The first exam's for Kabouter
The first year in high school also means that Kabouter (and us) are faced with an exam period for the very first time.
Right from the start of the school year in the first info sessions at school, the importance of the exams and exam tips were shared. When Kabouter texted me at work a couple of times in October/ November, asking questions how to study, I feared that the first exams would become stressful. Not because I doubted his capability to study but because of uncertainty for this "first time".
As of mid November I stressed to make a planning (so did the school) and to start rehearse some things when having some spare time. But of course if you have spare time, you really want to relax a bit.
At the end of November a housework moratorium takes place at home. Then we planned to use 8 days to each day study a subject of the exams beforehand. I stressed using this time to avoid any surprises in the exam week itself "oh it's much more than I anticipated, it's harder, ...". I've always studied anything beforehand myself and just rehearsed during exams and I tried to pass that on to Kabouter. At the same time, I watched my words and tried to keep enough distance. Just checking if things were going alright and to plan and not checking details or challenging his confidence, making sure I wasn't over controlling things while Jan on the other hand didn't even realise the exact start date and duration of the exam period.
Right from the start of the school year in the first info sessions at school, the importance of the exams and exam tips were shared. When Kabouter texted me at work a couple of times in October/ November, asking questions how to study, I feared that the first exams would become stressful. Not because I doubted his capability to study but because of uncertainty for this "first time".
As of mid November I stressed to make a planning (so did the school) and to start rehearse some things when having some spare time. But of course if you have spare time, you really want to relax a bit.
At the end of November a housework moratorium takes place at home. Then we planned to use 8 days to each day study a subject of the exams beforehand. I stressed using this time to avoid any surprises in the exam week itself "oh it's much more than I anticipated, it's harder, ...". I've always studied anything beforehand myself and just rehearsed during exams and I tried to pass that on to Kabouter. At the same time, I watched my words and tried to keep enough distance. Just checking if things were going alright and to plan and not checking details or challenging his confidence, making sure I wasn't over controlling things while Jan on the other hand didn't even realise the exact start date and duration of the exam period.
When exams finally approached he decided to actually go and sit at his desk for the first time: so far he had done all his homework spread out on his room floor. Funny enough we now found out he desperately needed a desk light in these dark days and we also got him a better chair.
The study tips at school also had told him that a good study posture, light and fresh air helped and we all told him that studying and memory activation is helped with multiple senses (reading out loud, writing, ...). So I was happy to see him start writing summaries.
The study tips at school also had told him that a good study posture, light and fresh air helped and we all told him that studying and memory activation is helped with multiple senses (reading out loud, writing, ...). So I was happy to see him start writing summaries.
Because he prepared, the actual exam period was rather chill. A little bit worryingly chill to me, who never was done studying but I shut up and told him it was a good idea to go swimming or judo practise in the evening to clear his mind after an afternoon of studying.
There were also breaks during study: first very active games with his brother but in the exam period itself he binge watched the Mandalorian in between.
But the results were ok and his comments after the exames were in line with his points so it's good to know his judgement feeling is aligned: the lowest exam was indeed the lowest, the panic for Latin wasn't needed and the easy exams were good. And overall he had a good result. And next time exams won't be so new anymore and he'll have some lessons learned. That's the most important part.
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