BTEC/T level/other vocational 25/26

Nooooooo!! I’m sure that was unbelievably stressful!!, but the thought of that is do horrifying, it’s on the border of “gallows humour”! Thank God you located them! ( in our house, DH would most probably have binned the bag, and been 🤷‍♀️ !)!!!

The earrings tickled me, too!! You go @OhCrumbsWhereNowJnr!! I bet they’re lovely! It’s good she gets to wear them…. I hope she loves them just as much, now that they are “legal”!!! ( not having had a DD, and no “ inappropriate skirt earrings/skirt length/whatever”. I have always wondered what you are meant to reply with!!)

I hope today goes really well, and no problems with the trains…. 🤞💕

Ah! Thank you for that!, I see different spellings everywhere, good to get clarification. 😸

Yes, I can see the potential overlap there.. sounds like an interesting job!

Ah, thank you so much! I will do! At present, all I know is that DSnow19 got him on the bus successfully and he got there! Oh. And, of course, a request for money as “I’m allowed out for lunch”! ..

I’m so sorry DD is having a wobble…… Is it much further to go than she is used to? I think it’s easy for us to forget things like distance away being a huge stress factor, in already anxious DC ( or adult- even tho I’m part Australian, I felt incredibly unsettled out there when travelling, the time distance made me realise just how far away from home I was). I think dry run will help, and hopefully, as you said, it would be perfect if she is able to be distracted by positive and excited college thoughts ….. so lots of 🤞🤞🤞💕….!

Oooooh! I so hope that that goes well 🤞! That would, indeed, be an excellent situation! Not only a burst of positivity after the other day, but, if they had the same…… 🤞🙏🤞😸..

Hope today goes well for your DS @Sisublondie, do let us know how it goes. DD's starting to have a wobble about the commute to college and how she's going to be a distance from home (separation anxiety has been a big part of her anxiety in general). I'm doing the journey with her on Thursday and I'm just praying she'll get so distracted by starting her course and making friends that she'll be fine after that.

I taught 'Health and Social Care' but also dabbled in maths GCSE and English functional skills. There is some overlap with the various courses.

BTW it is BTEC. I see lots of different spellings.

Many years ago there were BEC and TEC courses, BEC was 'business education council and TEC was a Technical education council.

Dd's course (animal care) has v strict rules on practical days, no false nails etc. But she didn't wear any of the banned stuff normally anyway.

DD off on train... wearing the earrings she and her school music teacher fought over for 3 years... looking forward to no 'inappropriate uniform' emails in my inbox (actually momentarily sad about that in a way for about 3 seconds).

Obviously she had lost the lanyard and pass issued at enrolment, so total trauma yesterday evening until found in the bag of random crap I had sent upstairs to be 'put away'... 🙄

The person dd knows who is doing her course is coming over today to see dd -
I'm hoping they have the same timetable. They might even be able to travel in together 🙏

Good luck @Sisublondieds!
🍀

Well, the Big Day has arrived for DS. 🙄🙀… he’s subdued, and “ tired”. Eek. Hopefully he managed some sleep, he went to bed about 9pm, so my fear is that he’s woken, and had a second wind.. Anyway! Let’s go!!

Good Luck to any others starting today!! 🍀 🤞🙏…

I shall report back later 😸!

@swampwitch0…

Ah, I’m so sorry you’re feeling crappy…….. I know what you mean… it’s a bit overwhelming at the moment, isn’t it? DS18 went to take his lovely GF home this morning and breezily said, as I went to give her her usual hug goodbye, “ Yep, make sure you hug her, as you probably won’t see her till Christmas “… I hadn’t even thought that, of course, she is also going to Uni, and the whole lot just hit me and I did well up, and have a bit of a weep after they left… 🙄.

I think that you need to get as good a nights sleep as possible, and try and think of a way to treat yourself tomorrow, however little it may be. Now, my “old” vice is not just reading newspapers… but getting them delivered!🙀 I know! Shocking! You can “bloody read them on line, Mother!” But, we have no shop in the village.. Anyway, if you have an equivalent to that, or can escape to a bakery or something like that, try and treat yourself to that, tomorrow….

You are NOT old, and hopefully a good nights sleep 💤 and some time to treat yourself and to give yourself time to focus on something other then the upcoming week, and DD, will hopefully lift your spirits a bit 🤞🙏🤞….💕x

@OhCrumbsWhereNow, @DreamingofRaining

Thank you! We have Life360, not the best here in the countryside, the other day I got a “SisuJr has left the house” and “ he’s returned” simultaneously! 😈… but definitely works when it does! I find it can be accurate when it’s working, so, yes, phew to that. I’ll check Find My Phone, very good point, I hadn’t thought about that.
Nor had I thought about AirTags! So, a huge thanks 🙏 for that. I bought AirTags and the Lifr360 Tiles ( I think that’s their name) for DS18 when he went travelling, so I’ll purloin those, if he’s not taking them to Edinburgh ( which he should!).

I hadn’t thought about transport apps, either! Or the “ what ifs”, so, again, a huge 🙏to that!

Torches! 🔦 Well! Again, hadn’t thought, because of phone, but in rain, or when phone shoved in pocket, myriad of reasons, torch better! So, @swampwitch0, I tried to find one of many small torches 🔦 or head torch ( no street lights where we live, so good for 🐩 walks in rain), found zero, so Amazon delivering tomorrow and that’s sorted!!

Power banks - I could depress myself before bed, and revisit the times when I have bought them Anker Powerbanks and 1ft nifty cable and I wrote names on all, to avoid mine being swiped. Got to be at least ten floating round somewhere….. But, yes! I think I’ll have to have an amnesty, and to make sure DS has one on Monday.

