Mom of Many: Victus Study Skills System: A TOS Crew Review

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Victus Study Skills System: A TOS Crew Review

Victus Study Skills System

Effective study skills are a must! Victus Study Skills System, gives you a way to teach study skills with their K-College set of products.

We have been using Victus Study Skills System for the past several years, you can check out our previous review. I was excited to see how they have expanded! We have students in almost every level, so we were able to use most. Our main focus was with Level 2 (3-5th grade), Level 3 (6-11th) and Level 4 (College).

The full program includes:

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

This effective program is made up of 10 lessons, or approximately 5 hours of instruction. The lessons are the same across all the levels, but geared to the correct age/grade. I LOVE this feature, it means I can teach all of my kids at the same time!

The basic idea is that we need to teach our students HOW to study, not just WHAT to study. Victus is a latin word that means "way of life". These important skills can simply become their "way of life". I know that my two college age students, who learned this system several years ago, are STILL using their study skills daily (shameless bragging... they are both 4.0 GPA college Junior and Freshman!)

The program focuses on 3 cornerstone questions:

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

We sat down together to begin with simple steps to asses how our study habits are right now, and what our learning strengths are. My testers were fascinated to learn if they were visual, auditory or kinesthetic learners. I was fascinated to learn that I had all of them to teach to! The differences in the levels are in age appropriateness. For example, in Level 2 - they checked off statements they thought applied to them, in Level 3 & 4 they completed a questionnaire by using numbers to rate statements.

I love that this program works so well with all ages! After they all discovered this first cornerstone, the discussions kept on going. Suddenly, they understood more about their study skills and study needs. This alone would have been worth the investment.

But, the program does go on, the second cornerstone - Where do I want to be? This proved to be the ah-ha moment for my middle schooler using Level 3. The section starts with a page of successful people, and gives us a glimpse at their story. They all had experienced failure, and kept on going to success! In this section, they are encouraged to create a mission statement and SMART goals.

The "How do I get there?" section focuses on the skills they need to study. Topics include time management and organization. The program teaches them a handy PQRST acronym to learn to read effectively. Even my youngest tester can easily remember it! Other important strategies are taught - like how to take notes, prepare and take tests, and many other solidly helpful study tips.

The Teacher Edition is a must have component, it contains everything you need to teach the study skills system. It gives a through overview, effective techniques and copies of the Student view pages. The Purpose - Preparation - Procedure method is used to teach the lessons. I found it to be so useful, not only for teaching the lessons, but for teaching myself! Take a peek at this video:

I think the College level should be a mandatory course for all of your high school students. My older sons actually took their copies with them. Do them a favor, get them started now.

My testers all enjoyed this program. The books are not flashy, one of my testers thought they looked a bit "old fashioned". But, their hesitation disappeared as we started with the lessons. The information is truly useful and really sticks!