New Year 12 starters parent support thread (snappy title eh?)

step
It's the first time they've done an essay in R.S so to not give any guidance is hard for DD as without a structure she waffles and it makes no sense

I think DS is doing fine. He doesn't tell me anything though. He's studying which is presumably a good sign (but I have to leave him to it or he gets annoyed).

Ah well. Probably for the best that they're not telling them how to structure it (and thereby what to include and what to argue). Having students arriving at university who feel put out that I expect them to do this themselves makes me very cross.

How is everyone's week going? DD has a test tomorrow on her birthday so is whining but he's told her the question but won't tell them how to structure it?

Kitten I've replied but I'm not very useful I'm afraid.

DD got a B in one of her English essays but gutted after the A* at GCSE but teacher said that's Max they could get as they didn't have contextual knowledge to get an A. She's such a people pleaser

Dd has another maths test tomorrow. She's not worried. She's still not getting much in the way of homework and is apparently doing it all in her free periods.

star
I'll bare the HappyBirthday in mind for Wednesday
DD was to a local cinema a black beach and lots of waterfalls it's the land of fire and trolls

Happy Birthday to both you and your DD Fantasy!

I'm quite envious about DS's Iceland trip myself. I've been but it was a very short visit and I didn't get to do anything interesting.

ohyou
Going to see bad moms I think or sausage party with friends then on Saturday she'all get one of her presents and we're going out for a family meal.
I think I hid one of her presents in her suitcase rest of them she knows about surprise it's makeup
It's also my birthday on Wednesday!

DD misses doing geography star Iceland is amazing and so so cool! DDs pictures are out of this world, Food is dire though.

DD is reluctant to go back as her birthday is Wednesday and she's the big 18!

I have homework too and work-work. Nothing more motivating than the idea of cleaning the kitchen to get me sitting down with my books!

starfleet I am enrolling on the same geography course as your DS immediately, Iceland! Lucky, lucky things.

DS is spending Thursday in Manchester (somewhere around the Etihad studying urban regeneration - where there seem to be tonnes of projects) and then Salford Quays. Friday they are in Liverpool and at Ainsdale Beach looking at the sand dune ecosystem.

He is looking forward more to the one he goes on at October half term to Iceland.

At university level there's been massive inflation in the quality (and price) of geography field trips. The pinnacle of my geography degree was a coach trip to Galway. Now the same department goes to Majorca. Other departments now go to New York, Cuba, etc. Although I can think of one department where the physical geographers still go to Bangor.

Ds1 is doing ok so far. They have had one test, he was pleased as he found it easy but has heeded his teachers warning that at some point they will all find something difficult so don't be despondent when it happens. Also that some may find this now and some later.

He has made some new friends already, study periods are being put to good use getting to know each other. Some work has been done but it's early days. Ds1 has said that some of the students from other schools are having to do loads as they used different exam boards for gcse and haven't covered the material in the same depth as those who were at the school. Fortunately the other students are happy to help when asked.

After reading this thread we had a chat about universities and he has booked his first open day! It will be a learning curve for both of us so good to go to one early I think so that we have a few months to get our heads around it.

MrSlant I hang around the kitchen cleaning things while DS is doing his homework at the dining table. I'm far enough away not to annoy but close enough to see when he's typing furiously which means he's chatting with his mates rather than doing the work he's supposed to be doing. He has form for complaining about how long his homework takes, it would be much quicker if he spent his time actually doing it rather than sharing cat videos.

Yes, MrSlant, methinks you protest too much!

I went to Clacton for Biology field trip.

MrSlant don't feel you have to explain your sore arse and its evaluation of homework workload. We're all friends here.

Ellen, well done to your DS2, that's wonderful.

DS1 had the graphical calculator, no idea why, I rather thought it was for Physics but probably completely wrong. I remember he got it off eBay.

DS1 did Geology rather Geography, he had nice field trips in the Lake District, then they joined up with Geography for a week on France. This annoyed me slightly as it was orginally a cheaper option in the UK when he had signed up to the A level!

We went to Skipton.