🙏😻

@Sisublondie
Thanks for asking.
I'm feeling pretty rubbish, tbh
Very tired, very fed up, very old! 😬
I'm feeling quite anxious about next week - hoping dd is ok

Oh, an APP?! Of COURSE there will be an App!!! Which I’m clearly just about to search for! 😈😹…. ( I’m still getting weekly updates on DS’x Sparx ( or whatever it is!) maths homework! Apparently, he’s not been completing it recently! 😹)?.

Yes, how are you feeling, now? I really hope your sinuses are back to healthy…. 🤞

Dry run certainly will be better when feeling better! How long go you think it will take, or is it a wait and see?🤷‍♀️

Dd will have a powerbank
We have life360 on her phone
We've got a small torch somewhere...

@Sisublondie
I know what you mean...
I'm quite irritated by their comments, but am trying not to let dd see that.
She's just done some online intro stuff and downloaded the college app 😬
Dry run public transport wise is going to be Tuesday, as I wasn't well last week 🤧

@swampwitch0

Eeek, ummmm, that’s a lot of different courses to try out in a couple of years…..😼🙄….. and for one of them to be at DDs college, certainly sounds like a trigger for her. It sounds as if she isn’t really suited to any type of course, and maybe really would love to be DD age again, with all her new life at college literally waiting to start…….but knowing she herself would probably still be in the same position she currently is. It’s a real shame to have to leave a course because you literally aren’t attending or doing the work ( especially if she had asked for support). So, it’s most probably a trigger, DS’s college, I mean. It looks like you have handled the situation really well! It must have been annoying for them to have said such things to DD, after the careful choice she made to go there ( I would certainly have found it so). It definitely sounds like the younger acting girls, are absolutely not ready to go to a non-school environment and would not fit in, or thrive there, at all. Maybe they are also worried the large campus may be too “ relaxed” with their religious views.

Well, I hope DD agrees with what you have said, and isn’t letting what they said take the shine off her excitement. They are obviously all good friends at their hobby, so I hope they don’t continue with any comments like this, especially the older girl! 🙄

😹😹😹 as to your DD and “ uniform”!! When one of the instructors at enrolment mentioned it, it was literally when we were in limbo as to the course, and I thought “ Oh.No. What The……?!”.. but he very quickly went on to say…. Hoodie…etc…! And, the relief!! Until not that long ago, hoodies were ALL DS wore! ( luckily his village primary let him in uniform, as opposed to sweater). He wears the hood up all the time, he finds it a comfort and mentally can “zone out” wearing it, similar to how he wears his headphones. Plus, he hasn’t mentioned it yet, but I’m sure he agrees with me, that it will help him “blend” with his course mates, and he won’t be stressing about what to wear. Saying that, either of us have seen the uniform yet! 🤞🙀😹

Have you got any of the following:
Find My Phone
Life360
AirTag (in bottom of school bag)

I have all of them for DD. Life360 is the least useful.

Also ensure that his phone has any transport Apps and he knows how to use them! V useful for change of plans or routes.

We also have:
Torches - one on phone, one that attaches to bag with a carabiner, and you can get hats with inbuilt headlamps. V handy in the winter mornings and evenings.

Personal alarms - again, one that attaches to the bag and you just yank to set it off.

Power pack - because phones run out of juice at the worst times.

@Sisublondie in prep for my DD when she started college we ran “what if” things like what if the bus doesn’t turn up, what if you miss the bus / train, what if someone follows you or you lose your phone, or the battery goes flat. She did in her first term have broken down train, and cancelled train home had to use a different bus. So we added two different bus and train Apps and loaded payment details in. Checked she knew how to use Google naps to walk to somewhere new etc.

So! It’s pouring down here today, DS and I did a “dry run” for Monday. He can either get a lift to the next town, or, there is a college bus from the next village…., which then goes up an A road to the town where his college is.
a lift to the bus stop is only about 5 minutes, but he could walk it… the only problem is the shortest route is down a country lane, which I would not even want him doing in daylight, but absolutely no way I’d let him do that in the dark. You can walk down a well know tourist trail between the villages, then down the hill to our house, (which would take about 20 minutes, or so) so I’m impressing on him that if he wants to walk back from the bus stop, he MUST do this route… especially in winter months. He does not have good road sense at all with his ADHD/ASD, and I worry if he is out walking anywhere not within our village and hills etc. Anyway! It went well, we were laughing and joking, and he is in a very good excited mood, so that is all it takes for me to be so!

Now, I’m just hoping he gets a good nights sleep tonight! And wondering about tomorrow, and things I need to maybe chat to him about before Monday…..

Does anyone have any tips they are giving their DC for their first day?! I’ve not done the “ walking into a room of strangers” for years! Tho, I do have to do it fairly regularly at work, but more usually with only a couple of people…

Anyway, hope that everyone is having what is probably a last chilled weekend, before college starts!!!! 🙀😹

Well quite, but in an animal course ...

Any person who asks DD about her pets might regret doing so – once she starts on about our puppy she won't shut up! 😂

@SuperTrooper1111 Pets would be a good conversation starter on animal care courses....

DD thankfully couldn't give a rat's arse what anyone she knows thinks about BTechs – she's like her dad in that respect, not caring about other people's opinions, whereas I'm much more of a people pleaser! I love that about her.

She is nervous about starting and getting to know new people – she's got her induction all day Thursday, then lessons begin proper on Friday. Hoping all the animals on site should be a great distraction/conversation starter.