Starting Year 13 (number 4!)

[Mindgone]

I just thought I'd get us started up again!

Hi Horsemad.
I agree it is a fine line between giving them support and letting them find their own motivation.
I having been trying v hard not to nag my own DS, even though he does not seem to be doing any studying at home. (He says he does it all at school in his free periods), and I too worry he will not reach his full potential (though his situation is nowhere near as bad as your DS seems to be).
However, at uni they will be on their own - and if they have not developed a work ethic and study skills before they go, then it will be worse if they fail there.
My DD1 got good A-levels through natural intelligence - only discovered when she was at uni that she hadn't really learnt how to learn (because she had always been able to pick things up quickly at school and ignore the topics she couldn't do, as they only made up a small proportion of the exams). Unfortunately, doing a difficult uni course, this became obvious when she failed and had to resit her 2nd year exams, and finished her degree with a third. Which was a worse situation job-hunting-wise, than if she had just had her A-levels.

I am glad to hear that your DS seems to be settling with the chemistry tutor. At the very least that will be an hour of work done (more if your DS also does the work the tutor sets)
Another suggestion that others have made - If he has 4 A-levels as well as AS module retakes, that is a lot of work - if part of the problem is that he feels overwhelmed by it all, so doesn't know where to start, and hence hides from doing any - maybe he should drop the further maths and some of the retakes?

seimum, ideally he wouldn't be doing re-sits, yet insists he wants/needs them. He's also adamant he needs some of the FM modules to bump his Maths grades up.

He'd have been better starting A levels again completely, but school said his AS grades weren't bad enough to warrant that and suggested re-sits to bump existing grades.

He's accepted he's left himself a massive amount to do now whereas if he'd applied himself to AS, he could have had less pressure this year.

I wouldn't be this bothered about it if he wasn't so insistent that he wants to go to uni. Not once has he said he doesn't want to go; I have asked the question a few times over the last two years.

His first session with the tutor is next week, so hopefully that will help him.

mumslife my dd in the past had similar thing when she woke up but describes hers as more like dizziness and disorientation. She would be reading and using her tab for long period of time slouched in her bed before she went to sleep and would be in that position for a couple of hours with only the lamp on (not good for her when she got astigmatism ) so she may have also strained neck being in a fixed position for so long which doctors did warn her can lead to headaches. She stopped doing that and her dizziness when she gets up has stopped. Does your dd have this habit? Could be that. I do hope you get some diagnosis soon, your poor dd must get fed up with the attack of headaches it must be very dibilitating and hard for her to concentrate fully.

finally firmed and insured here.

Now Ds has to work!

Where is your DS hoping to go mumahead?

Horsemad

Southampton or Loughborough. Likes both, one is slightly closer. Probably will go to Loughborough though - Southampton want very high grades for Engineering.

My DS has firmed Soton, just hope he starts working now.

My DS has also firmed Southampton. With Essex as backup.

He's also agreed to my suggestion of an Easter revision course for his Physics - so that's at least 3 days of revision he will do in the holidays, as well as being provided with more guidance on doing the multiple-choice questions that seem to be his bugbear.

Asked dd if she wanted to start sorting out student finance today, but she said she can't as she hasn't made her firm and insurance choices. Suggested she did that, as she has made her decision, but she said she's "not allowed" until she's discussed it with her form tutor when they go through their latest reports this week! Wondering what would happen if you were naughty ...

May I ask why your DC chose Southampton?

Really good department for his subject. He was so 'Meh' about a lot of the unis he looked at but decided on Soton almost straight away .

Good uni. I'm hoping campus and accommodation are good - enough going on.

I liked Soton campus the least out of all the ones we visited. Some have amazing grounds, buildings etc.

DD has Southampton as back up. She loved it, esp the SU and great dept but very far and expensive to get to from where we live. She's actually accepted an unconditional from Newcastle as firm - takes the pressure off somewhat!

Nice to have that sorted bobs. Why did She like the student union at soton?

We struggled to make the choice but course is possibly slightly more exciting and my DS spent some time there on a smallpiece trust course and had a really good experience.

The campus at Loughborough is really good and I'm just hoping it will be okay at soton. Accom looks okay but we would want him to be near the dept facilities - not all are

Mumslife - DD received her letter from student finance on Friday too.
Horsemad - DD has had a chemistry tutor this year as she needs an A in chemistry. DD has been working through questions at home/school and when she gets stuck on a question/topic she puts it in her folder to take to the tutor. This has worked well and channelled the tutor where we have needed it. She shares the session with a friend and this has worked out well bouncing ideas/problems off his other. Hope it works out for your DS.
18th birthday is now over and house back in order. Nothing was trashed so everyone happy. Time to get her head down and concentrate on school - I have just told her that alcohol kills the brain cells and she needs to keep as many as she can for the exams!

DS chose Soton because of the course & reputation for the subject. He also did a headstart course there last summer and enjoyed it.

He has applied for the accommodation that is a 10-15 min walk from the campus. Which I think is a nice distance as means he will get a bit of exercise!

Dear Me, DS asked me to proof read a Chemistry 'investigation' he'd written. So, being a Good Mama I did... wow! I have almost glazed over - 46 pages of it!!!

46 pages?! Wow, he certainly is working!

Yes hells bells - I hope what he's written is actually right though! Almost all of it went over my head!

mumahead she liked the students union as (along with sheffield) they were the best we visited. We went to a SU talk in the cinema and were quite impressed. Only problem with Soton is the main halls are re quite far out, even though thy get free bus pass for 1st year. The accommodation was ok - larger rooms than other unis we have visited and nice grassy areas

thank you bobs.

We will try for halls close by.

DS has gone for his post application visit to Durham so I have come home from work to an empty house which feels very odd. I was sure that DS was the silent type but he obviously makes some noise!