Crepeys say Bah Humbug, (it's not Christmas yet)

[beachyhead]

Here we go

Totally agree, Stropps. Utterly.

A nightmare of GCSE options here. Will not bore you with it, as it's quite hard to explain (in truth I don't understand it fully!) but all v frustrating. Fortunately a mass of outraged parents is on the case.

Monty, I'm not sure I could bare myself to a playground dad - you are brave!

I agree Stropps, but some children just need the boost of having some 1-1 support. DD's school do all sorts of extra support which DD does go to, but I think a tutor from outside of the school has made her realise that she can do it and just needs a bit of practice with certain things and to trust herself and not panic.
Actually, what is more shocking is the number of people I know with DC in private schools who are paying for tutors. I know one who is paying for 3 on top of the school fees

Rudy glad he's safe!
And MI glad the chemo is going okay...

Here I have worked through the doc only to find even more sections I am supposed to write!! FFS and I had to format it because the person who is coordinating this car crash piece of work is just absolutely bloody hopeless.....

loses will to live...

Phew, Rudy!

I agree, Stropps. Though both of mine have benefited for some 121 support for a few weeks, just to get things straight in their tiny minds (French grammar and quadratic equations). DD1 hates maths with a passion, but it is a mental block, rather than lack of ability, and I am not sure how we get over that.

MI - we are also having the joys of GCSE options. DD2 "has" to do all three sciences (which she does not enjoy) and can only do one MFL (she wants to do both French and Spanish).

I am wfh today and am on my lunch break in front of crap telly with a packet of cheap biscuits for company.

Rudy, glad dh has been 'found'!

Ddog and I survived our first dog training last night. To be fair, the worst bit was getting him from the car into the hall and vice versa. Walking an excitable hound through countless other excitable hounds all on leads was a bit hairy! Still he learnt fast and the dog trainer was amazing, so good.

I must admit I'm not that fussed which board or type of Maths GCSE ds ends up doing. Dd1 had to sit the IGCSE, as that's all they did at her school. It was a massive struggle and filling in all her forms now there is nowhere that asks you to specify the board or type - just 'Maths' and the grade. She may have got a better grade had she sat an easier paper (and I'm not sure anyone would have been any the wiser!)

Agree stropps along with the ridiculous shed loads of home work that the kids seem to have to do just to keep up. We have only got a tutor when Ds got anxious and as some of the others said, needed confidence. Catch up and revision clubs are good though, I agree and the kids do seem to get some individual attention too. Hard on the staff though...lunchtimes and after school.

Re GCSES options, Ds could only do French and Spanish if he dropped geography and history, because he also wanted to do music, and had to do either double or triple science. He hasn't regretted dropping the geog and hist but it was a shame.

BD hang on in there!
Beachy laughing at canine shenanigans!

MI I'm sure chemo did nothing to improve my ( annoying) personality either

It's mad, the way "options" work in different schools. DD is doing triple Science, French and Spanish, and could have done Geography as well as History but preferred other options. But I guess the plus side of when you are taking 13 or 14 GCSEs is that there's more room for manoeuvre!

Well, if I taught in mainstream again, I'd rather being doing an after-school catch-up/revision club than doing detentions. I seem to remember spending my lunchtimes doing detentions that turned into catch-up lessons in my last teaching posts. Or on one memorable occasion, naming the vegetables in my box of salad, because the 11 year old sitting with me had no idea what half of them were. "Eeeew, what are you eating, miss?" "Celery" "What is celery?"

Heh, I still never see dd doing any homework, even though she's now in 6th form. She does most of it in her frees at school and at lunch time.

Rose, I was pretty shocked by your ds2's Spanish teacher's comments. Think she needs to work on her "constructive criticism" skills.

What ho crepesters. Can I just have have a small moment of bigging myself up? Had a really successful lesson today, teaching the second use of the present perfect - e.g. I have lived in Clitheroe for ten years, I have worked as a sagger-maker-bottom-knocker for 25 years... And half way through my mentor whipped out a birthday cake, and all the pupils sang happy birthday. I was a bit overcome.

And the lesson went really well! Mentor said it was the best lesson I'd ever done, and that I was going to be a great teacher. Then on the way out I met my other trainer who said I was really coming on and she was very pleased with me.

I had a smile a mile wide walking down the road...

< boast ends >

Herbs, embiggen yourself to enormity! Well done!

Super brilliant, Herbs! And how lovely about the birthday cake. That mentor's a keeper. Well done and well done some more!

Fantastic news Herbs - even I am starting to understand the present perfect.

Good stuff on the box junction fine as well.

Friend has announced she is In A Relationship on FB. This is the bloke who broke her heart earlier this year. If he does it again I will break his wossnames. Painfully.

Stropps, that is my world at lunchtime

Herbs, what a lovely (well-earned) day

I had to smirk in the hairdressers earlier - a little baby was crying his heart out whilst his mum (who was covered in silver paper - having her roots done) was desperately trying to calm him. Meanwhile I received a call from DD, screeching down the phone at me that I had sent her to school when she wasn't well and where was her tea because she had to be out by 6 to babysit

Herb fab news

Herbs and Stropps, brilliant on feedback and reassurance.

With tutors, from what I have seen, it often seems to be about confidence, getting over a mental block, learning to fail, or something else that can't always easily be done with 20 or 30 people around you, however great the teacher, if that makes sense. So maybe as much for emotional and developmental reasons as learning electron structures, even if that is the apparent focus? My ds carried on with piano lessons beyond the point it was sensible music-wise because his piano teacher was a lovely, interesting man, to whom he had become close and with whom he really seemed to enjoy a half hour of calm, constructive, focussed activity once a week, however grumpy he was at the start. I think it helped him grow up .

Lalsy, that's lovely. DD was the same with her scatty but lovely and enthusiastic piano teacher, and DS blubbed buckets when his very patient trumpet teacher retired at the end of Y6.

Aww . Is just something a bit different and special I think.

Congratulations, Herbs, that sounds amazing. And belated happy birthday from me!

One thing about a tutor is you don't need to try to impress them. I think know that in our family, we are tempted to pretend to have "got it" when really we haven't.

Oh well, I guess tutoring will have to be another thing on my list of "things to feel guilty about not being able to afford to give my dcs". Hey ho. I can afford tutoring for dd in Chemistry if I stop ds's piano and taekwando lessons or give up having a "house maintenance" fund. Then again, I could have afforded all sorts of things if I hadn't had ds. A bad call on my part.

Ah, BTM, you have to do vegetable identification too? I somehow hoped the youth of today might all know what celery is

Stropps, don't feel guilty - your DD is clearly doing well without it

They are pretty good on the common veg but celery, beetroot, rocket, etc all get questioned!

Is it just me or is Citizen Khan bloody awful?

Sorry, Stropps, for being cavalier about tutors - you're right about the system being messed up. It would certainly have been better if we'd taught ds to deal assertively with his teachers rather than pampering him with a tutor. That's really what was needed - an ability to stand up for himself at school.

TBH what I was also looking for in a tutor was some help with parenting ds. It kind of helped.

Stropps do not feel guilty. Do not. We all do what we can.

Here I went to GP who was all ready to sigh me off... But I can't because there is no where for the work to go. I have a plan B...

Absolutely, BTM. I meant I don't think its purpose is always what it seems, and can possibly served by eg nice piano teachers, or in my dd's case a kindly, supportive but firm Saturday job boss.

My dd asked me the difference between ginger and garlic this summer, so if you are running vegetable identification seminars, Stropps......