Teenagers, Exams – and Phones, Screens & Sleep.
Living with an exams-looming teenager is a stressful business, the likes of which your parenting skills have not yet encountered. Publicly declare that you have a revising teen in your house, and parents of now-adult children will eye you with more sympathy then they ever muster for a toddler tantrum. Fellow parents-of-teens will fist-bump you with wild-eyed solidarity. And possibly pass you a glass of gin. Speaking from experience,...
Revision – How To Make Your Brain Work For You | #RevisionThatSticks
Having three older teenagers in the house, I’m rapidly becoming a pro at this Parenting Exam-mers thing. Between 15 and 18 it feels like there’s just no let up in the relentless pursuit of grades, and the swing of the pre-, mid- and post-exam mood cycle. Ugh. So we’re really excited to be working with any exam parents best friends, Collins (if you haven’t yet, you should definitely take a look at their Parents...
Surviving Exam Season – Top Insider Tips From a Family Who’ve Been There
Exam season is upon us – and I’m definitely feeling your pain and your fear of ever Surviving Exam Season. I’ve parented through GCSE’s and A Levels, and child No.3 sits his GCSE’s next year – I’m becoming a pro at this. There’s an old Zen saying which I love; ‘Everything the same; everything different’. Every teen is unique, of course, with different struggles, different...
What The School Librarian Thinks… of Dekko Comics
Collins Publishing and LittleStuff very kindly sent us a set of Dekko Comics for review recently, and I haven’t been able to keep them on the shelves! Our Year 6 teacher seems to have been hoarding his set to use in lesson plans, Year 5 trade them under the desks like contraband, and every one of the library copies vanishes into a corner whenever our lunchtime KS2 book club is running. The feedback from the children has been...
Learning French – ‘ere we go… (also – Rosetta Stone discount code!)
This year on our trip to the Dordogne I’ll admit I was pretty happy with myself. When we first went to France as a family, I was the only one who had a smattering of French – and that was seriously rusty from the long hiatus since my GCSE days. Over the years and holidays it’s slowly improved, and the whole family has been getting better as we try at every opportunity to get by with French rather than expecting the...
Back To School Teens? Don’t miss these five often-overlooked stationery essentials.
If you’re an organised school parent, by now you have the uniform ready, the shoes polished, the sports kit checked and replenished. School bags may need replacing – or simply throwing in the washing machine to see them through another year. But are you all stocked up on the stationery drawer? I’m going to presume you’ve already thought of a large pack of biros, pencils (don’t forget to get them in a...