Current Year 10 2020/2021 support thread

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I can’t see a thread for upcoming new year 10s, so I thought I’d start one, as the long-running GCSE one I’ve been part of for DD has been a life-saver.

DS has opted to take history, German, drama and music, plus double science, maths, English x2, and RE.
He’s pretty bright and does well without having to break a sweat (much to my frustration!), but doesn’t really know what he wants to do in the future. He’s a music scholar at his school, so does a lot of music (DH and I are both professional musicians...or were, before Covid hit...) but loves history and English.

His school provided excellent online schooling and he was lucky to be able to go in 2 days a week for the last 3 weeks of term.

His sister has just finished year 11, so we are biting our nails, waiting for results next week. She has quite a different academic profile, having ADHD and possibly dyspraxia, and has had to work hard throughout the last few years.

I hope us parents of DCs just starting the GCSE journey can help and support each other over the next couple of years. 🙂

Astrophysics is one of the courses DS is interested in too @QueenMabby - naturally Manchester as that has the highest grade requirements
So needs maths and physics for that - his other interest is neuroscience, some courses want biology (eg Exeter), some want chemistry (UCL) and some want both (Edinburgh) so he's going to have to make some decisions soon!

Gosh DD thinks she may want to be a teacher but certainly not thinking about A Level options yet.

DD also thinking she might be a teacher. In direct contrast to everyone else in the family who is strong in science/maths she is currently thinking she will study English, Drama and History at A Level. Obviously she may change before then!! My DS is currently in Year 12, and studying at least one subject that he would not have imagined progressing to A Level at the start of Year 10 (actually he thought he'd fail the GCSE at that point, so I will wheel this out as a nice positive story if any of our DC start flagging later).

When I got up at 7 DS1 was dressed and leaving for football club. I think it’s safe to say he is liking being back. He’ll never admit it.

Wow, I’m impressed with all the DC’s on here that have clear ideas on what they want to do! DD is lucky to be strong in all subjects but her passion is English and she has a real talent for creative writing. At the moment she thinks she will probably take English, History and Philosophy at A Level. And she knows that she wants to go to uni but not really anything past that.

DS hasn't really got an idea of what he wants to do or study yet. He got in a panic when he received a career advice email as he thought he would be locked into what he chose on that.

When do they start looking at what to do for A level and places? He's my only child so not don't this before

DD has gone back to school today at last!

And DS in year 12 went back yesterday.

Would have the house to myself but DH seems to have taken up working from home permanently...

Hi @MirandaWest! Nice to see you on this thread too! Ds wants to join the armed forces or own his own business. He can’t yet see the relevance of GCSEs or A Levels to these aspirations and therefore thinks he needn’t ‘sweat’! Please give me ideas if you have any!

@crazycrofter I hope you don't mind me jumping into your comment but dh has been in the armed forces for 20 years.
Is he thinking of going to Harrogate (if it's army he is looking at) The better he does at his GCSEs the more choices he will have on which trade group to join. The Armed Forces is now very pro education and continued learning.

@GhostTypeEevee thank you, that’s exactly the sort of information I need! I’m trying to explain that decent A Levels would also give him more options, possibility of officer training etc.

@crazycofter does he have an idea of what he wants to do in the Armed Forces? He could have a look at the different branches and entry requirements. If joining as a soldier not an officer DH always says people should try and get a trade at the very least. It makes it easier when they leave

@GhostTypeEevee no he doesn’t. That was my reasoning with A Levels/degree. And I guess if you leave having been an officer it’s easier to find an alternative career? I can see the logic of having a trade if joining as a soldier. That’s really helpful.

Hello, joining a bit late - ds has only been back in school 2 days. Minimal hw so far (he says). He's doing 10 gcses including media which sounds promising. We tend to battle over homework and I've watched other gcse threads over the years with mention of revision tools, extra work etc - I can't see him doing any of this even with a massive fight! How much do others intervene or monitor? It's such a relief to have him back in school I feel like ignoring anything else.

DS1 (for this thread), is pretty self sufficient and won’t want to not do well. However, I still ask everyday and look in his planner (because I’m nosey).

His Y8 and Y5 brothers need lots of coaxing.

I’ve informed them all that I am only available on weekdays for homework help so if they chose to leave it until the weekend then not my problem and I’ve also said if homework isn’t all done by Sunday night I won’t sign the planner.

