Now we are 16 · Tuesday September 4, 2007 by Lily
Rupert was 16 towards the end of July. I hadn’t realized the day marking his compulsory school leaving age had passed. I had a letter from the LA saying they wouldn’t contact us again and wishing him well. Phew, we got there!
What he’s achieved in paper qualifications so far are CLAIT, 2 GCSEs at B Grade (ICT and Maths) a Grade 3 piano and a Grade 5 Violin.
Maths was a huge achievement for R. It was his demon. At school he yo-yoed between top and bottom set and he has spent all his home ed years saying “I hate Maths,” so dh, who is an excellent mathematician, (I’m not!) took him to an evening class and “held his hand” through the course; they both are proud possessers of the top grade possible for the Intermediate Tier. R now DOESN’T hate Maths!
Summer was satisfying and busy. We had a lovely week in Paris, then we took Rupert and his friend to Brownsea Island to celebrate the Centenary of Scouting on 1st August at the New Centenary Camp for 4 days, stopping off en route at Cheltenham for their Sunrise Ceremony, where they were proudly introduced to the assembled district members of the movement. They had a fantastic 4 days, and were even invested on the beach on 2nd August. We did a really complicated turn around that involved driving down to Poole Harbour from Cheshire, me taking the friend home on the train and turning round to get the next train to Folkestone where dh and ds had driven in the car, doing much bus-spotting on the way. We stayed there the night and returned to France for 10 days. It helps having a French side to the family by ds1’s marriage.
On our return home, R went immediately to Ireland with his friend’s family where he spent a lovely week.
Last weekend he went sea kayaking with Scouts.
So, where have our 7 years of HE taken us? By way of many wonderful, unforgetable experiences and opportunities and yes tears, frustrations and worries too, we have decided that R will take 4 more GCSEs at an Independent College starting next week. Science and Technology are where his interests lie and with a MFL (French) thrown in these are not subjects that can really be bypassed if he is going to do A Levels or a BTEC. He will study English, French, Physics and Geography.
The last 2 years have been very difficult and we have been overloaded. Dh has, along with his sister, had to keep his mother afloat, completely dependant as she was upon them for everything and living so far away on the South Coast; we have 3 grandchildren, 2 were emergency caesareans and 1 premature, and my health has taken a dive and I need a major op. Dh retired slightly early to help cope. Right now he is doing a little work to help pay the college fees. Granny, after her fall and broken hip was never able to return home, she is much weaker physically and mentally but is now receiving excellent care in a nursing home in Gloucestershire and we celebrated her 90th birthday with her in July.
Today is our elder granddaughter’s first day at school, that feels weird, and tomorrow is Rupert’s Induction Meeting at college.
Rupert is anxious. I am anxious. He’s trying to organise his life in the way a dyslexic person needs to. I’m panicking about all that we haven’t done and keep trying to entice him to watch GCSE Bitesize recordings. So far we’ve managed to watch GCSE Physics. I have obtained audio-tapes of all his English books, at least the texts I know about, from Calibre and Listening Books. We have the books but they are as yet unread. Geography is uncharted territory! Well, R knows the UK well with his love of public transport and we hope he will enjoy the subject, English is going to be difficult I suspect, Physics dh is going to help with and I’m going to oversee the rest in particular French that I love learning myself and have done several classes in with R. I don’t see HE ending as such. The support we give will change but still be there.
Pass on my Best Wishes for Rupert for tomorrow.
James was really nervous on his first day at (FE) college on Monday, but everyone is friendly and the staff seem to have a good understanding of how his dyslexia is a problem for him.
He has even been OK with the bus journey, and with the college being so far away.
I’m not coping nearly as well ;-)
— June Sep 4, 11:53 pm #