GCSE Revision is hard work!

Person_one

FBaby wrote: »

Boys are overall much more emotionally immature. They live in the present and don't think much of the future. They need female help to do that for them, mum to start with, girlfriend and wife later on!

Amazing, and they call me the man-hater on here!

Jagraf

FBaby wrote: »

Don't feel guilty, you are doing the right thing and however much he acts like you are the evil reincarnated at the moment, one day he will come to you, give you a big hug and tell you how thankful he is that you were there to push him when he needed and that without you, he wouldn't be where he is.

Boys are overall much more emotionally immature. They live in the present and don't think much of the future. They need female help to do that for them, mum to start with, girlfriend and wife later on!

I think most 16 year olds haven't got a clue what they want to do and most live in the present moment, which makes it hard for them to look to the future, whether make or female.

Person_one

onlyroz wrote: »

Have you tried bribery? Something substantial like £100 for every A grade, £50 for every B grade, and zip for anything lower.

:rotfl:

I bet that'd be a lot more effective than nagging and creating timetables.

Person_one

elisebutt65 wrote: »

Just had his mocks. Only about 15 weeks to go so we're starting off gently, with 30 mins each on 2 subjects Mon - Thurs. 1 hour each for 5 topics on a Sunday. He's having Friday nights and Saturdays off for mates etc. Then from 1/2 term onwards we'll start to ramp it up a bit and be more focussed on his areas of weakness as well as embedding the basics.

I'm not teacher ng him anything, but just 'how' to do the revision, so that he gets into good habits for the next few years. I won't be there to make him do revision at Uni, but if has the revision skills, then I will not need to (unless he goes to Warwick and then I'm lumbered with him for another 4 years on top {joke})

Has he not still got regular homework from his current classes and coursework to be done on top of this revision? If he has that's a big chunk of his free time gone

elisebutt65

heuchera wrote: »

Thinking back to myself as a lazy 16 year old :cool: .. nagging went in one ear and out the other. Parental pressure just made me want to do less work not more. What did get through to me was a throw-away comment by a friend which went something along the lines of "do what you want.. if you want to f... up your exams it's up to you, innit"

Deep down I did not want to mess up my exams or my life, I just wanted the adults to leave me the hell alone.

Your oldest son blaming mum for his own failures has made you into a bit of a helicopter mum when it comes to your 2nd son, lol, which isn't very fair on him. Just tell him, look, you know what you need to do if you want to get those grades, you don't need me to tell you or nag you, the ball is entirely in your court. If you want to spend the rest of your life working in McDonalds you can do that.. :whistle: and then take a step back.

Ouch!
Eldest is indeed working in Maccys now: bit of a sensitive topic. I got fed up with him doing b**ger all and he went to live with his dad, failed college for 3rd time and is working his way through the star system there.

Thing is 2nd son is so darned bright, but he doesn't know how to revise and is so scared of failure, that he will leave questions blank, rather than have them marked wrong. I don't want to helicopter him, I hate them on parents evenings. But I do want to support him and give him the building blocks that he can use to further himself with.

Person_one

elisebutt65 wrote: »

Ouch!
Eldest is indeed working in Maccys now: bit of a sensitive topic. I got fed up with him doing b**ger all and he went to live with his dad, failed college for 3rd time and is working his way through the star system there.

That could be a lot worse to be honest, not everybody is destined for college/uni, and if he's turning up for work every day, doing his job properly and is actually getting small promotions then maybe he'll be one of the McDonald's staff who work their way up into the management structure and do all right? I worked there while I studied, and one of the 'dropouts' I knew is now in charge of a whole region (or something like that) and makes far more money than me judging by their holiday pictures on Facebook!

heuchera

elisebutt65 wrote: »

Ouch!

sorry

elisebutt65

Person_one wrote: »

Has he not still got regular homework from his current classes and coursework to be done on top of this revision? If he has that's a big chunk of his free time gone

They have enrichment time until 5.30 at school to complete coursework in.
I'm going to the intervention meeting next week so I'll get more information then. He doesn't have much of a social life outside of school apart from the odd day in town with mates. It's a new engineering academy and they are very, very academic.

As I and all of his teachers put it to him the other day, what is 4 months hard work after school in the great scheme of things, especially as all of his peers are in the same boat. 1 hour per night revision is not a huge sacrifice especially as he does most of his homework in school, in his study periods.

Jagraf

elisebutt65 wrote: »

Just had his mocks. Only about 15 weeks to go so we're starting off gently, with 30 mins each on 2 subjects Mon - Thurs. 1 hour each for 5 topics on a Sunday. He's having Friday nights and Saturdays off for mates etc. Then from 1/2 term onwards we'll start to ramp it up a bit and be more focussed on his areas of weakness as well as embedding the basics.

I'm not teacher ng him anything, but just 'how' to do the revision, so that he gets into good habits for the next few years. I won't be there to make him do revision at Uni, but if has the revision skills, then I will not need to (unless he goes to Warwick and then I'm lumbered with him for another 4 years on top {joke})

Personally (and I'm not for one minute suggesting I'm right) I would spend until the easter holidays egging him on to sort out his files, look through the curriculum, find on line resources, build up a timetable, so that by easter he has everything he needs. Then start revising. My DD would have been bored and peaked too soon. Perhaps start writing out some of those flip cards but keep it all casual. Look at video tutorials perhaps.

elisebutt65

heuchera wrote: »

sorry

No worries. I'm just glad he's working and happy with it.