GCSEs 2018 (5 & a puppy, but no kittens)

[Stickerrocks]

Here we go again.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/3177476-GCSEs-2018-4-already

DS had lie in this morning, lunch and another nap but is working on his drawings now! I think he's finding this more stressful than the science revision, to be honest.

THats excessive mmzz.

Dd is going away next week for four days to stay with her friends family whoblive near the seaside. They have planned some revision but lots of fun too.

First sign of real drive - DD proclaiming she would like to get an A* in Biology -she has worked really hard today .

What sort of homework is it mmzz? Surely all homework would be revision now? I know DS has been set a few past papers to do in science/maths but he'd be doing them anyway as part of his revision.

I must admit, I've quite enjoyed DS's day off. DH and I went to the pub this afternoon!

DS counts any homework as revision time, he certainly doesn't do homework and then revision, as like Cherrybun said surely its revision anyway?

That's great news Teen is she planning on doing Biology for A level?

Loose I'm finding your DS's art stressful heaven knows how he must be feeling

Cherryburn yes it’s all revision but not all helpful revision. Eg he did a biology past paper earlier that tested him on a several sections, one of which he hasn’t revised yet, and won’t have a chance to revise before the test paper has to be handed in.
RE wants him to fill in a 15 page document of answers to various questions, covering about 40% of the curriculum, much of which he hasn’t covered yet. It’s set take about 6 hours to do but DS isn’t revising for it, just scanning through the text book and pulling out the answers.
Once he’s done these things, then he needs to go back through and revise it all properly before 14th May....

Bluebelle seriously it's the subject that'll give me ulcers

Nothing like these levels of revision going on here but dd is very positive about tassomai so far. It's only been a few days but she is up to 10% and has worked out what she wants to do each day.

She's back at school on Monday and has only just remembered that she has a mountain of English homework including full past papers and loads of character sheets that need to be in on Monday. That's tomorrow taken care of

Mmzz are you getting to a point where the dc gave to look after their own interests. Homework may be useful for those struggling a bit more or not working at his level so I can see why it’s set but at this stage they should be allowed to have an alternative plan. DS has found if he has an issue as long as he s up front and emails a teacher with an alternative they have been responsive. Could he write to the teacher setting out the work he is doing and propose a timescale that works for him. DS is not doing English homework as he needs to practise questions.

Oratory1 yes.

DS tends to just do what his teachers ask, without questioning. I tend to skip the step of thinking about things too, and just work out how to do it. But DH isn't like that, so,a couple of hours ago, when he found out over dinner what is happening with DS, he basically just said that DS has a carefully worked out, and full timetable. So, if he's given work to do, with an unhelpful deadline, then he's just to do it at a time that it makes sense to do it. And if the teacher concerned has a problem with that, he'll happily share the timetable with them and explain why DS won't be doing it until a time that's best for DS.
I know it sounds a bit silly but it's as if several of the teachers just want DS to do well in their subject and to hell with the rest (and I don't know where that would leave English or History who notably have set no homework at all).

I do sympathise. My DS too doesn’t like to rock the boat or not do what’s asked - but has now found an alternative proposal politely proposed can work.

When teachers set revision type homeworks it's often past papers that they then go through in a lesson, so if you've not done the homework, the lesson is a bit wasted on you. It's a tricky one. The teachers are trying to make sure that their students have revised their subject and for the less conscientious students, that's probably very useful. I'd tend to compromise and fit the revision schedule around the homework, so the homework becomes the revision for those hours where possible, rather than try to do both.

I would do the same as Ellen and fit the revision around the homework - I suspect the school are trying to gear themselves up for what revision they will cover over the next 3/4 weeks and doing past paper and questions will highlight class weaknesses (if any) that they can spend more time on....but I guess if you have put together a comprehensive revision package of your own revision this makes things difficult - your DS probably feels he is being pulled in two directions. I'd still ensure that revision was done on both subjects where homework has not been covered .

These things are always so difficult - some teachers in DD's school gave them a bound folder of past papers in January and left them to complete when they had time but with the teacher's doing regular checks and this seems to work ok.

