Parents of Year 11DC support thread. The final term.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Eep.

I take it you mean stressed friends dream rather than dressed.
dd was taking photos around the house using phone yesterday evening using phone. When we implied that she should be revising/doing homework we were told that taking photos is her homework. They are needed for creating a website for IT. (One exam is to create a website)!

Thread is getting busier as we get closer.

Hands out to everyone.

Exit your dds project sounds amazing! dd is obsessing about hers and instead of going to various revision sessions seems to be spending half of them tweaking hers

Ds1 stayed in school for his biology test/prep. I really should know more about it
He thinks he did ok. Was told he had 100% on the first section so it was a good start.

He came home much more relaxed than he left (forgot his lunch for the first time ever! ) and revised maths and physics.
Phew.

DS just got a U in mock GCSE English literature. X fingers hope his teacher comes thru with sending home some past papers I can go thru with him to teach him what to do (he had not a clue how to answer any question). Sheesh. U!!

We also had a letter home from the RE teacher about how DS isn't going to the after school sessions for RE revision. And wouldn't it be great to get an extra GCSE to help chances of going to college (DS will never go to college). I wanted to at least email the teacher back to apologise for DS being so feckless, but DH tossed the letter into recycling bin (oh well).

The good news is, this ordeal is over with by 19 June. DS has some great results in other subjects, btw, not all gloom & doom. Still an ordeal, though.

DS's revision technique has proved amusing this week. He's been doing quizzes on Tassomai, which he likes, but combining it with keeping fit by doing press ups in or sqauts wherever he gets a question wrong. But today he's been complaining of achy legs - clearly been getting too many questions wrong

Got rubbish replies from the school about the chemistry teaching, first saying it was all fine, and then contradicting earlier emails and saying they had started the triple science content earlier than Easter. I've given up pursuing the issue now as there's bugger all they can do now that will help DS. He'll just have to learn fast and revise in the time he's not trying to learn new stuff.

Good to hear he's not at the only school to still be trying to cover the syllabus in one or two subjects.

Frustrating that new material is still being covered! DS was doing a past paper yesterday - ICT practical - and found another topic that has not been taught. The exam in next week!

YeOlde - would it be possible to find an emergency tutor for your ds? or would that not be helpful? school would be better off cutting out things like RE and shoving in some urgent help for his English.

Tassomai should hopefully bridge a lot of the gap bluelilies as he is doing it so enthusiastically!

Last night dd was talking about her friends - who said and did what and about a friends birthday they are planning. She has such a lovely sturdy group of friends - all very sensible and supportive, with an equally daft sense of humour. I went to bed feeling really sad that dd has decided not to go to the same 6th form as them and will only be able to see them at weekends and holidays. I know that when it comes to uni they will all be going off in different directions, but it seems a bit sad that dd will be separated from the group early. But she knows her own mind and this is what she wants - I need to respect that.

I'm sure she will be fine.

Dd got 88 out of 90 for the humongous broken wind turbine

Buried dad yesterday so it's eyes forward to 17th May now.

She will be fine - its me that feels bereft

Yay for your dds mark. That's splendid. I hope that yesterday went as well as these things can go and that you are doing ok.

Exit I found that the funeral was the turning point, it was the start of the mundane paper-pushing stage and I could cope with that better than with the grieving relatives. The wind turbine was obviously a thing of wonder (even if broken), I bet you're both glad to have that out of the way now.

DS continues to amaze me. This week he was the only one in the class to get full marks on a surprise maths test (part of a past paper) and in literature his paper was photocopied and handed round as a specimen answer. He's always been The Musical One and it's not that we've written him off academically but he's never really shone. He's been plodding along but this calendar year he seems to have stepped up a gear. I always knew that the slacker was capable of more but there didn't seem to be any way of coaxing it out of him. If you'd asked me at Christmas I would have said he was an A/B candidate but now he's looking more like A*/A. It's a pity that this enthusiasm comes too late to rescue his MFL as the CAs have scuppered any chance of an A. Not that it matters when he was on track for D earlier in the year.

I am ready for it to be over now.

Well done to your ds knitting

It is the thought of having to empty the house that is wearing me down. Have no idea where to start. And can I put it on the market before I get probate? And why the Jeff do I need probate when he left a will. And who pays for the funeral until his money is released? And is there a topic on MN for this.?

exit - you can post on the legal section on MN and may get help on those things. There's also lots of other help online - I think Saga have some helpful webapges, or it might be Age Concern, one of the two.

But to the best of my knowledge, having helped DH deal with his DF's funeral recently - you can't sell the house before you get probate, but you can get an estate agent round to value it, take photos, etc and be ready to go at least. You need probate because that's when it's officially recognised that you've paid any debts he had, paid any tax due, and can then distribute the funds. I'm not sure about funeral costs, but I think we had to lend DMIL money to pay for the funeral initially and to tide her over until she had access to DFIL's money. I'm sure you can get it from the estate at some point though.

Well done to your DS knitting. DD is slowing creeping up on DS academically, I have DS down in my head as 'The Academic One', it amuses me on both their parts, as DD realises she can compete with him and he realises he doesn't have what he perceives as the higher ground (in sibling terms!).

Exit Would it be too upsetting to use a house clearance company, obviously after you have gone through his personal items? I can understand though, it's my parents are divorced and DF has 2 houses, it will be a big job.

DS has had his final report, we get them 3 times a year. He's predicted mainly A's and A's, with a C in German (will be lucky to get that!). He's hoping to push some of the A's to A's as he feels he's stronger in exams than coursework, which the predictions account for, so hoping high exam marks will push him on.

Exit Dad didn't leave a will and most of his assets were joint with my mother so the estate was simple (apart from his tax return which was a @@** nightmare as he seemed to have just made figures up for the preceding year). My FIL's estate was of a similar nature.

Are you the executor then? Going along to the courts is no big deal, we had to go to get the letter of administration. Ours had a nice cafe that looked across to where we could see a gentlemen getting dressed and putting his wig on. There was much giggling (we were nervous) Stock up on stamps and notepaper, having more than one copy of the death certificate means you can multitask rather than waiting for it to come back. (Deletes rant about the bank making it into an investment sales pitch from which we couldn't escape)

Message me if you want, the first link I found was this one:

www.theguardian.com/money/2013/sep/21/probate-avoid-rip-off-comparing

Thanks all. I have filled in all the forms for probate and got my brother to sign them when he flew in for the funeral. I can afford to pay for the funeral out of the bit of money he had in bank plus some cash left at the house - but I will have to continue to pay the costs of the house - heating etc until it is sold.

I am ranting more at my brother who swanned off back to South Africa leaving me to deal with it all. [cross]

Yeah - Letter arrived today offering DD a place at her first choice Sixth Form College

Fantastic Exit!!