Third Time's a Charm...

kissjenn

Hi Alex,

I'd hazard a guess that his exam technique is dire. He panics and falls into the not-answering-the-question trap. This first course is all coursework with a larger assignment at the end replacing an exam. I hoping we can get him working with the tutors to understand what's needed.

May sound very odd for such involvement for a degree level student but he simply can't get on track with no support. I'm praying that we set him off on the right course, set specific time for work each day and slowly let him take more and more control. I thought this would get much easier as he got older but I left him too much to his own devices and he couldn't cope without the structure. We live and learn

SB is central to what I do. Difficulty is ensuring that he never feels beholden to staying here because I need him. His life is his to live any way he pleases and if that involves him kangaroo rustling in Oz then so be it. He's been told that many times. Last time I mentioned it the little sod rubbed his hands together and declared "if you keep dying then I'm staying here as I'll have an inheritance to spend!!" and proceeded to wet himself laughing.

KJ

kissjenn

So to round off today, 3 things I'm grateful for...

1) a country covered in grass and sticks so the kitten can enjoy her daily game of fetch.

2) books. House is full of them and each one gives off it's own calming aura. I'd swap a fancy handbag for a lidl's carrier any day....but hands off the books.

3) neighbours. Spoke to one of mine for first time in ages. She loves the kittens, gives them chicken and worries about me. All good and kind.

Ali-OK

Can't thank you enough for sharing about SB, exams and History. DS is an Aspie and just 13 - he loves exam conditions because it's quiet and he struggles with noise, but we're just starting to see a problem where he can't convert what he knows into answering test questions in many lessons. Finds it overwhelming when a question has more than one part to it.

He also needs to touch and feel his History interests - this has taken us to Amsterdam and the Anne Frank House and the War Museum there, and to Pearl Harbour in Hawaii last year, plus a WW trip with school to France a few years back. Thank goodness next on the list are the tank museums on the East and South coasts of the UK! We're hoping to borrow a friend's caravan on the east coast this year to manage that one.

He asked me - in his wonderfully loving way, yet so bluntly - if he had to stay living with me to inherit the house! :rotfl:

MatyMoo

Grabs a biccie, offers around a few left over christmas choccies and subscribes.

Gutted I missed the tablet but even more gutted they didn't get it all KJ

Loving the three things We should all be more grateful

Karmacat

kissjenn wrote: »

Hi KC,

He's not too decided. Neither of us are too keen on ancient history but we both like social history from Jacobite period on.

WWII fascinates me but not from a battles perspective more the impact on communities and rationale behind various factions doing what they did. SB is interested in the American Civil War from the same position, people not battles.

Same here - ancient history has only recently appealed to me, apart from the Greeks - went there on a sun and sand holiday just after college, and fell in love with the place in the present day

British social and economic history is fascinating in that period! And the social and small scale human activities behind the big historical stuff is always more interesting than the battles and whatnot, to me. The only battle I'd like to get to grips with is Waterloo, because an ancestor of mine fought there, in an infantry regiment. Survived it too, I'm descended from the daughter who was born afterwards

kissjenn wrote: »

SB is central to what I do. Difficulty is ensuring that he never feels beholden to staying here because I need him. His life is his to live any way he pleases and if that involves him kangaroo rustling in Oz then so be it. He's been told that many times. Last time I mentioned it the little sod rubbed his hands together and declared "if you keep dying then I'm staying here as I'll have an inheritance to spend!!" and proceeded to wet himself laughing.

You sound like you're right on track if he can make jokes like that :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: I can just imagine my nephews saying that sort of stuff!

Ali-OK wrote: »

He also needs to touch and feel his History interests - this has taken us to Amsterdam and the Anne Frank House and the War Museum there, and to Pearl Harbour in Hawaii last year, plus a WW trip with school to France a few years back. Thank goodness next on the list are the tank museums on the East and South coasts of the UK! We're hoping to borrow a friend's caravan on the east coast this year to manage that one.

Thats such a great way to get to be hands-on - have you been to the open air museum in the Netherlands? http://www.openluchtmuseum.nl/ Its got a tab to change the language to English. There's an English version in West Sussex too, though its a bit far east of the tank museums and whatnot http://www.amberleymuseum.co.uk/ its where Tudor Monastery Farm was filmed.

