Can we have an options thread for parents of 'average' children?

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I know it may not ft the demographic of MN, but there must be some of us who have children who are middle of the road.

We are currently choosing DS's options to take forward into year 9. He is very keen to do German and History for his language and humanity. He is a bit unsure about his options, but after options evening he is leaning towards ICT and Applied Business.

My average(? - anticipating Cs and Bs) DD1 is in year 10 so did all this last year. I think she is dyspraxic so all the tech subjects were out before we started choosing.

My comments:

• Double science is a lot of learning but huge chunks are more factual than scientific. Our science department seems to demand more off the pupils than other subjects, so she has spent ages more time on revising for science tests than eg history.
• No idea what happens really in English but she has done 2 controlled assessments so far, and good preparation really helps
• So glad she is doing drama as she isn't so far getting homework for it which lightens the load a bit

Make sure you look at the syllabus/revision guide for things like business. It looks quite mathematical to me.
ICT syllabuses (syllabi?) vary a lot so check this also!

In our school, all students, even the most academic, have to choose a DT subject; awkward for dd who is academically bright but had joint trouble. Never put it to the test though as she was ill for most of the last three years of secondary and ended up dropping all subjects except the core.

DS1 is good at Maths, Science, History, essay subjects.

Very little aptitude for Art, Tech or languages.

Compulsory subjects: Maths, English x2, Science x3, German
Options he has chosen: History, Classical Civilisation, Latin (will possibly be the only person from the lower Latin set continuing it to GCSE )
Reserves: RS Ethics & Philosophy, ICT (dislikes both but not as much as he dislikes Art etc).

RussianBlu - my ds did Res Mat. He's never been a particularly 'practical' or 'hands on' person - dh isn't a DIYer either, we always have to 'get a man in' to get anything fixed, but he really enjoyed his res mat. He found the lesson a 'break' from the more traditional, academic GCSEs. I know also have a lovely coffee table he made me for his project. He didn't want to take it (the way the options were blocked, he didn't want to do any of the options in that 4th block) but ended up really enjoying it. they learnt different techniques and also had to go through the process of planning, doing, and reviewing.

Thank you for that backforGood! Did he have to do a lot of homework and do you know if there was a lot of revision to be done for the exams or was a lot of it practical?

Well, he didn't exactly pull the stops out for any of his GCSEs I'm afraid. Didn't seem to be a particularly heavy workload (as there is for art, for example), but my ds wouldn't be someone you'd want your ds to model himself upon in terms of "hours spent on homework"
A lot was practical, but there were also write ups and designs and plans to get in too.

Balance in choices is important and to be encouraged. It shouldn't be that there is total free choice, as this doesn't help kids later. Colleges like a range. If someone can do a language, it is good to have one. They should have a humanity too.
The people who might not go for this balance are those for whom it is beyond them and for whom doing a vocational course is more suitable.
If your child has a chance of passing a decent number of GCSEs, doing 3 lots of DT is not a good idea.