GCSEs 2019 support thread 4

[TacoLover]

The last one is almost full!

Aaaaaand ds1 has woken up with a sore throat...sigh.

Poor him lambuffy, can you give him some chloraseptic spray to take in? Dd has a really bad throat & cold the first week & it does help speed up the healing.
Good luck to all with exams today, hope they are as stress free as possible.

He's had s gargle with difflam and some ibuprofen.

Says he feels better but said in the car "I'm running on fumes, mum"

Poor kids. Hopd your dd is better now?

Ds2 is coughing and snotty sp just hope ds1 doesn't get worse!

I told him that on Friday afternoon he can go to bed for a week. That made him smile.

I think he's also a bit emotional about leaving school. He's enjoyed it there and he isnt someone for whom change is easy.

Sending out lots of good luck wishes to all the DC (and parents!) this week x

Hope your ds feels better soon buffy

'running on fumes' was exactly how dd described it

She's been invited to a big party on Friday night and really doesn't want to go. All she wants to do is crash with her cat and netflix and stay in bed for three days. She has to go as she has invited two friends to come and stay. I've said I am more than happy to pretend she's ill, but she's buggering on for now.

ds is still in bed, supposed to be revising, nothing got done over the weekend

he is desperate for a summer job to earn some money, mainly so he can buy all Jack Wills etc clothing for sixth form

He has been invite dot a couple of post exam parties, one on Friday night he said "will be full of druggies" so he is not going. I think he will be just as happy at home on x-box!

I wish I could say he is exhausted, but to be honest there have been a lot of lie-ins.......

yes dd says Friday night will be full of people sitting around in adidas trackies smoking weed and getting pissed.

She's an old fogey really, just loves her bed and books and cat.

Your poor ds buffy. Hopefully the difflam and ibuprofen will do the trick. Thinking of all the dc who are poorly - both long term and those with coughs and colds. There is only so long you can work at this level without your immune system suffering. I can't imagine they will be performing as well this week as they did at the beginning - unfortunately this is dds heaviest week!
behind well done your dd with all that work! It's great when they earn their own money, although we now have to fight with dd as she feels she should buy everything as she's earning! She earns £25 a month😂 I think she'll be job hunting for something more regular after the exams.
She went off wearily to food tech today. Her favourite subject but it's been neglected in favour of history revision (an a-level choice).

Gosh, your DC's are all really busy. Nothing planned here. No post exam parties, no NCS, no work experience. From next week DD will be reading, drawing, learning some new pieces on the piano, catching up with missed films...... just generally chilling. We are going on holiday for two weeks, but that is basically it. Feeling guilty now.

dd has THREE parties next week plus her Grade 8 LAMDA exam on the 22nd

She will crash completely after that and I am not expecting it to be pretty!!

Sadly we aren't going away this summer but fingers crossed the weather is good in the UK

Sorry - just need to say this somewhere before I start to cry at work. My dad had some tests done last week, potentially results may be ready tomorrow. I politely asked my ‘d’sis if we could keep any chat about any bad news off the family chat group and also asked if her ‘d’d could watch what she puts on her snapchat story- no ‘I feel so sad about the news I’ve heard’ posts please. Both of her children have long finished the education system - my dd has the last two weeks of exams to go.
Apparently I am gobsmackingly rude for asking this of her daughter and it’s all kicked off. Been told How dare I - have I asked this of all her friends or just her cousin? (Nb - all her friends are doing exams too and none of them are aware of said tests, even my dd doesn’t know what the tests are for).
So I now have been painted as the bad guy for asking this. I really did ask politely. ‘D’sis can be like this with me - but I honestly thought asking a reasonable request at this time wouldn’t have resulted in all this. For context when her daughter has caused upset in the past dsis washes her hands of it all saying she’s an adult and won’t get involved (niece has a she said he said attitude and it seems loves a bit of drama), but when I have asked this she’s all too keen to stick up for daughter.
I’m totally fed up of this attitude that her daughter can cause as much offence as she likes and my sister doesn’t want to know, but when I politely ask for no drama if nad news she’s all over sending messages how horrible I am.
So by trying to avoid drama and stress for my daughter my sister is intent on creating it. I have managed to chat to my daughter about it and luckily she has her cousins measure from her attitude towards her and is ok, but for crying out loud.....(for the record I did get a friend to check what I’d written in the request and they couldn’t see anything wrong with if either).

