Thread 34 Covid Cohort - Heat 'Waving' DC to final exams and drinking more

[OrangeCinnamonCroissant]

...water

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. It's all relative!

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 continue down various pathways ( employment, apprenticeships, higher ed) We have decided for anyone interested they will find a thread within the Further Ed board.

Possibly a move to Parent of Adult Children Board in future? Post Results?

Previous Thread

No, you're correct, it is 2hrs 15.

Last night DS was in the right slumps, really angry about this History exam for some reason but also i think just massive FOMO as everyone he knows seems to have finished bar one or two doing Biology on Friday. He seems to have completely lost his revision mojo which is worrying as Friday's exam is a biggie.

Good luck to those with exams today and my prayer is everyone manages to complete their exams papers on time! Holding hands with all of you.

Well done to all those who have finished exams.

@mango0 You're not alone in worrying about whether they will meet their offers but like you said, we're just going to have to switch off until nearer the time. For now, we can bask in the knowledge that they have completed their A'levels.

DS has some things planned with friends - they're going into London on Sunday and hoping to visit a club. He's also meeting up with some old friends from prep. He's also going to prepare for his theory test (probably most here have got their driving licences?).

@Shimy Driving lessons and driving tests are the new stress in our household too. With two of them, it's impossible to get lessons and tests are rarer than hen's teeth!
Not helped by numerous friends being bought cars and passing tests all year. Sigh🙄

I raised the issue of a plan B (which is non-existent) with dd yesterday after her last exam! She said she’d be really upset if she got Bs and she doesn’t understand why that hasn’t made her study harder?! She’s done a fair amount, in my opinion, but whether it’s enough for three As, who knows?! She said she was rather preoccupied with choosing a prom dress 🤦‍♀️

Hope the history exams go well today! Sounds like they all have lots of plans for celebrating. Dd is going to a club on Friday night with all her friends from current and old schools and it’s one of her proms on Saturday. She’s already wheedled more money out of me - ‘the last time this summer’ apparently.

Hope everyone OK as we nearing 'the end' stay strong all.

Dd started turning her mind to how much homesickness she will have. She is a worrier about worrying 😟

That's really endearing Orange, hopefully it will turn to good worry as she starts to envisage the exciting aspects of independence. The reality of it all hitting home for her now exams are complete/near complete? Homesickness will hit them all I'm sure, even if some won't admit it.

History this morning for DD - she said the questions were on 'niche' topics but she hopes to have made the best of it.

One more to go here!

Lovely to hear of all their plans 🙂DS has a head start on the homesickness front having had it in spades at the start of year 12, he knows what to expect and that he can get through it which I hope will make it easier for him in September.

Fingers crossed for history @HarrietDVane

@Takeittotheboss I thought we were the only ones. It is so frustrating! both DS's here trying to get lessons. DS1 more because he didn't engage when he should have and has just let things slack. He'd done the theory for the second time and each time passed but can't get a reliable instructor. They do a few lessons here and there before the bugger off. DS2 hasn't started at all but hoping to. Funnily enough, ds1 has a test date booked in August since January but here we are and no lessons! if he doesn't get lessons by July he'll have to cancel it.

@crazycrofter Your DD sounds like a typical teenager - Lots of great plans but no understanding of the work that has to go into it.

Homesickness? why would they be homesick if they've finished their exams and at home? sorry I'm confused about that one .

@Shimy we didn't manage to get any professional lessons for DS2, a family friend, DH and I taught him between us. The friend was an ex bus and ambulance driver though. Has your DS managed to get much practice with you? Would be great to get it done before going to university, otherwise it can drag on for years!

The references to homesickness are in anticipation of the autumn.

@Shimy we haven't managed to get lessons at all for DS, it is frustrating as it will be difficult now with uni. He didn't want to learn straight away at 17 so we left it, but with hindsight should have got him on some instructors waiting lists. He still isn't that bothered but it is a very useful life skill and he will need it for the sort of work he is looking at.

