GCSEs 2019 Support thread 3

[myrtleWilson]

Welcome all - just went to post on thread 2 and saw it was at 999 so quickly did this

eat and pointy I’m so sorry you and your dc are having to go through this.

myrtle I think I would clarify what she means by a gathering. My experience is that could be a couple of friends having a pizza and watching a movie to a full blown party with vodka cocktails. I would be erring towards the latter due to the sudden change of venue (parents away?). WWID? I think I would check it’s an above board party and assuming it was let my dc go but with clear explanation of my expectations as to what needs to be achieved today, what time they should be up by tomorrow etc etc. Not letting her go may be counterproductive as she may just sulk and spend evening snap chatting friends who are at the party (and not revising).

Agree with kitty

Some sleuthing needed! 😊

Ds says only about 20 kids from his whole year group went to the revision classes yesterday and today.

The teachers must feel very deflated :(

Definitely sleuthing needed.
DD2 has had a quiet day revising with her gf - joints not so good today. DD1 has been revising and making banana cake. And I have got a new job - informal chat around possible redeployment turned into basically 'please come and work for us'. And I wasn't even interview ready, I just rocked up as me. Really pleased - it's only fixed term for a year but it could extend, it's continuous from my current post so worst case I'd be entitled to redundancy, and it's a band higher.

Congrats pointy

Congrats pointy

in the spirit of compromise DD has gone to the 'gathering' but is being picked up at 10.30 rather than 11. Everyone is happy.

It was supposed to be about 15 of them but DD has messaged to say much quieter affair as some people have dropped out so only about 8... so hopefully chilled..

Good compromise :)

Congrats pointy

myrtle apologies for my alarmist comments re the gathering- clearly your dd is significantly more responsible then my ds (takes deep breath thinking about Reading Festival).

Ds has spent the day in his pyjamas but apparently has revised Eng Lang, Geography and Biology and is about to do some Maths. I remain open minded as to how much was revision and how much was Snapchat and watching Game of Thrones!

Iambuffy what a shame they had such low numbers but great for the children who attended. We had no revision vlassss over half term but lots at Easter (£20 each) which were all over subscribed.

Pointy re your daughter, I was tested for rheumatoid arthritis & eventually diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I have found that (amongst other things) stress is a huge contributing factor. Even when I have not felt particularly stressed but have been going through what would be expected to be a stressful time my body has reacted painfully. Is it possible the exams are making her worse? As mentioned by a pp, Epsom salt baths can help, lots of rest, water, light exercise & eating well. I find cutting carbs helps, gluten sensitivity is common.

I seem to be having a better time than most this week.

I'm sorry to hear the situations posters are facing.

DS did a total "collapse" after his last exam on the Friday, by which I mean he went to his bedroom and pretty much stayed there.

He was happy enough to "present" himself for food, but otherwise we had a good 72 hours of him doing nothing apart from sleeping/watching movies/playing video games.

Thankfully on Monday evening he "emerged" from his bedroom and started to crack on with revision again.

We didn't pester him (I wanted him to have some downtime) but I've never seen him crash out before for so long.

He's going to my parents tomorrow (his choice) for a couple of days. DH and I are at work having taken the first few days of half term on annual leave.

My DF is a biologist and given that's one of the next exams he faces he's said he'd like to revise with his GF and be able to ask questions and frankly he knows he'll be treated like a prince there rather than home alone here.

He's in very good hands (my parents are brilliant with him) but I'm going to miss him as I've hardly seen him at all between his bedroom self exile and my work which feels a bit selfish on my part

Just realised I started and ended with a - not sure what that says!

pointy
I have fibro. Yoga has been a game changer for me.
Check our yoga with Adrienne on YouTube.
Free and tailored sessions - like yoga for stress or yoga for when you're sore.
X

Ooh, I have fibro too.( Misses point of thread). Currently have very achey back and legs. Hope the revision continues well.
I'm off to a maths tutoring session this morning.

Congratulations on the job pointy

Dd seems to be very chilled. I have pretty much left her to it.
She is definitely revising, but I think it consists of watching online tutorials and re-reading her notes...
Need to get her a bit more proactive - have suggested mind-maps.
Neither of us can wait until this is all over!

Prom is sorted - she is not a typical girl so will be going in a morris minor convertible with her two closest friends - one of whom will be in a beautiful trouser suit, the other probably in drag. Dd herself is wearing smart black trousers, a purple wool blazer and a lilac shirt. Oh, and her converse boots.... She has short hair which is usually tousled so that's simple too...

sunshine DD is gluten intolerant so we are keeping off that - it gives her awful stomach cramps. She's been through coeliac testing, but it isn't that. Stress absolutely contributes and as we have all had the year from hell, that will continue to be so for a while.

Soursprout they tested for vitamin D - levels normal. Which is a relief.

iambuffy DD2 is hypermobile so we have to be careful with yoga, but some form of movement based exercise is going to be needed . DD2 doesn't have the headspace for that now, but after the exams are over we're going to look into that.

And thanks for all the warm wishes re the new job, it's really appreciated,

Morning! Quick question- my dd says you can't revise for English Language which worries me, what do yours do to revise for it?

avenueq my dd says exactly the same. So I told her to brush up on her grammatical terms, which earned me an eye roll and an indignant "mum I know those anyway".
So I retreated to a safe distance...

There’s lots you can do to revise English Language- Mr Bruff has some great videos as a first place to look.

Check you understand what each question is asking you to do eg what is the structure question asking etc etc.

Creative writing- narrative techniques etc.

SPAG - comma splicing, apostrophes and other common errors.

Look at mark schemes for past papers / examiners reports.

@avenueq I got the same from my dd about english language.
She is at school in NIrl and her exam yesterday said it went well.
Is anyone else on this thread doing ccea exams

Catching up with you all - we have almost filled another thread .

Best wishes to all those with health and stress related issues, DD has been having counselling for a while for other reasons, but found it really helped with exam stress and sleeping too.

Exclusively History revision here for the moment. Timelines seem to be the thing, wardrobe doors covered in them.

Eng Lit - The only thing DD did was write a story.

Took her prom dress in yesterday for alterations - £105 - Bloody hell, almost as much as the dress cost. Trouble is she is so tiny, but curvy, and dresses are always way too long and too loose on the waist/back. Hey ho, at least she isn't doing any of the extras like nails, or hair, or tan, or transport...... shoes cheap from Next, and jewellery super cheap from Debenhams and Accessorize in the sales.

Eng Lang Obviously - Durrrrrr........

I'm sure you can revise for lang - DD2 just isn't doing any because it's her natural flair and she got 9s in both sets of Lang mocks. She is naturally a fluent writer and has an interest in grammar, spelling and punctuation to the point where she gets the rage over signs with incorrectly placed apostrophes. She once described Stephanie Meyer's writing as 'a horse crapping a pile of ellipsis all over a written page'. I nearly died laughing.

So we've been revising History instead.

Just back home after picking up prom dress from seamstress only £30 for us silentsister thankfully!

Lunch and then history and classics on the revision programme this afternoon. Then for dinner we are going to play with my new toy - pasta roller attachments for the kitchen aid...

Chemistry ‘using resources’ apparently, physics required practicals & a maths past paper here today. Sounds like a lot more than 2 hours to me!

Not much revision has been happening here as she's been feeling completemy crap this week. So I have no idea how history will go! Think next week is going to be exhausting.

Did manage prom dress shopping yesterday - ended up buying the first one she tried on, lol, after a few more of course. She's very low maintenance fortunately - doesn't need hair done, it's shaved to a grade 4 - and is happy to get a lift with friends.