The Kid is taking an online class this year. No surprise there, she likes her online classes. But for the first time, this is not a aimed-at-gifted-kids, high-input-low-output class. This is a bona fide high school class, populated with actual high schoolers.
It did not take me long to realize that she was going to need a study skills crash course. I think it happened when she took a quiz, got a D, immediately took the quiz again (being allowed two chances at it), got a nearly identical score, then shrugged. She hadn't even thought about studying, looking anything up (it was open book), or even realized what letter grade a 64% was. This is also the first class she has ever taken that issues grades at all, so it's a completely foreign concept to her.
The hardest part for me? I never learned any study skills myself. I just absorbed what I was supposed to do in order to get good grades by having grown up going to traditional schools. But then it occurred to me that might be all she needs - someone to explain to her the basics of getting by. We talked about the things that seemed so basic to me that I forgot that anyone might need them taught:
- Use the provided formula sheets.
- Look at the answers to the quiz when the first attempt is graded - the answers were all right there for her!
- Don't just read the homework problems and answer them in her head. Actually write the answers down. Then actually check them with the answer key. Then actually look over the ones missed.
- If you don't understand, don't say "I don't understand" and move on. Write to the teacher. Tell her what you're thinking and ask where you're going wrong.
I find it amazing that The Kid doesn't need my help with Physics, but the things above still need specifically taught. Just as well, because I'm even more hopeless with Physics than with study skills.
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