@Shimy DS hasn’t started driving yet. He was on a waiting list but by the time his turn came up he was too tired to cope as wasn’t well by that point. I had hoped to get him going over the summer but our move will hopefully happen just before results are due and it feels difficult to sort at this point. Having said that once this week over I will raise the subject, see what he thinks and if he would like to see if there is any possibility .

DS is another who hasn't engaged with learning to drive, he thinks he's going to do it at uni 🤔
Not sure where the funds for that are coming from!

@Monkey2001 Duh! I was rather puzzled. Autumn of course

@ExtremelyDedicated We've made the same mistake in not putting ds2 on any waiting lists. We also felt he had such a huge workload that we decided to postpone till after exams. He applied for work experience at a local estate agents and today they asked him if he could drive as he would need to visit houses??? this isn't normal for work experience surely? wouldn't they have their own staff drive and DS accompany them? anyway..

@Volterra Such a shame your DS couldn't start his lessons before. Good luck with your move, I think I will do what others are doing which is start teaching him myself, although my car is off to the garage as the engine has conked.

@singingstones That is exactly what ds1 did, so we paid for lessons for him whilst at uni, it's been in drips and drabs then the pandemic hit and all stopped. He's still nowhere near completing his lessons and he's 21 this yr! and starting to prove a right pain in the neck as he can't go anywhere without relying on transport (so reliable as it is!) or yours truly driving.

Last exam done and dusted for DS, DD finished 2 weeks ago so we can now relax till next week when we have DS’s driving test

We couldn’t get a test so I used an app in the end, set my parameters and it automatically booked it for him, I just need DD to catch up as they’re both planning to drive in to Uni as they’re staying home but both planning on same Uni and campus but different courses

at the moment lessons are costing as much as a mortgage each month so I will be glad when they pass

Dd1 said she's not quite ready to learn to drive yet. I waited until early 20s myself. Where she wants to go to uni would probably be a better place to learn than where we are, so I might encourage her to learn there. She has a few friends who aren't learning quite yet.
Dd2 is 15 and has been desperate to learn since she was 13.

DS can drive and passed his test in December (was his third attempt) which is useful. DD will be 17 in September so it will start again....

It would take a lot of lessons to cost more than our mortgage 😳

Dd has 2 exams on Friday. French and Biology. They clash so she's taking French in the afternoon. She's got to take a packed lunch to eat while being supervised between them. She found the first Maths paper ok, the second quite challenging and the one yesterday ok but like a puzzle book.

It's always been high up on my older 2 dc's priorities to learn to drive. There are no buses here, the train station is a couple of miles away, most friends are spread out in various villages. So they've wanted to learn as soon as 17. Though ds2 only had 2 driving lessons before more covid restrictions came in. It would be very different if we lived in more built up area with public transport. Learning in a uni city would be a good idea for us as it's 45 mins drive to the city where the driving tests are. So much better to learn in a city.

Glad history seems to have gone well today.

DS played hockey last night and felt decidedly unfit. Thoroughly enjoyed himself though. There's a driving instructor at the club but DS hasn't even asked him about lessons. 🙄

DS has finished!! History was fine. All done with no dramas or trauma, praise be.

Dd has been learning to drive forever, or so it seems. It’s not come naturally to her! I’m getting her on my insurance as of tomorrow and she has a test booked just before uni starts. I’m not expecting her to pass first time though!

DS finally home, said the history this morning was OK but he doesn't feel went as well as earlier papers as he didn't feel there was enough to write to get a good score. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he is wrong! Just one more, need to keep him motivated somehow, he's drifting off.

One for your DD - you and DD take your car to an off-road place with access to driving instructors and you teach them to drive under the supervision of a pro. A friend did it with her 2 boys and rates it very highly - www.facebook.com/U17Pathfinder/ I think it is done over the course of a week.