Last term of Year 13. Gulp.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Can you believe it?

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All welcome no matter which path your dc have chosen.

Third that sounds quite hopeful, presumably he would have said something it was a disaster, like not finishing or not knowing what to write.

Long discussion with son about StreetCar Named Desire last night. He suddenly announces he has discovered what "it is about"

English Language this morning for the Gscers, I'm reminded how important reading for pleasure is, and how little they do it nowadays. I'm wondering with ds1 whether I am suddenly seeing that subtle shift where he is now reading his set texts for pleasure but it is a bit late for that and he needs to just focus on "technique". I just hope this summer is going to be this wonderful time when he can branch out and start reading books for their own sakes and follow his interests that way, instead of just watching endless dramas.

I have banged on for years to dd that she needs to read around her subjects, to no avail.

I find it strange that they do masses of context stuff in English Lit when it would be so much easier to just have read some books. They are even doing one of the Bronte sisters in Romantic poetry but have not gone near any of the books.

Dd doesn't even remember our many trips to Haworth.

I was discussing In Media Res openings with ds2 and suddenly into my head popped the opening of Jane Eyre ...isn't it the one about it being too wet to take a walk that day. [will google it later] It is weird seeing all these formulas come to life in REAL books.. Did the writers think of it that way, as a craft or did they just absorb it subconsciously from their wider reading?

I would say absorbed. I can't see Jane Austen at an evening class on creative writing.

oh no, just googled the opening paragraph of Black Beauty. Unbearable sadness to come, but a beautiful scene.

right, down to some housework/organising/prodding of ds.

Ursula

I so agree about English Lit. The context they currently learn is interesting, certainly, but it's such a shame that they don't read around like we did back in the Dark Ages. My DD looks at me as if I'm mad when I suggest it!

Have been lurking on this thread as DD is Year 12 and currently blissfully unstressed... Good luck to all your DC on here.

Hi to Jane and Petal. I am going to try and get DD2 to read over the summer. Her language is so limited when it comes to writing essays as she doesn't read. Trouble is , when she does, she likes teen romance which is not my idea of literature. Need to find a middle ground as I am sure that would improve her English GCSEs next year.

DDs first exam today - chemistry this afternoon. So she's sat in the kitchen doing am M1 maths paper . I'm not saying anything!

marmite dd (gsce year) was/is the same. I've tried all sorts of books other than "teen romance" - just no interest - but to my surprise she has been quite acute about her setbooks in Gsce Eng Lit, no problem there, it is almost as if the limited range made it easier for her to focus on analysis. She even hates Harry Potter as does ds2.

DS has read the entire Discworld series, repeatedly. He would rather go back and read one of those again than read anything new.

I tried ds1 on TP, he just refused. I think he didn't understand that it was funny. In Year 6/7 reading list they were told to read The Carpet People. I can remember having to point out the jokes to him, he just didn't get it.
I used to read Laura Ingalls Wilder till the covers dropped off. All eight of them in circles.(that includes The First Four Years, the last one)

I loved English Lit all the way up to A Level - I vividly remember saving my pocket money up to go to the bookshop & the smell of a new book! Unfortunately dissecting Chaucer, Shakespeare, TS Elliott, Austen, Dickens & Hardy etc to death put me off reading for 2 years! Thankfully picked it up again - Jude The Obscure is still one of my all time favourites & remember crying at the ending when younger!

Best of luck to all those DC sitting exams today.

I'd like to thank whoever it was on here that had the wonder husband who replaced the barrel on the door lock late at night after her son was mugged for his phone, wallet and keys. I never realised that it was even possible, never mind that it is so simple to do. The lock on a UPVC door (euro barrel) is even easier as it's just one screw. For anyone who worries about lost keys, order a spare barrel because they can be cheap and they are really easy to fit. If you have a cheap one in the drawer then it buys time for you to replace it with something better at your leisure.

I'm leaving the keys with the bathroom fitters while we are away and was losing sleep over it until I remembered that I'd heard here about switching the barrels. The Yale lock will be replaced with a cheap one before they come and the outside door lock is being replaced with a top of the line super lock as soon as they've gone.

German this morning for dd1. I was working but in a different room. Her group were quite relaxed when I saw them.

Dd2 had English gcse. I’ve been getting her to mark them out of 10 to avoid the ‘ok’ scenario.

Dd has Englit Thursday
Had RS this morning she said it was okay not too bad.
History tomorrow

I don't think I would have read with the voracity I did if modern tech had been around. My reading has massively dropped off as I get sucked into my ipad when I go to bed instead of picking up my book.

I once went on holiday for 5 weeks but had an accident on the first day (yes I am very accident prone) and was incapacitated for some time. I read 37 books having found a small library in the village. Now I would have been levelling up on Hay Day!

DD hardly slept last night as she is so worried about chemistry today.

My ipad has crushed much of my reading too. I have no discipline.

Knitting that is a handy hint!

Your poor dd Lonicera :(

I genuinely thought dd was coming down with something this morning, She was so tired and lethargic. I think she has perked up now.

Well DD2's peaceful evening before Chemistry was rather spoiled by DCat bringing in a partly dead mouse, getting bored with it and sauntering off leaving it to drag itself under the sofa. DDog then got over excited that he might be allowed to play with one of the cat's 'toys'.

DD2 was then left with calming the dog, finding and dispatching the mouse and throwing the cat out to find more stuff to kill.

All this at 1am. She left a very grumpy note taped to the sitting room door.

knitting that is the sort of thing I would worry about too - I am so glad you found such a good solution, and I didn't know about the barrel replacement either, I thought only technical wizards could do that sort of thing.

well, being surrounded by these revising, semi revising (ds2 seems to have gone off the boil somewhat) and non revising children (ds1) has made me give a long hard look at my attitudes. My desire to tell ds1 off is increasing daily as my frustration grows with his strange methods of working (he is now playing the piano in the front room) It is a surreal form of patience required to watch him dither and not constantly micromanage/advise. But I'm learning. Threats and wheedling bribes and serious talking are going to get me/have got me nowhere. Only he can make the decision.

I'm trying to get on with other things meanwhile as you can see I've been re-reading Emma and washing the paintwork.

Gnome loving the grumpy note.

Kitten hope she perks up, I'm dosing ds like mad, blueberries, gammon, vit d, eggs; is there a lovely tonic you can give her? Gosh it is so worrying, but I do think the inner adrenalin[e?] is going to protect them for the next few weeks.

Dd has rung and is in a strop wanting me to pick her up halfway from school, but I'm waiting for ds2's Maths tutor.

knitting that would never have occurred to me. I'm glad you've come up with a solution.

Lonicera I hope the chemistry went well for your dd today. It's awful when they worry so much they can't sleep isn't it? One of the best exams I ever did was after a very broken night (I was at uni and dd was violently ill, threw up all night)

I'm our house we're all trying to stay away from dd as dh felt ill yesterday, I felt ill last night/this morning. We really, really don't want to pass it on to dd as she doesn't have time to be ill.

DD also didn't sleep much last night, worrying about Chemistry. However, though she looked drained when I saw her afterwards, she smiled, and said it was "OK, fine I think". I will choose to interpret this as she aced it, and so will stop worrying. (Well obviously I won't stop worrying, because it is what I do, but I will theoretically stop worrying).

Great tip Knitting. I have changed internal door handles and upvc window handles but not a barrel (yet).

The Chemistry paper did not go well for DS. He is a bit upset. I have told him not to dwell too much on it and to just move on to working towards his next exam on Thursday. What can you say or do to make them feel better? It's so hard.