Parents of Year 12s - exam time again! (oh no!)

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Just noticed we were running out of thread!

Dd1 still has no interest in learning to drive. She'd do it if I booked her lessons but so far on a waiting list. Wish somewhere did intensives round here, that'd be really useful.

We were lucky in that one of the dog walking ladies has a child who is in the same year but a lot older than DS so I knew from her that the local instructors had waiting lists many months long and we had his name down in advance of him turning 17. I do like living here but public transport is dire. If his timetable has days where he only needs to be there for the odd lesson then he would be able to go in just for that rather than being tied to the school bus. I do sometimes take him in, wait and bring him home but it's not very good in terms of independence and goes against my line of "I am not your personal servant".

This week's excuse for not being able to start the personal statement is "I'm busy with my job" which is true enough except that at some point he will need to sharpen up his time management skills and fit it in somewhere. He'll be fine once he's started, I recognise procrastination when I see it as I am the queen of it.

MrsAwesomeDragon Fingers crossed that goes well, we've been through it in the last few years and making his last working day Christmas Eve was just the cherry on top. It was the uncertainty that did for me, I never realised how stable my life was until it wasn't.

Thanks for the sympathy folks. It is the uncertainty that is getting to me, not being able to make plans beyond the next couple of weeks. My job will support us as a family, but we will need to tighten our belts til he find another job, if he loses this one. As an added downside, he's going to be working from home till any decisions are made, which means dd2 and I won't be able to have lazy days at home, or arrange friends coming to play because he'll be working in the living room

I'm glad everyone is enjoying their summer things, I wish dd's summer work experience hasn't been cancelled. She appears to just be stagnating in her bedroom all holidays, resisting any attempts to get her out and doing stuff.

Sorry to hear that MsAwesome. Hope it resolves satisfactorily. Yes it can be assessed differently, but not sure how it's done. There is masses of time for it all to be sorted as you can start applying around March/April.

DD had her first driving lesson last week and enjoyed it. DH put her on our insurance, this seems a bargain at £56 til the end of next March, if you ignore the £££££ we have paid out for DS1 to be on the insurance already. Already clashing over use, DS1 is taking the car away overnight so DD can't practice for 2 days.

The instructor told her to take the theory test as soon as possible , so DD promptly booked it for next week. Then ordered an app and started learning it. Why, why, put yourself under so much pressure? She's not even been through town yet, just round our estate.

Yesterday's trip to visit a far flung uni was postponed as DS2 fractured his arm on Monday. However on the positive side this may be good as it was St. Andrews. Have told DD about PPs experience, and to email them.

You sound a bit glum MrsAD, there's such a lot of pressure on the summer holidays being a productive yet fun and relaxed time when you work so intensively during the term time. So it intensifies the feelings when things aren't going as well as you'd hope.

Is there anyway your dh can work in your bedroom?

When dh was made redundant it felt as though the bottom fell out of our world. He was the main breadwinner. He ended up with a much better job in terms of personal satisfaction and the relief of not having to face redundancy was enormous. It's a bit tricky, he works in our spare bedroom, but it's something we've got used to.

I'm sorry if I sounded smug about dds placement. It was an opportunity she was very fortunate to have, but it was insensitive of me to be so braggy.

lol at your dd booking her theory test next week Raspberry, there's nothing like getting things out of the way We aren't brave enough to take dd out yet.

Missed your further update MsAwesome. Fingers crossed it's all ok, but rubbish for you in the meantime.

MsAwesome my dp was made redundant we contacted Student Loans and they agreed to a change of year. It was actually quite a pain free process.

Thanks bebumba, I'm glad to hear it's a relatively easy process with the student loans, I shall stop worrying about that now.

He can't work in the bedroom as his computer is in the living room, and there's no space to relocate it to our bedroom. I'm sure it will all be fine, and tbh if he works from home during term time it will make our lives much easier. He'd be able to take dd2 to school before starting work, and possibly collect her some days. It's just during the holidays that it's more difficult, but we'll make the best of it, days out aren't exactly a hardship.

