Thread 31 Covid Cohort - Hopping through Easter and Revision

[OrangeCinnamonCroissant]

This is a thread for supporting all young people post GCSEs 2020, regardless of their educational setting. It is respectfully requested that all are supportive and helpful to each other. If you want to start a debate, e.g state vs private, please don't within this thread. Please also be sensitive when responding to threads about grades.

Some of us have been here since first thread back in yr10, some will be new. Everyone has been friendly and helpful in the past. Everyone is welcome. It is hoped this will continue.

Our DS/DD may go down various paths (such as employment, apprenticeships, higher ed) We have decided for anyone interested they will most likely find us within the Further Ed board.

previous Thread 30

I've made this one a little bit earlier as things are so busy, at home and on thread, so please feel free to use up previous thread first

Yes, FB is definitely for middle aged people. DS is always affronted when he has to use it to find out what's going on in his work shift iyswim.

He uses snapchat and instagram mostly I think. I really have no idea though.

Both mine mainly use Snapchat (a lot). We have a family WhatsApp (which DH doesn't have because his mobile is so old it won't download it, but is rarely on anyway, but that's a different story 🙄). Both use Insta.

Ds set up FB when he started uni for the Freshers groups etc. He has hundreds of friends on there - old school friends, primary school friends that he never had contact with during the secondary years, uni friends - but rarely has any activity on his account. I think it's more like an address book from the olden days 😆 He dies use Messenger sometimes. He has group chats for housemates, course mates etc, but not sure which app that is on.

@Alsoplayspiccolo, sorry for such a delayed response, I’ve been on a rugby tour with DS, don’t ask!! We have applied for 38 week band A accommodation at RHUL as first choice and gone from there. I think DD has had an email to confirm they’ve received her application but I should probably check that she doesn’t need to do anything else now that I’m home.
Are we all on Easter holidays now? I do hope the weeks pass smoothly for us all.

Yes, FB as a means of keeping a vague connection with people I'd completely lose contact with otherwise is one of the ways I use it, my closer friends are all on it too but we use whatsapp to actually talk. The others are special interest groups and following organisations and businesses, I very rarely post on my own timeline.

DD asked me the other day if I had registered her to be able to vote - hadn't even occured to me tbh - Have now done so.

Re SM, DD definitely thinks FB is for people like me. She is on snapchat and whatsapp daily (hourly). She used to face time a lot but that seems to have stopped - ah that would be because she is seeing people f2f again!

I'm looking forward to DD making new friends at uni that have the same level of activity. She often moans that her school friends are so lazy. She often wants to go and play tennis, run, even a walk and she has to ask hockey friends or friends from other schools as her school friends can't be bothered. She does enjoy their company and it's a big group of 10 but I do think they are only all friends because they see eachother at school (7 of them now as 3 left) but I really can't see this group lasting past uni. I think DD will stay in contact with a few of them and probably meet up as a big group during holidays. She plans to go and visit them at their uni but I don't think that will happen once she gets to uni herself. She will want to play hockey at weekends and they won't be happy if she's not available to play most weeks.

Can you use Messenger without having FB - not sure? But having Messenger was definitely useful when my DS dropped his phone down the loo 4 weeks into Uni life (don't ask....) It meant he could still contact me over messenger from his laptop. He didn't have any phone numbers written down to use someone else's phone....

DS is old fashioned (as established!). He has instagram and Whatsapp. Think he does communicating with friends via text! Certainly that's how he messages DS1. All sports stuff is Whatsapp. He definitely does not do TikTok or Snapchat.

@Seeline

Can you use Messenger without having FB - not sure? But having Messenger was definitely useful when my DS dropped his phone down the loo 4 weeks into Uni life (don't ask....) It meant he could still contact me over messenger from his laptop. He didn't have any phone numbers written down to use someone else's phone....

DS1 (surprise!!) has done that twice! The second time at the same time as breaking his laptop!!

@Piggywaspushed glad it's not just mine! Getting a replacement to him was complicated by the fact that we were in a national lockdown and he was isolating in his Halls with covid. Packages were delivered to a central postroom on campus for students to collect - which of course he couldn't. Eventually I had to ring the post room and get it specially delivered to him as he just couldn't function in isolation without a phone!