DD doing Tassomai Biology now - I try and get her to do some questions when ever we are in the car - she's zooming through it - over 20% in 3 days at 89% success rate....she did past paper yesterday and achieved an A so things are looking good.

I'm just helping with testing with flash cards on computer science - think I will be able to sit the first exam at this rate

DD is holed up doing English questions. New Maths tutor starts today. He's a year 12 so might be a bit weird but we shall see.

Hour of Maths done, 15 minutes matching Commonwealth Games squash, now on to Physics.

In 10 weeks’ time it will all be over, as I keep mentioning.

Thinking further ahead, I’ve just noticed that DS will be flying back from his rugby tour on August 23rd! Can you get WiFi on planes? Will the staff have to deal with 20 16 year olds logging in to get their (possibly distressing?) results? Rather them than me!

No holidays for us that week! DS3 will pick his results up in person at school. Do you get yours by email? At his school if you are away you have to arrange permission for a adult relative or adult friend to pick them up on their behalf. We also have to inform his chosen sixth form before 3pm of his results, which can be by email of an official copy of results.

Can I ask how many hours your kids are doing when they do revise? DD is 17 and doing A levels, DS 15 and doing GCSE's. In the past week the most I've got mine to do is 6 hours (only on one day), the rest it was a push to get them to do 4 hours. Its thankless and depressing having to hassle and nag the whole time and getting repeated emails from school about revising the whole time.

I'm the only person in this house with exam stress!

Bouledeneige yesterday was a long day for DS... nearly 11 hours of revision (too much). Today will be about 7 1/2. More usually, its about 6 a day but he'll have a complete break this coming weekend.

DS is aiming for the same hours as a normal school day - 9-12.30, 2-4, 1-2 hours of homework. So that comes to about 7 hours?
Plus some exercise each day!

The thing is Ellen and Teenmum, that the school has given so much homework, there is no time left for revision e.g. the RE homework looks like it is going to take 10 hours.

I deleted the timetable I had made for the last 10 days of the holiday so that DS can fit in all the homework and get a few days off before the new term. Then I put the homework into the revision slots instead.

With past papers on things he hasn't covered yet, RE questions taking up way more than 10% of the available time, maths papers on stuff that he can do easily and the need to get ready for the MFL oral meaning he really needs to be exam ready for the MFL by the time the holiday is over, plus a few other teacher-set bits and pieces, there isn't any time left to actually do some English or History or learn some of the stuff he's unsure of in each subject.

mmzz that's insane. He definitely needs to prepare for his MFL exam. I'm not sure what to suggest apart from rebellion! What are his friends at the same school doing?!

re homework.
This time 3 years ago DD had various science homeworks, including Physics questions on paper 2 which was her final exam. I just told her not to do it, and that if anyone complained to say it didn't fit with her revision timetable and/or refer them to me. Mainly, if homework fitted with revision it was done, and if it didn't it wasn't done or was deferred.
Will your schools not be flexible?

Bouledeneige - DD probably doing on average about 4.5 hours a day occasionally more or sometimes less. This morning she hasn't done any, I took her to enrol at a gym and she'll probably do a couple of hours of history this afternoon and another couple of hours tonight...but in saying the above we are fortunate that she has completed 40% of the exam on both Eng papers and 60% of DT so only having to revise one book for Eng Lit really helps.

No homework set at all over the holiday period apart from an English paper they were asked to look and complete for marking on return.

DD has done a couple of past papers on computer science where she hasn't finished syllabus she just skips the questions and we adjust the overall marks accordingly.

It must be so difficult for your DS mmzz - DD doesn't have MFL Oral till 30/4 but we are quite laid back ...tutor has covered one topic each week and just one more to cover this forthcoming week ...plan is to have a 2 hour session on day before oral but DD not memorising anything, tutor stated the Oral should be spontaneous but to just look to add extra vocab here and there e.g. instead of saying friend - say best friend.

Kingscote Can you even get results online from the school? Our school will only release the results to the child themselves or a pre-agreed proxy. You can get the results posted, but the school advises against it. They will not release the results over the phone and if you miss 23rd, you have to wait until school re-opens in September.