Class of '18 nattering as they head in different directions.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Hope this works. On phone with dodgy signal.

WARNING!
Do not try to box a manual wheelchair.

We have just about done it but I am afraid that Parcelforce might not consider it secure enough and refuse to take it.

I have been Googling 'man and van' as that may be our only option. Dh will have to deal with that though.

Having had to box a road bike to take on holiday a few times I cannot begin to comprehend getting a manual wheelchair packed away. I'm very impressed that you have got most of the way there.

Boggling at the idea of different threads for different achieving DC, DS started GCSE as a 'high achiever' before it became startlingly apparent that his learning difficulties would leave him in the 'oh dear god just enough for sixth form please' section by the end. Would we have been evicted and have to leave for the other group? What an idea!

First day back to school in the Slant household today, one into sixth form and one starting secondary. Remembering how much some of you here held me together when the year 7 child was DS1 I can't believe how much we've all been through. So glad this is a 'mixed ability' thread . I have tomorrow down as my get stressed about university stuff day now the other two are sorted. Going to include a trip to Matalan because our carefully chosen pots and pans are all bent out of shape, delivered looking like they'd been through a car crash, not a lid fitted and the frying pan was a very interesting shape.

Such a lot of transitions at once MrSlant.
Good luck with Matalan. At least you discovered it before unpacking in the university kitchen.

My shopping trip to Matalan ended with this purchase. It is going to uni with DD as I often call her this!

I realised yesterday that it is the first time in 18 years that I don't have a child going into a new year at school. Only 5 university years to go.

The difference in cost between university cities seems to be in the difference in cost of the 'peripherals'. Things like travel cards round the city, the availability of super cheap shops. DD2 came up with a Jager Bomb index!

First year accommodation seems to be pretty similar from city to city. It's in the later years that you seem to see bigger differences.

nettleskeins DS did a level history, he highly recommends handwriting everything rather than typing, his reasoning (which completely surprised me, but makes sense) was that if you type everything by the time it comes to exams (where you need to write a lot and fast) you have let the skill slip and it harder! DS has tiny handwriting which is very compact and hard to read, we spent ages finding the best pen (staedtler fineliner) which improved things massively and were really smooth.

That is a very good point Bakeandyarn. Apart from the geography NEA all of DD's homework was handwritten.

It has to be for sciences anyway.

Bake the situation is complicated by the fact that ds2 got the highest History Gsce mark in school (he told us his teacher had told us this yesterday, it is a big mainstream comp) but is SCRIBED in exams. He dictates all his thoughts in exams. So his handwriting is officially too bad for exams, but he does think in written form when he does homework, thus the transition between writing proper grownup essays and GSCE preparation work. I'm hoping he will start to write his own essays in exams, but it would have to be via typing. He can touch type, but very inaccurately due to his SPAG issues. It is a big issue and why I was concerned whether he should even do A levels. Unfortunately his marks were too high for us to avoid this

nettle
Could he not type in exams? Dd did for her alevels.
Hope all goes smoothly slant

And yes, I've suggested Dragon type programmes, but as with all suggestions this has been met with a screaming fit/storming out of the room.

Raspberry it takes a long time to get over the bad feelings. I don't think I went back to my school for ages and ages (20 years?) It is sad isn't it, I would recommend she goes in and says hi to teachers before too many years elapse just to stop that feeling crystallising. How is your dd atm, any cheerier?

marmite hope you are alright

knitting you are like me, but better at it! I am definitely thinking through every aspect of our arrival. I was feeling guiltily like I should do a recce on foot to just assess the leylines.

I've discussed the typing versus handwriting with lots of people who are "intellectual" types, and the consensus is that people think they work things out better when handwriting, prefer making handwritten lists, scribbles, mind maps, essays even but then after a bit, using a word processor becomes second nature and the whole brain to hand thing loses its appeal. My handwriting is terrible, my typing is super fast. It is difficult to know where I went wrong!

Bake ds's handwriting is large and scrawly and not joined up. Maybe a fine paintbrush would suit him best.. I tried so many things over the years, in the end we just gave up writing altogether and took him out of school for a bit...

I've bitten the bullet and joined the GCSE thread... seems to only reinforce the reality that DS is now moving on, time to hassle encourage DD now.

Ds still has not heard about his accommodation at Warwick - let's hope the course lives up to expectations as the admin side is pretty poor.
He has opened a bank account, rail card, coach card and provisional driving licence on their way so some progress made. Next week he has an interview to get his national insurance number and then we need to finish the university shopping.

That's really poor Shanghai.

Back to work proper with me today. Shouldn't really be arsing around on mn, but procrastination is a wonderful thing.

dd got the accomodation she was hoping for and it's thankfully less than we expected too. Her handwriting is appalling. Fellow mathematicians can read it, the rest of us mere mortals haven't a scooby.

If it's any reassurance they may need to wait until 10th for Warwick's accomodation. dds friends going there haven't heard either.

Thanks Kitten.
Hopefully will hear something next week.

Nettles I'm doing ok thank you. Mastectomy on 19th. DD off on the 21st. I have ordered my knitted knockers and mastectomy cushions. Who knew?!

DD has registered this morning and luckily it was quite straightforward. I was dreading it after some stories on here. There was a lot of mental health stuff to read through so Bristol is obviously upping its game on this front!

DD2 went back to school today. Last year of GCSEs!

Marmite- thinking of you at the moment. Xx

argh, all at once marmite. Have you got lots of support and help lined up?

Yes I luckily have a great DH, family and friends all ready to help.

Just got a bizarre call from hospital asking if I want to be a day case or stay overnight. How on earth am I supposed to know that?! I said day case hoping I will get into surgery earlier but now I am not sure whether I should stay in. Hoping if I am too poorly they will keep me in.

Gosh I suppose I need to join the GCSE one!! as he realised y is DS2 has just started yr11.

DS back from travels and though I thought I was going to have some time with him this afternoon he's buggered off to the gym and then is going to see his mate who starts in Edinburgh this weekend.

#reality

I was a day case but I only had a small lump removed.

If I were you I'd go for the overnight.

Marmite glad to hear you have lots of RL support. Hope you are able to be a day case - personally I sleep better at he than in hospital.

DS went out for a drink last night with 2 friends who are older than him and have already been away from home. I warned him that they would both be able to drink him under the table, he enjoys a pint or 2, but doesn't drink vast quantities. It seems he had a bit more than usual, but certainly not enough to be poorly last night or this morning. Long may that continue, though i suppose in 3 weeks I won't know!

Much progress from DS today (with some prodding). He's purchased (online) his shirt to go with suit, he's booked driving test in Xmas hols, and he's finally connected with his flat mates (he was the missing link!) turns out in the flat of 8 there will be 2 boys, 6 girls.