Good point about using messenger from a laptop, they can email too if needs be. I have tried in the past to get the DCs to memorise my mobile number in case they lose their phone, but no luck, it's hard to memorise something that you rarely need to know. I did at one point have it written onto those little plastic keyfobs you get in keycutting places and attached inside their schoolbags, maybe I should do that again .

Interesting on the SM. Ds has avoided everything except discord (gaming chat) until recently then caved and got insta and whatsapp. His mates seem to communicate a bit on both, but having avoided it for so long he finds the ‘rules’ very hard to figure out: how often is too often? How often is not often enough?! I always assume no one under about 30 is paying any attention to personal FB - all about community/local business etc.

Am I the only one who communicates with my kids on WhatsApp 😂
Their rooms are in the attic so it's a easier to WhatsApp them down to dinner. Likewise I do the video calls when they're boarding & dd1 at uni.
Dd2 WhatsApps her latest art pictures & they send me picture of their injuries or spots...
The girls have Instagram & Snapchat.
The boys don't care & never post but one does discord.

I ring my kids all the time from within the same house

None of us do video calls at all, just never got in the habit. We tend to ring or text/whatsapp each other if out and about or away from home. Our house is pretty small so no need in the house, DD rarely spends any time in her room in any case.

Ds2 won't put WhatsApp on his phone. Apparently that is also for middle aged woman. He does iMessage me, he's just iMessaged me a minute ago, from school telling me he's bored, he's doing business coursework. 99% of the time he doesn't read my messages, he says he has so many messages that notifications go from his Home Screen, so he doesn't see them, he doesn't check iMessage because no one else uses it. I message Ds1 and ds3 on WhatsApp.

Ds doesn’t like WhatsApp either, although he has it but won’t check it. He blocked me on Snapchat! Texting is the only way I can get hold of him, but he’s very selective in whether he’ll answer or not!

@crazycrofter I'm glad it's not just me then.

DS uses snapchat with school friends. His sports teams use Watsapp for info about fixtures etc. He often misses messages because he has a low tolerance for the random photos and running jokes. We also have a family Watsapp with cousins etc but that can be quiet for weeks on end.

We generally text each other about pick up times etc. House is too small for him to ignore me shouting up the stairs about dinner!

If someone were to say to him there's a FB group for people you will be in accommodation with, he'd probably just say 'I'll meet them when I get there'.

Hi all!! Lots if new jobs in the family so hectic two weeks and missed MN. Glad to see accommodation being settled.

Durham allocate colleges etc from May so DD just focused on revision at the moment.
She uses mainly Snapchat and Insta with friends plus whats app with a few groups of friends plus we gave a family what’s app account since covid 2020. Generally shout for kids but friend has doorbells for each child as 4 floors…. FB is used by unis fir certain things so DD has account but very middle aged so currently doesn’t use

Anyone got a good suggestion for AQA economics revision guide or resources? Teacher says didn’t rate any ?!?

Wipeboard on wheels is a bloody triumph - DD loves it - DH hates it !

Almost forgot we did online needs Assessment for dsa - great guy from Wales - DD super nervous but he put her at ease and left them to it after ten mins as going well.

@Fruitygal

Anyone got a good suggestion for AQA economics revision guide or resources? Teacher says didn’t rate any ?!?

Wipeboard on wheels is a bloody triumph - DD loves it - DH hates it !

DS has loads of revision guides that I have bought him - to be fair, he hardly uses them. He uses history ones more. He doesn't seem to use the gazillion sociology ones I have and economics he mainly seems to watch a chap on YouTube and then make notes, cue cards, mindmaps etc.

I'll ask him later who the video man is .

If tutor2u do economics (bet they do) they are really helpful.

This is the YouTube guy:

www.youtube.com/channel/UCQbBh9Jn2IjcSPZOiNKJu0g

Tutor2U do have Economics resources. Haven’t used them though. We order a lot from them for Business Studies but the school I work at doesn’t offer Economics. Ds’ teacher has recommended the My Revision Notes one. ISBN 9781398311879

There's a thread in higher education about how often you will you visit your child at Uni.
Christ. Hadn't even considered that! No one's parents visited 30 years ago. Clearly it's all changed. I might consider visiting soon in the first term. But not again. Are you guys all planning multiple visits?