Y 11 2023-2024 thread 3

[Techno56]

For when the other thread fills up tomorrow as we all discuss English lit 2 😁

yes dd is treating this like a holiday, but then revising at home is a massive issue, so no surprises.
BUT glimmers of positive. She has promised that she will do maths this afternoon if I take her to Asda this morning.
She has arranged to meet up with a friend tomorrow to revise. (and they will do work, they are good at working together)
and best of all, I dared to mention the English paper. Someone upthread said that they are predicting Q5 to be about social media. Dd did her English spoken piece about social media and got a distinction (wish they would give them marks towards the exam for that) so I casually said that maybe if that topic came up she could reproduce her spoken piece, perhaps she could review that, and maybe double check she knows how to set out a letter etc, and maybe all is not lost. She nodded and din't bite my head off, so that's progress!!
Here's praying that it is on social media as that would be amazing!

DS studies five hours a day then heads to the gym. After next week's five exams "we are cruising", apparently.
None of his friends are allowed out other than Friday evening football, so there is no temptation.
I try to entertain DS, cook his favourite meals, buy books and films he wants for his rest period...

Pretty hard to motivate DS here too. Especially as the bulk of what is needed is science and he is not keen at all. Hours of Cognito plus exam practice are needed but he probably manages max 2.5 hours a day. Low energy and just fed up...But he is trying. Revision session in school tomorrow so early start. Maths thankfully is more effective as he enjoys it.

I sent DH away with DS2 for 3 days precisely so he wouldn't nag/question/provoke! So I fully empathise.

Roll on 14 June!

That’s interesting @Wehaditsogood I don’t think my DD has ever done 5 hours revision in one day! If she does a few hours then she certainly lets me know about it (like I should be grateful 😂)
Also interesting other parents aren’t encouraging their kids to go out.
How do they have self-motivated kids that are listening to their parents?!
I do find the more you nag, the less they do (but I have the menopausal rage and sometimes I can’t help myself!). My kids will also accept zero help from us so we just have to take their word for it that they are effectively revising.

I'm with you on the perimenopausal rage. So hard to contain it some days!!! The more nagging, the less work done here too. But so hard to be patiently encouraging rather than expressing our frustration! Its especially hard for me because I was the opposite to my DS - super scared of failing and working away to secure good grades! So his lack of work sends my anxiety through the roof most days!

@Bellini12 I rephrase. DS sits and says he studies for 5 hours. I have no way of checking 🤷‍♀️ I am not allowed to help either.
DS is very good at managing me and my expectations, always saying the right things. 🤣

They are kept in line / hopeful by the trip they are planning with his friends for the day after their last exam. They are hopping straight on the train.

They are in a not famous or high-end private school with very involved parents and most importantly fantastic teachers.

The trip sounds exciting! Where are they off too?

Various theme parks with roller coasters. Like a road trip but on train.

DD got up late, and we went out for lunch and I paid for her to get her ears pierced again, she bought herself a ton of books in various charity shops, and she’s just got down to it. The minute I nag her I get a ton of strop even when we’ve just had a nice time so I’m officially not nagging anymore , I’m done ! She will probably do exactly the same amount either way !

DD is opposite - lots of history, no maths !

Yep. Geography no maths here!

Some revision done this morning and now she has a friend here. They're baking and I'm ignoring the mess 😁

DS isn't slogging it over the hols (although DH thinks he should be - seems a common Dad thing 🤔)
He is doing about 4 hours a day, but getting a bit of a lie in and seeing his friends, which is all important too

DS is similar done a couple of hours on Geography today and the maths practice papers on Monday but that's it. He has arranged to see Friends Thursday I just pointed out he needs to do some revision before he sees them.

What’s driving me a bit mad is that we have a tiny house but I do have an office downstairs which I have allowed dd to take over. But apparently this is too depressing so she moves the office chair to the kitchen, then she goes and sits in the living room, so there is nowhere I can quietly work without papers everywhere or all the sighing going on next to me, or worse phone scrolling which makes me nag and provokes an explosion. I think for the rest of the week I’m going to have to decamp to my bedroom!

I have just got really cross with my DS. He promised me he would have a productive day today but I had to ask him 4 times to get up. He finally got up at 11 then took 2 hours to get ready/eat something etc. Lots of phone scrolling too. I finally got him to sit down with me and do 10 of the revision flash cards for History (Elizabethan). I then had to go out for an hour with my other child. He promised me he would do an hour's work while I was gone but when I returned he'd done absolutely nothing! We are all going out soon for the evening which means no more work tonight either as he's having a friend over 😩 I hate getting cross with him but he's so frustrating!

@boredwithfoodprob I feel your pain!
DD has a friend here today but we did wake her up and made sure she did some revision beforehand in the morning (that was the agreement). We couldn’t have her wasting her another day. I too agree that when we go out I know that they take that as a carte blanche to lie back and scroll!

Thanks for the solidarity!
It's annoying I feel like I can't leave him as I have 2 other children who need my attention. It's just lucky I only work in term time - if I went out to work full time he'd definitely do nothing. He's so calm! - "it'll all be fine mum" 😬

Same here. today was supposed to be a super productive day and he's now been online playing with friends for 3 hours. I'm livid. Did less than 2 hours this morning. I just cant win this, he wont prioritise studying.

I'd take an hour a day! I'd say 4 hours a day is amazing and 2 hours absolutely fine.

I had a row with my DS this morning and I think I'm just going to have to leave him to it, nagging gets me nowhere and just causes upset and is making him hugely resent me. Very very hard and frustrating!

DC is finding it hard to sustain focus but they have been good in accepting they are probably doing 'enough' they are a top end student and have been doing well so far so I think it'll be good enough. I will be relieved when English Language is done next week.

But I can't believe they have THREE maths and history papers. 😱

The number of exams is ridiculous.

The history and science content seems to be never ending!

I'm away with work. When I agreed to it, DS was being super focused so we sat down and did a revision timetable but he was not as focused when I left. I'm trying not to text and ask what he's done! DH will also be annoyed if I text him to check he's doing it, as I already told him to do it. I'll have to trust he's revising!

Think you for sharing your frustration. Nice to know I am not alone in thinking DS should be doing more. Though wondering how tired he still as he hasn't even been to bothered about the gym last few days till today.