got very stressed with his mocks but should get reasonable predicted grades.
He's spending a lot of time watching tv and chatting to friends online. He's also been going for a long cycle ride each day and yesterday did a lot of gardening for me.

[Vietnammark]

I thought that they were going to allocated grades, but if the kids were not happy with the grades they had the option of sitting the exams at a slightly later date.

I wouldn’t assume they could pick and chose whichever exams to sit based on their allocated grades. If this is so then why not get them to study hard in at least a few chosen subjects so they can improve on their allocated results.

[Vietnammark]

Ahhh... I would assume......

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Still getting work set here with deadlines so the teachers ensure they have plenty of evidence for the grades. Five one hour lessons a day at school - five hours of work at home. Plus DD has signed up to an on-line psychology course with the university of Liverpool as she is not doing A-levels, but was really interested in Psychology combined with our daily exercise, music lessons and dance lessons on zoom. Then socialising with friends by Skype her days are not that different to normal just spent at home.

[BubblesBuddy]

I think there will be huge differences between schools regarding what work is set and marked. Expectations will differ. Teachers should be assessing the y11 work they have set. Some will just look at past work though I assume and the gcse grades will be based on that.

Taking exams in the future without revision (post 16 courses already started could make this difficult) and teaching not being available will possibly not help grades. Best to try and work now in preparation for the future and all schools should be ensuring DC can still do their best.

[yomellamoHelly]

My son has shed loads of school work still to do. Was meant to be exam week, so he's had 3 exams a day to complete and submit all week and a project that needs submitting on Friday which has taken the evenings. Discovered today exams extend to Monday, so that will be stressful too. Feel like I'm constantly policing him to make sure he does what he needs to. Real atmosphere here at times. (Though he does apologise once he's calmed down.) Added to that he's been really stressed about this whole situation which hasn't helped with coping with all this.

[TheletterZ]

If they are at home and not doing school work then they need to start helping with the house, set up a cooking rota, housework, etc...

Any gardening jobs that need doing?

Other than that, make sure they get out of the house into the garden and some daily exercise (are they competitive?) and at least chatting to fiends online stops isolation and loneliness.

[afromom]

DS has been outside practising his football skills for the past two days so that's good. The head of PE (his tutor) has now set a weekly exercise challenge and also told the kids to send in videos showing off their skills, so he has engaged with that which I am really pleased about! I'm hoping after this week he will be more bored and looking for things to do!

[Juja]

We had this challenge for the first couple of days with a growing addiction to Minecraft. We resolved it by having a planning meeting for the whole family with a large sheet of paper. Discussed Projects / Targets and Chores. After lots of discrete agreed everyone needed to do five hours purposeful activity a day. Minecraft was ruled not purposeful! Does include school work / learning a new skill online / cleaning / cooking rota and then everyone does 1 hr exercise.