go on, tell me how you actually get children to do revision ...

[Clumsymum]

DS is in year 7, he's facing proper summer exams for the first time after half term.

He is bright, very high in his year, very academically able, but unfortunately he is very aware of it. (if it's relevant at all, we pay for the academic ability with immature emotional development, still get major toddler-style tantrums sometimes)

Over the last week, homework has basically stated "revision" in almost every subject. DS classes this as 'haven't got any homework, it's only stoopid revision'. If pressed about it he says "I'll do it over half term", but of course, he will have other things he wants to do next week (and I wanted to go to stay with rellies for a few days, pref without taking school stuff with us).

Then last night he said "well, I'm clever, I probably don't need to revise anyways". Now pride comes before a fall, as we all know, and half of me says 'let him get on with it his way, let him fail, and then see how he feels' - but I know he'll be devastated, and that's not quite responsible parenting, is it?

There is also a possibility that he'd do OK in most subjects even if he doesn't revise, but OK isn't what we would like for him ideally, and it's a bad habit to get into.

Now I know I was also very dilatory when it came to revision when I was in secondary school ... and looking back I know I could have done better, but that is what growing up is about.
But have you got any hints or tips to encourage, preferably without it being a HUUUUUGE battle every day.

I am thinking of saying 'no computer time until at least x mins of revision has been done each day', but is that just fighting talk ?

Yes I can see that in a domestic situation like that, it's much more complex.

He can make notes and mind maps on his notes. Ask his teachers for their scheme of work so you know what areas to test him on. Ask him things like what does that mean, what does that cause, what does that lead to, why does that happen, what does this depend on?

Don't let him start coasting now or he'll never get out of it. I would say that if he's resting on his laurels like this he's probably not being stretched enough at school.

I have to confess that I underestimated how hard DS found it to organise a timetable for himself. He just could not grasp how much needed to be done and dithered for a week or so and came up with a totally inadequte 'plan' on a scrap of paper. Not his fault.

I asked him to bring all his excercise books home for the weekend and we went through them together with a spreadsheet and putting the topic areas he had covered in the available time slots over a 5 week period. We blanked out slots for school cricket matches, rest, recreation. I think he could not grasp the range of topics he had covered until he saw them all put on the sheet. Once he could see it all laid out in an orderly way he felt he could begin to tackle it.

To be fair he has been diligent in following the timetable and from what he say, he has done well in the exams. At least he says he found it 'easy' in most cases.