I like your approach Mercedes
I dread the homework request on Sunday evening and I'm afraid I'm one who usually signs several weeks of the planner in one go, usually past and future
(Have to be careful not to sign for half term and give away my lack of proper attention)

Tbh I suspect they are totally capable of just forging my signature

@singingstones I did that once- just automatically turning the page & signing until DS pointed out I was several weeks in the future.

DS now finally gone back. He was totally confused by the homework timetable (options had weird codes) so we spent some time working that out.
He's agreed to aim for doing homework the night it's set- easier as there's no after school activities at the moment. Don't think it will last long!

He was pleased that in French he was doing better than some of the others- he recently rediscovered duolingo which has remind him of lots of vocab.

I have to admit that I have rarely signed my two’s homework diary. Both of them forge my signature. 🥴😬.
I don’t think I have ever looked in DD’s diary, she is completely self-sufficient and organised and I completely trust her. DS on the other hand I do have to check his as he gets bad notes and detentions and doesn’t tell me about them! The school has a policy that all homework should be set on SMHW and if it isn’t that they don’t have to do it so I don’t have to check the diary for homework.
DS really cannot get his head around the need for homework. He struggles with the fact that he is at school all day and then has to do more work in his free time. This has been a constant battle we have had with DS his entire school journey and one of the main reasons we sought a private assessment for him back in Feb when it became clear he wasn’t able to manage the school homework expectations. And lo and behold he has ADHD. The single thing that he loved about home-schooling was the fact that there was no “homework” as it were, that he only had to do his work in the timeframe I set during the day and then he was done! So just waiting on tenterhooks to see how he will cope now he’s back at school....🤞

Rollergirl it’s so hard isn’t it? I have a DD with ADHD and it was hard because:

School was more tiring for her (the sensory inputs, keeping stillish and quietish), trying to focus and switch attention, tracking (also dyslexic)

Teachers were baffled by her because she was obviously bright and enthusiastic and just didn’t have the organisational skills to match so it looked like lack of effort

She needed a lot of downtime to relax and recharge otherwise she got really stressed and her sleep went from poor to diabolical.

What worked for her was having a “Power Hour” every weekday evening, usually 6-7 where she sat at the kitchen table and did her work or revision. This meant she knew when she needed to work but also knew when her downtime would be. So did I, which really helped as we were less likely to have homework panics at 11pm which never went well.

This may sound very interventionist if people have neurotypical DC but it worked for DD and me.

DS got his only ever central detention for forging my signature in his HW planner!

DD already in a fuss because she reckons she's in lower sets than she should be in (it would appear she's in one for foundation level maths which she is really upset about). I have advised her that at this stage the sets may be very fluid (particularly after no schooling for six nigh on six months) and that she should reserve judgement until after they've done a test towards the end of the month (which I suspect is a tool for checking that they've got them where they should be, or not).

Canklesforankles yes we kind of already do that. We have set 5pm to 6pm as homework time but he could quite easily spend that time (and longer) kicking off about having to do it! Sometimes we are able to avoid full-on meltdown and others not. We are in with a chance if it’s something he likes but if it’s a subject that he hates then it is very very tricky. He is completely not able to start any task himself so I have to sit with him and explain. So it really impacts on our home time. Actually it might be a bit easier for us as a family now that DH is working from home a lot more and can share some of the support that DS needs.

Yes the procrastination/demand avoidance is really difficult to handle isn’t it?

DD's school have said that they're not setting homework for the the first 2 weeks so that they can all settle back into the new routines first. It used to be a bit of a battle, she would definitely procrastinate with the subjects she didn't enjoy (and knew she wasn't taking into GCSE) like Art/Design and would then be rushing to get them finished the night before.............I'm hoping that now she is doing subjects she enjoys - apart from Maths - that it will be less stressful.

In other news, we've had a message from school that there is a positive CV test within the school community so not sure what will happen next.

@rollergirl11 ds is similar and was diagnosed with ADHD a year ago! He hates having to do homework and I check the SMHW app for him every night to see what’s due the next day, nag him to do it etc etc... He can’t plan or organise his work and will not do it unless it’s due the next day.

Dd (year 12) had no input from me for the whole of secondary, she was organised, self-motivated etc from the word go so it’s not a parenting failure! She has always done homework the day it’s set!

A local school has had a positive test and sent an entire year group home. I’m really hoping, praying, crossing fingers that this doesn’t happen.

DS1 will cope and manage as he is pretty self sufficient but I really want him to have a decent amount of face time. We’ll have to see.