Victus Study Skills System Review

Study skills are important for all students, especially as they get older and are dealing with high school and college courses.  One thing I have learned from my two oldest kids is that while some children are good at organizing and studying others need to be taught the skill explicitly!  So when I had the chance to review the Victus Study Skills System for my fourteen year old son I figured it was excellent timing.  My son is in 9th grade, so classes are getting harder and this is perfect time to establish good skills that will carry him through more difficult course work.

The Program

I received the Student Workbook and Teacher Edition to review.  This course is designed for children in grades 5-12, and the Student Workbook retails for $20, while the Teacher’s Edition costs $40.  The program is designed around three foundational cornerstones, which are designed around three questions that the student needs to answer:

• Where am I now?
• Where do I want to be?
• How do I get there?

Students start out by analyzing their current study habits, and determining their learning styles.  Then the course covers setting goals and prioritizing their time.  Finally the largest part of the course is figuring out how to achieve those goals and developing effective studying skills.  The course consists of ten lessons that should take about 1/2 hour each. They recommend two lessons a day for a week, but it also works fine spreading it out more and spending two weeks on the course.

How We Used It

We chose to spread the course out over about 2 weeks, which worked well for us.  I would briefly review the Teacher’s Manual and then we went over the lesson together.  The Student book has fill in the blank worksheets, planning calendars, note taking guides, and lots of ways for the student to practice the skills that are being taught.  We found that the time estimate of 1/2 an hour a lesson was pretty accurate.

What We Thought
I thought the course was well organized and easy to use.  I liked that there was very little preparation needed on my part, and the program was clear.  The lessons were very interactive, so it wasn’t just like a lecture from me about study skills.  My son was evaluating himself, filling out checklists and making plans.  That took what can be a somewhat boring subject and made it engaging.

I especially appreciate the way the course teaches the student to take notes.  It encourages previewing the material and asking yourself questions before you read.  The description of note taking shortcuts was also very helpful.

I think it makes a lot of sense to explicitly teach study skills.  My son said he knew many of the suggestions already, but this course made him actually implement some of them. For example his workspace is now organized, and his books and papers are no longer spread all over the dining room table!  He now has a written schedule that he determined, and has a much better idea of what he wants to accomplish.

I thought the course was very effective, and my son said it was “OK”, which is about as much enthusiasm as I’d expect from a 14 year old!  You learn more reading more reviews from other members of the Schoolhouse Review Homeschool Crew here.