AlexLK

kissjenn wrote: »

Hi Alex,

I'd hazard a guess that his exam technique is dire. He panics and falls into the not-answering-the-question trap. This first course is all coursework with a larger assignment at the end replacing an exam. I hoping we can get him working with the tutors to understand what's needed.

May sound very odd for such involvement for a degree level student but he simply can't get on track with no support. I'm praying that we set him off on the right course, set specific time for work each day and slowly let him take more and more control. I thought this would get much easier as he got older but I left him too much to his own devices and he couldn't cope without the structure. We live and learn

SB is central to what I do. Difficulty is ensuring that he never feels beholden to staying here because I need him. His life is his to live any way he pleases and if that involves him kangaroo rustling in Oz then so be it. He's been told that many times. Last time I mentioned it the little sod rubbed his hands together and declared "if you keep dying then I'm staying here as I'll have an inheritance to spend!!" and proceeded to wet himself laughing.

KJ

Sounds to me like he needs to spend a bit of time breaking up the question: circle the key words, decipher what exactly the question is asking before answering, make sure he is in the habit of answering the question with the highest marks first, lastly if he really struggles with exam nerves write (in pencil) at the top of the paper "An opportunity to showcase my ideas". In other words, don't view it as a "big, scary exam", see it as merely a written discussion / debate. Of course this will not come easily but with practise and experience.

Also sounds like a proper study plan may be worth while investing time into. As soon as he knows his deadlines work backwards, setting aside specific times to do specific tasks. I do mean literally times / dates to go to the library, to read chapter 4 of a book, to write an essay plan etc. Review the study plan on a weekly basis - treat every assignment as a major project in itself.

Yep, uni was about the only thing I was ever good at. Although I do hope I'm being helpful and not "teaching granny to suck eggs".

mooomin

AlexLK wrote: »

Yep, uni was about the only thing I was ever good at. Although I do hope I'm being helpful and not "teaching granny to suck eggs".

My approach to higher education during my brief foray in the late 90s was:

* Note deadline
* Go to the pub
* Write essay/cram for exam the day before

Your plan sounds good

AlexLK

Mooomin: I think it helped that I had a real interest in what I was studying (I wanted to become a lecturer). Still, plenty of fun times were had; the pub was a recent fixture in my schedule. :rotfl: Never had one (a schedule) since, though.

kissjenn

Ali-OK wrote: »

Can't thank you enough for sharing about SB, exams and History. DS is an Aspie and just 13 - he loves exam conditions because it's quiet and he struggles with noise, but we're just starting to see a problem where he can't convert what he knows into answering test questions in many lessons. Finds it overwhelming when a question has more than one part to it.

He also needs to touch and feel his History interests - this has taken us to Amsterdam and the Anne Frank House and the War Museum there, and to Pearl Harbour in Hawaii last year, plus a WW trip with school to France a few years back. Thank goodness next on the list are the tank museums on the East and South coasts of the UK! We're hoping to borrow a friend's caravan on the east coast this year to manage that one.

He asked me - in his wonderfully loving way, yet so bluntly - if he had to stay living with me to inherit the house! :rotfl:

The boys are wonderful. We've an open air place very close to us and although he's done Anne Frank he'll have been much to young to remember. I did take him to John Soames House in London though and he absolutely loved that.

When I did this same OU course one of the modules was on the Benin Bronzes, some of which are in the British Museum. We did pop in to see those when we were down but not sure if he's any recollection as they would have meant little to him.

We're very lucky having New Lanark reasonably close and have found some amazing things like a Flamme Fougasse site just up the road. Lots of old WWII airfields near here as well.

We'll get the boys there Ali...just via a slightly more scenic route :j

MatyMoo wrote: »

Grabs a biccie, offers around a few left over christmas choccies and subscribes.

Gutted I missed the tablet but even more gutted they didn't get it all KJ

Loving the three things We should all be more grateful

Oh Maty I completely misread this ... I didn't think anyone could be so upset about Moo hiding tablet ... I too must learn to read properly.

