What To Expect From Your Student's First Term at University ...

So you've finally packed your 18 year old bundle of joy off for their first year at university and maybe it feels like the final step on what has been a hard road so far...

First of all your child had to choose a university to apply to and spent literally minutes completely ignoring glossy prospectuses. And there were visits to arrange to universities, chosen purely on the length of the student union bar and whether the accommodation had an en-suite. And going to university open days: hours and hours of schlepping around campus after campus when you'd much rather be checking out the local shopping centre. Purely for research purposes, obviously.

And then there were the exams and all that accompany them: the nerves, the worry, the sleepless nights, tears and heavy drinking.

Silent Sunday

The Five Lies Teenagers Tell Every Day.

Teenagers lie.

A lot.

At least according to this article in the Daily Fail they do. Around 60%, the article claims, of 13 to 17 year olds tell up to five lies a day.

The article goes on to say that scientists have discovered that teenagers are, in fact, the very best liars around ...

School versus Skirt..

Schools go to extraordinary lengths to enforce uniform policies. In the news only this week a pupil was sent home for having trousers the wrong shade of black  while in Ireland, Breda Academy's strict new uniform policy has caused such uproar among parents, 250 of them joined a Facebook protest page within hours.

The Teen's school adopted an equally strict uniform policy when it changed to an Academy several years ago but still, it appears, it's not been strict enough because this year the uniform (for girls at least) was changed yet again.

Play and Learn; Slimy Factory. Science4you Review

When The Boy walks out of the school door on the last day of summer term, he resolves to do nothing educational at all during the summer holidays if he can absolutely avoid it. It's not that he dislikes learning, but he's nine years old and summer means playing, not learning.

Or so he thought.

This summer we were lucky enough to be asked to review the Slimy Factory from Science4you, the toy company that combines fun with learning in a range of scientific and educational toys.

The Slimy Factory kit, designed for children in Key Stage 2, is aimed at developing new skills and abilities as well as encouraging experimentation. For The Boy though, first and foremost, it was fun.

The Science4you Slimy Factory creates all kinds of ooze and slime, monsters, medusa and worms as well as silly, sticky balls.