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Monday, March 4, 2019

Homeschool Review Crew - Victus Study Skills

Review, #hsreviews, #studyskills, #education, #kidslovereading, #literacy, #read, Victus Study Skills System, study skills, middle school, high school, education, literacy, life skills, study skills workbook, elementary school, test taking, organization, student


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When I was in high school, I had an amazing instructor who prepared me for college by teaching me valuable study skills that I have used beyond graduation, so I was thrilled to get a chance to review the entire set from Victus Study Skills System, for an opportunity to share with my children important study skills like I had learned. We received the entire program which included:

Level 1: Primary (K-2/3)
Teacher Supplement
Student Workbook

Level 2: Elementary (2/3-4/5)
Teacher Supplement
Student Workbook

Level 3 (5/6-10/11)
Teacher Edition
Student Workbook

Level 4 (10/11-College)
College Student Workbook

Other Products:
Student Planner

Since, I have children at various skill levels, including one in college and one who will soon possibly be college bound, I was able to put all of the books to good use.

All of the Victus Study Skills System products can be found at: https://www.studyskillssystem.org/products/








  

Why I was excited to see this program:

  • I have a college-age student who really has no idea how to study.
  • I have a possibly college-bound high school junior, who is currently panicked about taking the ACT.
  • I have a 12-year old who is in Grade 7, who has the maturity of a much older child and is very bright, but academically struggles at a more elementary level, mostly in the subject of math and hates to read, so sometimes a font size or workbook presented at a younger level is more likely to be understood.

So, we run the gamut in terms of being able to put each level of this program to good use.


What is the Victus Study Skills System?

The Latin word, Victus means A WAY OF LIFE!

The basic idea behind this program is that in teaching our children knowledge and WHAT TO LEARN, we often fail to teach them HOW TO LEARN ... so that it becomes a way of life in every aspect of learning.

CUTE STORY: The author started the Victus Study Skills System after her young daughter went to her room to study and then emerged asking, "Mom, how do I study?"

The Victus Study Skills System has been taught for more than 40 years. It intends to equip students with the tools they need to study and become life-long learners. It is highly recommended that the child refresh these skills each year. After all, the Victus Study Skills System motto is:

Repetition is the mother of all skill!

In addition, each lesson asks three important questions:

  1. Where am I now? (Presented in Lessons 1 and 2)
  2. Where do I want to be? (Lesson 3)
  3. How do I get there? (Lessons 4 through 10)
  • The entire program contains ten lessons, (The Primary booklets has 6) which are the same across all of the levels. This makes it easy to teach multiple ages of children/students at the same time.
  • The workbooks are for the student to write in and are consumable
  • The program is great to use for homeschoolers independently as well as for a co-op, group, or tutoring session. There is also PowerPoint presentations, and additional resources available as needed.
The four levels of this course are designed to grow with your child as they mature in understanding. There is something for all ages with this program. The teacher adjusts, as needed, to fit the student's ability. If you start from the beginning:

  1. The young learner will cover basic terms
  2. The middle schooler will build on these basic terms and start to apply new study and life skills
  3. The high schooler will establish these skills as a habit in every aspect of life
  4. The college-bound or college age student will now know the basics and already made studying a part of his or her life as a habit, so it's time to understand more fully how to apply time management and additional skills as a way of life to achieve success


As you can see, they are mostly set up at the same pace. In the pictures below, the top picture is the college level, followed by the primary and elementary and then you can see how the different levels compare in how they are presented in the Student Workbooks:



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    I found that each lesson lays out a concept displaying it in the teacher guides as purpose, preparation, and at least one procedure and then allows some hands-on experiencing of the concept.

    With the exception of the Primary Workbook Booklet, which is smaller and presents 6 lessons instead of 10 covering the concepts in a more basic manner and not getting into as much detail with note taking and testing, the student workbooks are at varying levels depending on the child's age, level, and ability, but the basic concepts are consistent on every level. For instance, each workbook starts by having the child fill out a study habits checklist. The college level one provides the student with some additional food for thought regarding the next step they are about to encounter in their endeavor through life as they transition into college, but the lessons still follow a similar pattern:

    Study Habits Checklist
    Learning Strengths
    Goals - Schedules
    Time Management
    Note Taking
    Types of Tests
    PQRST - Preview - Question - Read - State Test
    Etc.

    One part of the College level book and the lower level workbook I found very interesting is the section that gave a brief history of some notable figures. I thought this kind of presentation is valuable for real-life learning and living. 



    How Did We Use It?

    I started with the Teacher Edition to get a good idea of how the system is intended to be implemented. I spent a good deal of time getting to fully understand the course and the concepts for myself before attempting to teach these skills to my children. From there, it was time to look over the student workbooks to decide how the program might work for us and how best to present it to my children, who are at various levels of learning and ages.

    The Teacher Edition is set up in three main sections:
    1. Section I explains the basis for the program
    2. Section II provides the lessons
    3. Section III provides you with an appendix with supplemental materials

    Each of the lessons in Section II presents a purpose, preparation, and at least one procedure and includes the "student view" pages.

    I also received Teacher Supplements for Elementary and Primary Grades.

    For my children, I received three workbooks and a supplement booklet:
    • Student Workbook Primary Grades booklet
    • Student Workbook Elementary
    • Student Workbook
    • Student Workbook College

    ...

    Additionally, I received a really nice Student Planner.  

    One of the cool things about the planner is the quotes and such at the bottom of each page. Also, the back has a grade log and a life plan.


     
       


    What Did We Think?

    I think it's very important to learn study skills, and this system is a great way to approach learning skills that will take your child into college and well throughout their entire adulthood lifespan. I found the program to be focused and easy to implement. I appreciate that it could be taught to varying levels of students at the same time since the lesson books are set up with the same general topics. I really think the creator of this program did a good job in explaining that there are important steps and strategies to studying, that studying builds specific skills and develops a healthy attitude toward learning.

    FIND VICTUS STUDY SKILLS ON SOCIAL MEDIA @:


    Read what other members of the Homeschool Review Crew thought by clicking on the picture below:

    K through College Study Skills {Victus Study Skills System Reviews}


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