Starting secondary support thread 2

[PenguinPandas]

Support thread continued.

Ordered giant duck to go to DHs work and when DH went to collect parcel one of the Managing Directors was there and said what's that and DH had to explain it was a giant rubber bath duck for his son. Thankfully MD just laughed.

I'm feeling really guilty. DS2 wasn't feeling great and was making noises about not going to thet party. I said, just go for a bit you've said you would it's rude etc. DH dropped him off only for DS2 to reappear home not long after. Apparently a group of them decided to take sharpies and a boy drew on DS2's face and top. He's really upset . I am surprised at this behaviour at a 12th birthday party in a hall, I know teen house parties things can get v silly, but he can't have been there any more than 5 mins. Can't even arrange a fun thing to do to cheer him up next week as DS4 has chicken pox!

Poor DS2 and DS4* Dobbins Maturity levels aren't high but you would have expected more than 5 minutes. Argh chicken pox, hope the others have had it already and he starts improving. Would DS2 do anything at home, my DS does teddies, Netflix, puzzle books and occasionally art things.

DS says there's a decorate an egg homework for history with a historical figure. He was not sure about this so I suggested a beheaded egg with French Revolution as he prefers to be different and loves gruesome. He was very enthusiastic but now seems to have plans for a scene 1 metre by 1 metre 😱 with Marie Antoinette, King Louis and Napoleon. Napoleon wasn't at the beheadings but historical facts seem an irrelevance. 😂 I have had to order so much for this scene from Hobbycraft though would imagine he will break an egg and it will be over. DD then moaned she wanted Hobbycraft stuff to so did second order. Still hopefully will be enough for weekends and rest of year. £58 😱😱😱 But first time in a couple of years DS has asked for anything and hoping DD will help him. She says no but loves this sort of thing. He normally refuses my help as looks like adult work.

Went swimming on Wed so DS finally got hair washed but still no haircut. Thurs and Sat were work on old house as will be three days next week. Swimming at David Lloyd today we are on 2 week trial for £16 each and its lovely but can't justify joining or afford it atm. Saw they had dive sticks, said to DS shall I throw one for you. no Mummy I am too old. Threw one and he went for it and another 99 😂 Dd is meeting with friends today and tomorrow but has been doing painting at old house, pay her to help.

Thanks Penguins. DS2 seems ok, he's really not one for that kind of joke/behaviour, so even if he hadn't have got drawn on he wouldn't have stayed.

I do worry that he doesn't really fit in with his peers. Not that I want him to behave like that but he's pretty friendless as the gap seems to have widen at secondary tbh. There's one boy he gets on well with at school that seems similar minded to him, but DS2 won't entertain the idea of suggesting a meet up outside school.

Other 3 had chicken pox 5 years ago, also at Easter do it's just DS4 thankfully. He's not sleeping so I'm 😴

I hope the Hobbycraft order keeps them well occupied! Glad DS has washed hair, and enjoyed the swimming. Hope the work on old house goes ok.

DS also has only one close friend at the new school and he says he is identical to one of his 3 best friends at his old school but he needs to find 2 identical children to the other two and you can't rush friendships. He won't do a playdate with new friend, only old ones and he has only done that twice since September - they are an hour away but he does seem happy. He is the opposite on silliness though, very happy to join in any silliness, remember him getting time out for a carrot throwing competition in y6.

Glad your other three have had chicken pox. Mine had it together. Hope you can get some sleep soon. DD is saying everything I have ordered from Hobbycraft is of no interest though I am sure she will be all over it when it arrives she just likes to moan.

Hobbycraft stuff arrived today and DS told me he had done lots of work with it for his homework project. Asked him what he had made and he said oh nothing yet I am doing hours of planning first and I am just in the planning phase now. 😎

DH is from Paris and has been watching notre dame and DS empathy levels as high as ever is singing Notre dame is burning down, my fair Frenchman.

DS and DH went swimming yesterday but DS said it was boring with DH. Just organising work on old house and DD suddenly said to me yesterday I need to see a dentist asap so arranging that but there's nothing especially happening with her teeth so not sure why its suddenly an emergency. She has been saying she wants to move back to old house to go to her old grammar school but know if we did that a few weeks later she would be asking to come back here.

