An interesting time…

Well there have been some interesting things going on recently.. some good, some bad! Starting off with a definite bad, last week I was rather pleased with myself that the day was going well.. I intended to get the girls in the bath, cook dinner, then have a peaceful evening. Instead, I started running the bath, then forgot about it. A short while later I got up to find out what the strange noise was, and found a waterfall coming through my kitchen ceiling!

Sigh..

Thankfully it actually wasn’t too bad – the water mainly came through the light fittings, even though it looked worse at the time, so we were saved from a collapsed ceiling. And thankfully the light fittings dried out, and worked perfectly. Phew! The only problem is that the bathroom carpet was ruined, so I now have to wait for hubby to find the energy to fit something new.

Then came good.. Beth and I went to see a ‘shakespeare4kids’ production of Romeo and Juliet, and we both very much enjoyed it. Highly recommended for a fun evening out.

The next day though we flicked back to bad, as I discovered that some *&%$ had gotten hold of my credit card details, and was trying to use them! I’m very grateful to Halifax for picking up on the warning signs quickly, and the account has been shut down.. but it’s not a nice feeling, and it will cause some disruption.

I also had some more worrying news after that, but it’s not something I can go into here.

Back to the good, I had some sweet gifts from the girls for Mother’s Day, and some lovely home made cards. In Amy’s she said I could relax whilst she tidied her room.. but I don’t see much sign of that so far!  We also had a nice meal at the Harvester on the Saturday.

Sunday was a tough day, as Beth climbed on a coach at 11am, to go on a week’s school trip.. she of course was very excited, and very happy, but I was surprised just how much I missed her as the coach pulled away! It feels as if it’s going to be a very long week. I’m so looking forward to Friday afternoon, although of course she’ll probably be miserable that it’s over, and she’ll be handing me a big bag of muddy clothes!

So a mixed time at the moment.. hopefully my baby will be back with me soon, and there’ll be no more bad news!

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The 11+ prep has started…

I’ve bought some books and some practice papers, and I’ve downloaded some revision sheets and question sheets.

Beth is generally doing good at the Maths ones, which is good, but there are some glaring omissions – it’s quite obvious that she doesn’t understand fractions or percentages.. whether she’s not been taught, or whether she wasn’t paying attention that day, I’m not sure, but it’s missing.

Thankfully her dad is good at all things mathamatical, and he’s also very patient, so this weekend he’s been working on these areas with her.

(What’s really sweet is that Amy has a ‘Learning to Add’ book, so she’s sitting there with them, doing her own work! 🙂 Still, I guess it’s never too young to start! lol)

On the English side, which I’m helping more with, the main section will be ‘Verbal Reasoning’ – we have a good book which shows you how to work through the various types of questions.. and thankfully once you go through that with her, she understands, and so after that, it’ll be a case of practising, so she gets quicker and more confident.

We’re lucky that she understands why the 11+ can be important, and why she needs to do this work. It’s obvious that most children will need to do some extra work, and it would be a struggle if they were battling against it!

I have to mention a site that’s been very useful, with lots of good information, content to download, and a useful forum.. http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/

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The minefield of the 11+ process..

In the year above Beth, they’ve just found out their secondary school allocation. We live in an area with 2 good grammar schools, and when you look at the results, the remaining schools in the area don’t come close. Beth  is quite clever, and is the top set in Numeracy, and second to top in Literacy, so we are really hoping that we can get her into one of the grammars.

However, the whole area of the 11+ exam, and grammar allocation, is turning out to be complicated, and scary! I always assumed that if the intelligence was there, you stand a good chance, but I’m now seeing differently! I’ve started to download and buy some practice papers, and it’s quite worrying that many of the questions Beth has looked at, and doesn’t understand.

If the primary school hasn’t prepared very well, then it’s down to the parents. I’m not sure I want to go as far as a tutor, so Glen and myself are going to keep working with her – I’m hoping that just practicing will help her feel comfortable with the exams, plus we can try to help her with those areas that she’s struggling with.

However, even this isn’t simple. It would appear that there are different types of exams/papers, and so it’s important to get the right ones. We’re in an area which use NFER, rather than Bond, and they’re multiple choice. That means I’ve already wasted £10 on a Bond book!

I shall keep blogging as we go through this process, and I’d like to hear about your experiences, and also any advice that’s out there!

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Happy World Book Day!

Dressed for World Book Day

5th March.. not only is Amy 5 today, but it’s also World Book Day. If you read my earlier post, you will recall my panic over the dressing up as a book charcter, but we managed…

Mandy came to Beth’s rescue, lending her a Gryffindor cloak, so she’s gone as Hermione from Harry Potter. Amy has her witches dress on, and has a Dora book with a witch in! LOL

As for her birthday, it’s going well so far.. she has given us some lovely ‘thank you’ cuddles, and she declared that nanny ‘chose a cool present’! :0)

As for me, I feel as if I have a sore throat, and feel as if a cold is arriving. I think that’s a perfect excuse reason to drink coffee, and do some reading!

Are you doing anything for World Book Day?

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