Year 11 GCSE support thread 4 - more exams

[HSMMaCM]

Anyone got English tomorrow ?

thank you everyone, I do appreciate your kind words.
I don't know, word, it might be me stressing them. Their dad has blown them out completely and I am struggling with money.
Seemingly on mumsnet, and definitely in my family, parents are judged on the academic success of their offspring.....

Sunny, we are all doing the best we can so don't beat yourself up. I think we find this way more stressful than the kids. Maybe your DD just couldn't face the maths and thought it would be easier not to do it than to do it and do badly

Just catching up... Sunny you've had a crappy morning, no wonder you're fed up. Please though, KEEP POSTING, this thread is such a good place to share the trials and tribulations of our DC. It moves fast though and sometimes our comments can get missed, especially if people are dropping in and out through the day.

I hope things settle down for you, no advice to give really except Keep On Keeping On.

Sunny lots of us do have difficult circumstances - my DS is a teenage drop out, did okay at GCSE - but didn't get English because the boundaries were pushed up. On the plus side, he's not doing drugs, alcohol, getting girls pregnant or doing illegal stuff. On the downside he's not doing much - and doesn't know what he does want to do, we've tried tough love - we're now on a gentler approach, but something has to change sometime.

Back to exams - DD found higher Maths hard, which is a bummer as she wants/plans to do A'level. Today started off bad as she was angry with me, and then got angrier because she hadn't realised the exam was this morning (and thats why I was calling).
There was something about filling a shape that was a code and a cylinder....

Sorry it's been uber-stressful Sunny - and to elaborate on my shitty start to the day, DS1's dad came to pick him up to take him to school (we're separated) and blamed me for his disorganisation and lack of sleep.

DS2 (currently doing mocks) won't even talk to me about school (and certainly won't talk to his dad whom he currently loathes). Not a word. Any information I need has to be obtained directly from his form teacher.

I'm so pleased I found this thread (and was going to show DS1 before realising he'd recognise himself from my description of events)!

Sunny no judging here. I think that all families have their problems, but some are better at hiding them.

I would be sent to the Siberian mines by dd3 if she knew about my ramblings. But we have to try to stay sane somehow.

Maths paper 2 iGCSE much much much easier than paper 1 they said so all well here. Just music tomorrow which is easy peasy.

As for why children are calm, they are often born not made and parents shouldn't beat themselves up. The twins are ultra calm and yet I remember one of their older sisters literally stamping her feet like a 2 year old and swearing when she was 16 or 17 when I was about 5 minutes late collecting her at a tube station once. Pity I didn't record it on video.

Glad the second iGCSE maths was better Lotus.

My dc are all very different so I figure that we can't be to blame for these things. I was very quiet as a child but my uncle did say that my Mum used to be very feisty. She is eighty and off to Africa by herself this year - so the feisty genes come from her!

An issue here as well with the cone and cylinder question.Dd did the first bit but forgot how to do the rest.She's remembered how to do it now though and is cross with herself!
Another one feeling Iike a incompetent mother today as I overslept and leapt out of bed to yell Good Luck as she was charging down the garden path at 7.20am today.
Sunny please keep on posting,it sounds as if you've had a diabolical morning.The day can only pick up!

DD said maths was alright. Sunny my DD missed her bus this morning, which made me late for work, but at least I could drive her and didn't have to worry about ponies and motorbikes.

DS' Maths exam finished at 11am, but I won't hear from him how it went until he returns from school. At 1pm I got a text saying "URGENT - there is a Maths revision list on the school website which might benefit your son"

That's a bit of a worry, isn't it? Makes me wonder if the school has seen the first paper and gone into a blind panic that they didn't cover all of the topics. I guess I'll find out more when DS returns, but I hope it was OK for him because he needs an A to do it at A-level

Sunny - sympathies from me. Have you spoken to the Examination Officer at the school about what your DD can do? There must be a protocol for DCs who miss an exam for any reason. Can she bank the paper you said she'd already done and just do the missing one in January or something?

I know what you mean about being judged by your child's abilities. If I mention any problems DD is having, I get "oh ...." And a change of subject, so I tend to only talk about the good stuff.

DD said maths was 'not too bad'.

Apparently something her brother taught her last night came up! Never too late to crib eh?

They've both had a McDonalds McFlurry to celebrate and are doing some biology for tomorrow.

DS claims that Maths was easy, he finished well in advance and is confident of an A. He deserves an A in confidence, that's for sure!!

Sunny, sympathies from me too. It sounds incredibly stressful

I think people are just posting their relief/anxieties/issues, etc in their homes which may be less than what is going on in yours, but I'm sure no one is intending to boast.

I have no idea how DD got on as her phone has had it and she says she hasn't got time to switch all her stuff onto the new (second-hand) one she's got for her birthday. Still, either way, only 6 more to go here.

Sunny you are definitely not a failed parent. You care about your children otherwise you wouldn't be bothered about your DD's exams and your DS's safety. I second the suggestion to speak to the school to see how they can help you and help your DD.

Society does seem fixated on results but you know your child best. How ever many GCSEs they get depends on them but it is hard not to compare them to their peers. There are always opportunities to resit if it comes to it.

Look after yourself and stay with us.

I thought this was a 'support thread' - ? silly me, it seems to be some kind of boasting competition.

Right, I'm out of this thread.

Soup - I'm waiting for that comment from DD. it might come after her childcare exam, as she's very confident about that one.

It's nice for them to be quietly confident, especially if they have done the work and prepared for it. DS can be a bit negative. He hedges his bets!! Consequently, I don't really know what to expect from him grades wise.

Don't go Soup. Really glad that your ds liked the Maths paper.

I love it when one of mine comes out of an exam where they feel they did well (makes up for the dodgy exams).

I would love it if DD was confident, Soup. It is lovely to hear that some DC aren't completely ground down by the pressures of the exams

No need to leave soup I think sunny was feeling a bit fragile so when no one responded to her distress she felt unsupported.

Her most recent posts show she has a heck of a lot on her plate.

I tentatively asked the twins if they thought they would get an A in maths and they said of course at least an A, but we'll see. I certainly don't think they got everything right and they are having a very easy half term as they only did double, not triple science.

As for being judged by your children's achievements. I've never felt like that. I'm at peak of law career, streamed in glory every day or whatever - [you can laugh].... by my own achievements. I don't need anyone else's achievements to go by and in the thick of some complex work so they barely get me able to register which exam is which day and they are hearing about my cases en route when we aren't listening to the Today programme on which my sibling appeared yesterday (and I was last year so I think so far I have the sibling record for appearances on Today).