Hope you are all having a good Easter and green if you are still around hope house move went well.

DH finally got DS to barbers - not sure when we last got him there 6 months or so ago. But DH has just returned for the car, barber has cut onside and DS is having a meltdown - could be an interesting haircut.

Hope you got the lot done.
When ds was a toddler, I'd just done one side when he turned and I nicked his ear. He wouldn't let me near him with scissors for a week. He looked very interesting as at that time I generally let it grow to around a short bob level then cut back to short back and sides to minimise haircuts.

We've just got back from Butlins. Ds swam every day except one, so no need to discuss baths/showers. However now the weather has warmed up he is now getting hysterical about the possibility of wasps. He only started this last year, and has never been stung, so not quite sure what to do about it. Last summer he spent one day at the seaside mostly inside the car because there might be wasps around.

Glad you had a nice time at Butlins and got DS swimming Witchend

DS has half a haircut - there's no way he can go to school with it as it is, its long at the front, short at the back! He's better at women's hairdressers as he's fussy about the style but DH always takes him to barbers were they cut a lot off but DS is quite vain - he is complaining his style has gone - normally his hair looks like a public school boys blonde floppy hairstyle with quiff and he loves it. But hoping to get him for an emergency barber cut tomorrow otherwise will have a go myself - women's ones are always booked up on Saturdays.

We have been swimming three times on our 2 week David Lloyd trial though DD has refused to come. Got some painting done at old house and arranged for bathroom to be redone and all things for that are now with us. Cleared out some more things too. Rabbits are neutered. Back to school on Tuesday.

I made 3 outfits for eggs - DH was so impressed with them and said I should set up a business making them but think I will sticking to day job. Not sure there's too much demand for egg outfits! DS got in a panic saying work had stopped as he needed a 42cm diameter centre circle and nothing in house exactly that size - I then pointed out to him in the pictures the stage was square and that crisis was over. Not sure what he's done on it - he told me he had made the crowd apart from there heads so some headless people!

Penguin

Hope today was peaceful.

Obviously a quiet beginning of term for us!
How's everything going?
Hope things have settled down with your dd Penguin

Dd1 is gearing up for A-levels. Ds is counting down the number of days of school she has left. He's very envious. But apparently he does want to go to the 6th form. He has two reasons. The first is that in the 6th form block is air conditioning. And the second thing is there's a vending machine with fizzy drinks too.

I told dh (who's a governor) so he can add such important information when they're discussing increasing the appeal of the 6th form. His response:
"They really shouldn't have fizzy drinks available even in the 6th form, that's seriously bad for their health."
I've told him to stop being silly. Sometimes he has a strange perceptive of life.

Dd2 is doing her annual mental health decline. I had a call from school about it. I said she seemed to suffer from SAD but effecting her at this time of year. They're putting some counselling together for her, and she's told them she really hates PE because of an incident that happened in that. So they've pulled her out of PE. I'm not convinced she's not pulling a fast one, as she's quite often come out of school laughing about something in PE-more often than any other lesson.

Ds has just been given permission to have a week off school to do a performance. He's delighted. In all honesty I thought they'd refuse as his attendance is terrible, but I did say how good for his mental health it is (which it is). He's also looking forward to being able to wear shorts again after half term, so he seems to be okay at present.
Although he did say yesterday "now I've been authorised for the performance, it doesn't matter if I have time off school now. Can I have tomorrow off? The answer was "no".
He's also agreed to a 1940s short back and sides for another performance coming up, and he'll go to a barbers for it.

Lovely to hear from you Witchend but sorry about your DD2s mental health, hope it improves.

What A Levels will your DD take? Does she change schools? Our school just goes to 16. Good your DS has plans for a haircut (my DSs is still half cut!) and got a week off.

DS is still doing very well. DD has said she wants to change school so we are looking at couple of others - interview with a private next week and visit to a science and tech college next week (state).

Ooo, it's coming around to a new thread about the year 6s coming up now isn't it! Visable Excitement

Hello signing back in. Sorry to hear about your DD Penguin , that sounds very stressful.
Will we have a Y8 thread?
DS in getting stressed about end of year exams which are in mid June.