For all we moan (and I mean for all I moan) I really feel humbled to live in such a great country where I can moan, and go out in public without a male escort and argue with doctors about medical treatments. How many people must wish that these were the sum total of their problems rather that the death and destruction that surround them?

Karmacat wrote: »

Same here - ancient history has only recently appealed to me, apart from the Greeks - went there on a sun and sand holiday just after college, and fell in love with the place in the present day

British social and economic history is fascinating in that period! And the social and small scale human activities behind the big historical stuff is always more interesting than the battles and whatnot, to me. The only battle I'd like to get to grips with is Waterloo, because an ancestor of mine fought there, in an infantry regiment. Survived it too, I'm descended from the daughter who was born afterwards


You sound like you're right on track if he can make jokes like that :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: I can just imagine my nephews saying that sort of stuff!


Thats such a great way to get to be hands-on - have you been to the open air museum in the Netherlands? http://www.openluchtmuseum.nl/ Its got a tab to change the language to English. There's an English version in West Sussex too, though its a bit far east of the tank museums and whatnot http://www.amberleymuseum.co.uk/ its where Tudor Monastery Farm was filmed.

There's a Waterloo grave at a cemetery near us...I must pop in and take a piccie for you...very ornate from memory.

It's the little things that fascinate me and how as the war recedes in living memory how the "little things" start to come out. Like the Blitz Spirit - no they were looting the burning buildings. How rationing really worked. the 10% of conscripts who never saw a uniform and were shoved straight down the mines.

Truly amazing stuff...

Loving all these posts, the support and common interests are fantastic.

Oh and got 30 new highlighter pens last week in stationery-gate. Salivating at the thought of whipping those out. :rotfl:

kissjenn

AlexLK wrote: »

Sounds to me like he needs to spend a bit of time breaking up the question: circle the key words, decipher what exactly the question is asking before answering, make sure he is in the habit of answering the question with the highest marks first, lastly if he really struggles with exam nerves write (in pencil) at the top of the paper "An opportunity to showcase my ideas". In other words, don't view it as a "big, scary exam", see it as merely a written discussion / debate. Of course this will not come easily but with practise and experience.

Also sounds like a proper study plan may be worth while investing time into. As soon as he knows his deadlines work backwards, setting aside specific times to do specific tasks. I do mean literally times / dates to go to the library, to read chapter 4 of a book, to write an essay plan etc. Review the study plan on a weekly basis - treat every assignment as a major project in itself.

Yep, uni was about the only thing I was ever good at. Although I do hope I'm being helpful and not "teaching granny to suck eggs".

Very helpful. The very high level plan is tomorrow he tidies his room so he has room for books and materials, 10,000 Coke Cans are disposed of and all my "change from the shopping" is hidden in his safe or I'm having it back.

Monday we'll open the box together and go through all the materials which will include a week by week study guide from the OU. My difficulty will be getting him to agree to Week 1's activities if Monday is not exactly Week 1 on the guide. I think Ali may appreciate this problem...the Boys do not like breaking rules!!

Anyhoo, Week 1 in my world starts Monday and we'll do as you suggest Alex and work out in detail what he's doing by when and a little outline plan for next few weeks up to assignment 1.

Believe it or not I'm even toying with the idea of a Star Chart - hell it would work for me especially if the prize was a Mars Bar on Friday :rotfl:

mooomin wrote: »

My approach to higher education during my brief foray in the late 90s was:

* Note deadline
* Go to the pub
* Write essay/cram for exam the day before

Your plan sounds good

You sound far too much like me...bad Moo. We're trying to set a good example here. God if cramming didn't exist I wouldn't have a single qualification.

SB's have to think the right way is right...I shall expect you to set a good example to all small furry things when you next visit (and big furry SB). Cake will be provided :T:T:T

AlexLK wrote: »

Mooomin: I think it helped that I had a real interest in what I was studying (I wanted to become a lecturer). Still, plenty of fun times were had; the pub was a recent fixture in my schedule. :rotfl: Never had one (a schedule) since, though.

Given all the teaching and volunteering you're doing now, don't you fancy returning to that idea. Professor Alexander , sounds very Meerkatty. We must club together and get you a smoking jacket. (In SB's literal world that would be a jacket on fire btw). :beer: