Your cart is currently empty!
Prepping for college with Making the Grade
I was actually going to write about a game we have called Ex Libris, but have zero pictures, and then I started working on our Modern history lessons landing page, but that is a monster of a post, and my brain is fried from a week of working with the kids on Making the Grade. Making the Grade is a book/class on how to study and use your time wisely. Making the Grade is actually intended for college, but I want my kids to work on their habits for high school (this is one of the classes I included on my 9th-grade homeschool curriculum picks).
(This post has affiliate links)
Why I bought a course on learning how to study
I’m a horrible student. In high school and college, I was notorious for starting projects at the very last minute, or studying the night before. I’d really like to instill in my kids better habits than I had.
When I went to Great Homeschool Conventions last month, I went to the talk by Mark Pruitt, and was fascinated by his 4 Study Steps. Over the course of 45 minutes, he covered his 4 Study Steps with lots of statements of “I expanded on this in the book and the course.” Realistically you can probably get the big idea just from his talk, HOWEVER, I wanted the kids to really dive into this and get those good habits in place before they got to college.
The Making the Grade book
Making the Grade book is all about his 4 Study Steps:
- Get to your study place after class
- Read through your notes from that class in order
- Do your reading assignments
- Complete your homework
Now obviously, he’s going to go into a lot more detail, and that’s just chapter headings, but it’s got some really good information.
My one downside for the book, it’s got a bit of repetition, but I think that is rather necessary for teens reading the material who need the extra information.
Also, to be completely honest, there were times I wanted to say, “You’re crazy, I would never do that.” That is also probably why I got mid-level B’s in my college and the author of this book got a 4.0.
Just a guess.
The Making the Grade Course
Making the Grade course divides the material of the book into 10 days worth of reading, which is easily doable. When my kids were having to re-do the whole thing because they all tried to do it over the course of one day, and didn’t really read it thoroughly, Superman read the book in 2 hours. It’s an easy read.
The key to the course is the worksheets and quizzes. There are a series of 9 worksheets, each about 2 pages with about 10 questions each, and 9 quizzes with 10 questions each.
They both do a great job of reviewing the material, and at the end, is a very thorough final exam.
What I love best about this course is the teacher edition. Both the worksheets and quizzes have the answers in red with the exact lesson, as well as the page number and line number.
So, when my kids who rushed through their work got bad grades, I could just write “Reread lesson 20” in big red frustrated letters. It was awesome.
My week has not been so awesome as all of my kids have been frustrated with me at one point or another as I’ve made them redo their work over and over again.
It is however teaching them to take their time, and to not think you can just rush through your work and get a good grade.
That’s actually been the theme of this week, and reworking what they’ve done.
More Junior High and High School Ideas
Comments
5 responses to “Prepping for college with Making the Grade”
Interesting. It looks like a good method. I’ve really struggled with how much to focus on study skills over the material. I was hesitant to focus on study skills at first – but as I’ve watched the children putting lessons into practice, I’ve felt better about it.
I had a 3.99 in my masters degree program, and I remember being so annoyed at that one prof who gave me an A-. I still remember who it was – and since we are back at my alma mater my daughter is actually cat sitting for his family this week (she talked to his wife, not him, though. I did run into him once and he is perfectly nice. Just a harsh grader.)
Honestly, I wish someone would have explained to me that grades aren’t really as important as we think they are in college, although maybe mine helped me get into all my grad school programs? So lots of mixed emotions around grades here…
I have the same troubles with grades. I was never one to get the best grades, but I also recognize the purpose they serve in the short term of college and getting scholarships and into advanced degrees or other things.
I’ve been looking through the author’s blog, and he frequently says “study your notes”. Does he ever describe what that looks like?
He does, but not in super a lot of detail, or to be more specific he gives us one expanded version of how to study notes. I’m trying to walk the line of giving you a clear answer, but also not telling all of the material in his book.
In the chapter on studying notes, he goes into more detail and tells you what he recommends for how to study. He does not give alternative methods from what worked for him, and his recommended method is fairly straight forward.
Leave a Reply