Not sure exactly what A-levels dd will take. Definitely Maths and further maths. Last time I heard history was in the running, which I don't think is especially good idea as she's not really into writing essays, but her choice.
She'll stay at the same school unless anything changes. Most people go to the extremely large 6th form college locally (they're one of the few schools left with a 6th form as almost everyone goes there) but dd1's experience is that it hasn't been brilliant and it's far harder to get help, so dd2 could well not cope and not be able to find who can/will help.

Definitely need a year 8 thread next year. It's been a good support thread this year for me.

Maths and Further Maths is good, DD wants to do that too and is quite consistent on that. History is quite different but very interesting, guess it depends what career / degree she would enjoy. If she wants economics / finance history is great but for more scientific field would stick to sciences. I loved History A Level but was all C20th so more like politics than history.

Year 8 thread would be nice. Hope DobbinsVeil comes back soon too.

DD has private school assessment tomorrow though DH is not at all keen on paying for it so suspect he's hoping they don't offer. Will be a struggle to pay for it but think would do her good then switch back to state for A Level at 6th form college which is excellent. DS loves the science and maths college she is visiting "as they don't do 10 pointless subjects like art, music, history, French any subject DS doesn't like "

Hi, I was on the original thread (possibly under another name, will check) and will catch up later marking my place

Hope everyone has a good half term.

We are just off to go a boat trip with seals and more work at old house. New bathroom in though.

DD is in Olympiad for UKMT JMC and got Gold and Kangaroo with Merit for Intermediate. Finally a space in top set French so moved to it. Also got offered a place for year 9 at private school today.

No, I'm not sophisticated! I was Sassy (I think)

My DD is doing OK - some aspects went much better than she expected (making friends for example) and some other subject were harder than she expected. She has done OK in her first set of exams which she was dreading, although she still find school quite tiring and a smidge stressful but she does mostly enjoy it.

She is going on a trip to Europe with the school which is nice that she wants to go.

Weird about the mystery baby, Penguins - not sure whether to say good news or not with the offer of a place for your DD, that is quite a set of fees!

Are you Sassy as in drunk snowman Sassy with the cute cat?

Glad your DD is doing well and trip to Europe sounds exciting.

Mixed feelings when I got private school offer especially as its been 2 weeks so they must have offered it someone else first as said would offer after 3 days. Tried to get me to accept on phone.

Well done Penguins' dd. Don't envy you that choice though!

We've had a bad week. Dd1 has her first week of study leave and was looking forward to 3 days of revising in peace and quiet with no one else around.

We've had:
Monday: DD2 woke at 5:30 with a migraine. However she had to go to school as she had her GCSE RE exam. I suspect it was stress related. Bad start.
Tuesday: DD2 woke with a migraine and tonsillitis. Stayed at home. That evening I got a call from school to say ds was involved in an incident in computing. By the sound of it basically he was attacked by one of the girls. They want to interview him tomorrow to find his side of the story. He gets upset because the person who is going to interview him was the person that called him a liar last time because "8 people were saying the same", so he must be lying-until I pointed out that the teacher had already said the 8 people weren't present at the original incident (where ds was attacked)
Wednesday: Me and ds wake up with tonsillitis. Tonsilitis tends to wipe ds out. Dd2 refuses to get up, and to be fair looks still pretty rough. I get a call to say that dd2's mentor she's been waiting for will be in school tomorrow.
Thursday: Dd1 has her next dentist appointment. It starts at 9:00am in a place normally about 30 minutes away. Google tells me at that time of day it's around 1her 35 away. So we leave just after voting (dd1 didn't reckon she could vote after sedation)
DD2 is bouncing to be in and meet her mentor. Ds takes one look at his school bag, grabs his tummy and retreats making sick noises. Don't have time to sort that, so he has to stay in bed.
Friday: Ds is pretty much better, but still a bit pale. I tell him he's going to school. He refuses, retreats to bed in tears. I eventually get him in for afternoon school. He comes out (predictably) quite happy. I have a message from school saying they've sorted the incident out (without having spoken to him) and I drag a protesting ds to the doctor where they diagnose him with anxiety, but say there's nothing they can do until he's 12.