Friday 4thOctober, my twin sons, partner and I sit
fingers poised over the refresh button of my email anticipating the receipt of their
11 plus results.
As the 4 o clock deadline ticks past and the tension in that
small office room starts to require a shot of valium, my mind wanders to
thoughts of “have I done enough for them “ and given them knowledge to get by.
You could never say my boys aren’t intelligent. Their maths
skills are sensational, there’s been many a time when they’ve worked out the
answer while I’m still carrying the one.
But as someone who frittered away their secondary education mooning
over whether she was going to marry Phillip Schofield or the lead singer of a-ha
it was foremost in my mind that i wanted my kids to have the best in education
that money could buy.
So you can imagine the sharp intake of breath heard all
round when i controversially announced that my children wouldn’t be having a
tutor for the first big exam of their lives but instead learning time with me,
myself and I.
Not having presented myself as the biggest in intellectual
knowledge over the years I could almost see their point but pondered why don’t
we just give it a try?
So as fellow student’s received visits or paid trips to experts
trained in the subjects required my boys and I set to with a couple of books
and an open mind.
While books do the job we also found other novel ways to help
them revise. Word games like scrabble or puzzle books worked their brain while
never giving away the educational aspect going on in their mind.
Finally one September sunny morning examination day dawned. Children
gathered nervously in the hall as mums stood outside trying not to cry. Now all
we could do was wish them well and let them know we were proud of them for
having a go.
I won’t go into too many details of the outcome but suffice
to say we visited their first grammar school this week and it just goes to show
that you don’t have to pay out the big bucks to help them pass. Just a little
encouragement in their own ability is all it needs to let those dreams fly.
So put down that mobile , switch off the social media and
give them a little bit of your time it could be all you need to make a the
difference to their life.
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