Signing in - again - this only 5 threads showing in TIO is all sorts of rubbish.

Finally got Open Days booked for the Autumn term.

DD is now back to thinking of doing Law. Does anyone know anything about the Law Society Aptitude Test?

I've got loads of threads showing in TIO. How strange.

Ursula - is that the LNAT? I might be wrong but I don't think all universities ask for it. There are maybe 9/10 who do. I only know this much as a family friends DD did law a couple of years ago and avoided the ones who use it as part of the selection process.

DS is booked in for his theory test in a couple of weeks. I cannot wait for him to have his own car - he has become the worst kind of back seat driver and as I have limited patience when driving it is very annoying. I have threatened to turf him out of the car many a time.

Awesome - fingers crossed things work out for your DH's job.

Just seen this thread too

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/2995800-University-offers-for-2018-Part-1?msgid=70883543#70883543

Yes it's the LNAT. I think it is the ones that do an LLB in Law as opposed to a BA.

Thanks for the pointer Doc :)

Ursula, it's good that your dd is getting there with her ideas.

DS1 has bought a ticket to see the Russian Revolution exhibition tomorrow at the British Library. This is the first time he has shown an interest in attending something educational outside of school hours, and he booked it himself, so I'm feeling quite encouraged.

The bonus is that he will now have one thing to include in his personal statement (other than binge-watching Netflix and going to parties).

Dd and I are off to the slave museum tomorrow. Happy days.

Ds1 passed his theory! Whoop whoop. He's also booked some more work experience for the holiday. He's being pretty proactive so far.

Well done to your DS1 Littledrummergirl 🚗

Hurrah! littledrummer

DD has friends in Scotland waiting for results next week - hers feel far away!

Hi dropping back in.

Ms dragon sorry that you are having a tough time at the moment. I hope things improve.

DD is having a lazy summer though she ought to be working on her school individual project and making a start on her PS. Instead she is working on a reform of the welfare system!

We quite liked Lancaster as a place but she wasn't very impressed with one of the departments she is looking at.

We then went on to Edinburgh, mainly to visit my mum but we had booked appointments with disability services and accommodation. We were seriously impressed with both. I wish I had read about contacting admission tutors before we went as it sounds as if we would have been able to see them too. She has emailed with questions and got one reply.

No driving lessons here. She would need a hand controlled car and there are no instructors offering lessons in the area that we can find. It would also be tricky to practise as neither dh nor I can drive for disability reasons.

Congratulations to all those who have passed their theory tests. DD just passed hers on Friday and earliest driving test had been booked for mid-September, but got a call for a cancellation slot for end of August now - yikes - AS results & now driving test results too - guess it's best to get it all done and dusted! We will still be on holiday when AS results come out so hopefully it will be good news awaiting us in the post!

Final three Uni days booked for Autumn and then the dreaded Personal Statement! But for now time to recharge and switch off at long last! Enjoy the rest of your summer too folks.

We tried to book an instructor for ds1 to tidy him up for the test (manoeuvres are fine). They aren't taking bookings until November as they can't get test dates until then.
One suggested we try booking a test to see what is available at other centres to see if we could find an instructor near there. We did and found our local center has an appointment on Thursday! Book it says dh.
Poor ds1, nothing like having crazy parents to pile on pressure. Anyway I told him to think of it as a mock so we know where he is at. Now we are going to drive possible routes and introduce driving with a sat nav!
We figured worst case scenario we lose the test fee. Nothing ventured nothing gained...

I'd be happy if DS would buckle down and spend time on his theory test so he could get that out of the way. His top priority is whatever the game of the week is and I appear to be totally unreasonable for suggesting he spend half an hour looking at some theory papers. Or drafting a personal statement. Or doing a bit of piano practise.

Well I've just paid for a theory test in the hope that it might motivate him into doing some more work for it. His choices were two months from now at 8am on a Saturday or one month from now at lunchtime. He chose the earlier one. If he fails then it will be easier to schedule the next one because he'll have his college timetable by then.