revision-any ideas, help, or do i just hit him with the books!

[jollymum]

14 year old, idea of revision is to "do" two hours a day. Good we say, this is after loads of moaning etc. 1 hour 59 minutes of looking at book, says he's going out. We'll test you, we say and he gets maybe 2 out of ten questions right. goes into rant about our school failures etc and then says he won't do any more revision as he's obviously not doing it to our satisfaction! We've got up early, bought a ring binder and relevant bits and are prepared to sit down, write down in each subject what he has to revise and go through it with him, bearing in mind we have three other kids and a geriatric dad living with us. any ideas please to be rasonable parents, step families also involved...

[jollymum]

reasonable,and I was brill at spelling at school!!!!

[happymerryberries]

Break it into half our sessions with a 'reward' of 10 minutes break to play with computer, listen to music etc. Make a large pplan to put on the wall and set realistic objectives for each session. He can tick them off when he has finished. Make sure he changes what he revises so that he covers everything he needs. The CEG revision guides are excellent for science and cost about £3.50, small bite sized bits and they are mildly amusing. BBC bitesize is also a good revision tool, with test yourself questions to check understanding.....just make sure that he sticks to that website and doesn't waste time surfing!

[happymerryberries]

Hour! Plan

[JanH]

At 14 what's he revising for, Jollymum?

[happymerryberries]

He could be working for GCSE modular exams, our school does this. They add up to 30% of the final result so need to be taken fairly seriously.

[jollymum]

They're after xmas exams, but I could open a can of worms here about private schools etc. according to him they're not as important as summer exams! He's in his first year of GSCE's and his school is top here for exams results. need I say more, he just about squeezd in with the entrance exam and is working against clever kids. His reaction, as on numerous threads before, is to play the fool and justify this wuth the fact that he's "thick" and not lazy. The school have put him on report again for organisation sklls but even i had to laugh when his teacher commented that it would help his report status if he could find/bothered to bring in his report card because he's lost it! Joking aside, very stressful here For us adults and he is not helping. Schools advise and this is true, to an innocent comment about how will the "thick/lazy/too rich and couldn't give a shit" kids not pull down the average on the exam league tables, was "Oh, well, they all have private tuition1' what the hell do we (well ex dh) pay 6k a year for?! oh, or they expel them.... i seriously couldn't do a star chart for him, he's nearly 15 and would PHSL. If I even try to talk physcobabble, sympathetically etc he just
laughs and asks me if I've been watching Living TV or Oprah Winfey repeats.

[happymerryberries]

I bet that the school takes both sets of exams seriously, and I think he may be spinning you a bit of a line!

I see the 'mess about to hide my probelms' every day in school. Key is to set him very short achievable goals and praise his results not him directly, for some bizzare reason kids will accept that more easily than you praising him.

[aloha]

OMG, makes me so grateful to have been a 70s kid for whom the idea of revision never crossed my mind until O levels and even then I could hardly be bothered and my parents certainly didn't get involved (not neglectful, I just think that back then - born 63 - this was perfectly normal). I would have been just the same as your ds at 14. Sorry, I know this isn't very helpful, but I am so shocked at the amount of extra-curricular work kids are expected to put in at a really young age. I am still horrified by the idea of homework at primary school - I think it's dreadful. This isn't a criticism of you - I'm sure you are all feeling tremendous pressure, but really, doesn't this system need looking at?

[mumeeee]

My 17 yearold DD has exams in January and she has been revising most of christmas although she has taken some breaks. Some of her exams are As resits others are modules for A2. We do encourage her to revise and to work out a revision timetable. I would never test her on her revision unless she asked and would not work out a revision timetable for her. My 15 year old DD has just started her GCSE courses and again I would encorage her and ask about course work but woud not take over. I have found over the years it is better to do this as it is good for them to work out things for themselves and it just winds them up if we keep on nagging at them.If they want help with anything then we are available for them.

[jollymum]

yes, but if i left it to him, he wouldn't do any at all and then make me fel guilty for being a crap mother!thanks for all the advice, keep it coming and Happy New Year to all