Sorry - but all of our dchildren have worked so hard, if dd doesn’t get the grades because of all this I’ll blame myself when I was trying to prevent it - and yes I’m rambling, sorry

fos deep breaths!
I don't see anything wrong in your message.
It sounds as though your dd "has the measure" of her aunt and cousin?
Just be available for your dd to talk to and keep home as calm as possible.
Sadly, social media is SO pervasive now. Our kids see so much stuff we would rather they didnt :(

Thanks Buffy, she’s messaged again, saw the first few words flash up and on that alone I’m not opening it.
How’s the sore throat? Hope it’s eased

FOS sorry to hear about that.

Your request was perfectly reasonable and it's sad your sister has seen fit to respond as she has

Oh Fos, so sorry to hear about your Dad.

I have an aunt like this, we spent 20 odd years waking on eggshells, until she kicked off after my wedding, and then my mum said enough is enough, and has quietly gone no contact with her. No drama, just stopped contacting her.
Life has been very peaceful since!
People like that are exhausting.

Sadly I think keeping your dd out of the loop for 2 more weeks was optimistic, a day or two maybe. She will find out. Better things come from you

about work experience: our school say kids can do NCS instead of work experience, which is great as it nudged DS into NCS, which means a few weeks where he is not glued to his PC

What is NCS?

Oh no buffy! Fingers x you can keep him dosed up enough that he doesn’t fall asleep but enough to get through it!
On meltdown here, think it’s tiredness I was yelled at for allowing her to oversleep until 9.30, (feel a wee bit quilty as we binged watched four episodes of killing eve last night) then Seneca crashed which created more stomping.
Fos , you have to stay calm for Dd, she won’t want you upset either. Relo’s can be the cause of so much trouble!
Roll on Friday

Buffy - NCS is National Citizen Service. https://www.ncsyes.co.uk/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-em7nJHf4gIVGLLtCh3KoQCOEAAYASAAEgJk3DD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Ds says he feels ok but has a sore throat.
I'm going to dose him up for tomorrow - maths and history

Keep him dosed up buffy, poor chap.
fos sorry to hear about your ddad and family trouble. I think you were more than reasonable. Deep breath!
glee, dd is very lucky, the job is at her beloved horse yard so it is a hobby for which she now gets paid (I doubt she would be so motivated otherwise!)

Dd has spent most of the day in bed, watching online chemistry tutorials and history lectures. She says she does not have the energy to sit up at her desk. She is indeed running on empty, yet this week is a tough one as maths, chemistry and physics are not strong subjects, and history is just too much content...
Ho hum, we will just need to get through it..

My Ds started his first day of his first ever job today (last exam was Friday), it’s only for the summer in the sister company that I work for, he’s really enjoyed it today, did a bit of warehouse, bit of admin and eager to learn new things. We’re going on holidays in 2 weeks so he’ll have a bit of spends that he’s earned himself. Not full time just 9-3 two days a week but might increase to 3 days after our holidays.

Media today for DD and another six exams to go. Five this week and one next Monday.

Maths, physics and chemistry all difficult for dd, also she seems to have lost momentum. She is still revising but I'm not sure how effective it is.

Will be pleased when it's over and we can start the summer activities, Prom, NCS, holiday and hopefully find a part time job!!

NCS = national citizenship service.

4 weeks of activities designed to get them thinking, trying new things and raising money.

In my limited experience it varies enormously from place to place as to how good it is.
Ds wouldn't even consider it.