Attaining the Necessary Skills for Success in College

Build Your Teen's College Skill Set
Plus Scope and Sequence

Are you and your high school student(s) planning for college? If so, there are certain skill sets that are particularly important to acquire.

Study Skills: Students need to know how to manage their time and meet deadlines. The brightest student can still flounder if these skills are not learned. The successful college student also needs good note taking and basic study skills so that they can get the most out of their classes and homework. After completing HSC's Study Skills and Note Taking course, students will put these skills into practice through their high school years and will therefore be better prepared for college.

Communication Skills: Strong communication skills will greatly benefit your student in any college major or career field. HSC offers a course to help students learn and practice good communications. In the Leadership and Communications Skills course, students learn speaking skills, listening skills, conflict management, and more.

Leadership Skills: The most successful students are often the ones who are also leaders. As Catholics, it is important that our students become people who are a positive influence at school and in the world. HSC's Leadership and  Communications Skills course will encourage them to be people of service, show them how to be a faith-filled leader, and more.

Writing Skills: It's not enough to learn lessons taught in school, students need to be able to communicate the lessons learned in writing. Strong writing skills are vital for college success. HSC offers a strong writing program (Aquinas Writing Advantage) that will take your student from the basics (grammar, punctuation, vocabulary) to the advanced (rhetoric, research, academic papers). Your student will be ready for college writing after successfully completing these writing courses.

Critical Thinking Skills: Education should not be about cramming facts into children's heads. It should be about giving them a love for learning and the ability to think. We highly recommend formal logic and philosophy to help your student think critically and therefore succeed in all their school subjects. Logic and Philosophy are not electives -- they are vital to a core curriculum. HSC offers a variety of courses that teach your student critical thinking skills, while at the same time raising their hearts to God and finding the beauty of their Catholic faith.

ACT/SAT Test Skills: To help your student get into the college of his choice, and get the best scholarship possible, we offer courses on preparing for the ACT and SAT tests. Your student will learn how to prepare for the test, what to expect, manage time, and more for success. Latin studies should also be considered, for a variety of reasons including the evidence that Latin studies increase ACT and SAT scores.

Most Importantly -- How to Evaluate Ideas through a Catholic Lens:
In college your student will encounter many new ideas and assumptions. Some of them will be potentially damaging. We want to give your student the necessary tools to recognize and understand the worldviews they encounter and know how to articulate their own beliefs effectively and convincingly. All of HSC instructors are Catholic and teach their courses through a Catholic lens, thus demonstrating to your student how God is evident in everything. Our theology courses will specifically prepare your student to defend his faith when he goes out into the world, as well as help him build a solid foundation of faith for his life.

All of the mentioned courses are currently available through our Unlimited Access! program. These are recorded classes that can be taken on your schedule and at your pace ... and very reasonably priced! To learn more, email us at homeschoolconnections@gmail.com or visit http://homeschoolconnectionsonline.com/online-catholic-course-catalog/recorded-courses/

Writing, Philosophy, Logic, Theology, and Study Skills will also be offered as live, interactive courses in the 2013/2014 school year. Courses are open for registration. Please visit http://homeschoolconnectionsonline.com/online-catholic-course-catalog/ or email for more information.

There is one more skill set I'd like to mention ...
How to Use Technology in Education:
In HSC's online courses, students become familiar with the same, or similar, technology they’ll encounter in college. They learn how to be engaged participants in a live, interactive webinar and gain experience using online tools to collaborate with their instructor and fellow students from across the country and the world. This is a skill set that will help them advance in higher education as well as the business place.

Recommended Homeschool Connections College Skill Set Courses
Note: We offer a wide variety of courses and this recommended scope and sequence can easily be adjusted to fit your student's needs. Of course, you'll also want to include history, science, and moth.

9th Grade
How to be an Excellent Student: Note Taking, Test Taking, and How to Get an A (4 weeks)
Elements of Writing: Essential Punctuation and Grammar (6 weeks)
Simplified Writing (8 weeks)
Excellent Paragraph and Essay/Test Writing (6 weeks)

Introduction to Formal Logic (12 weeks)

Latin I (24 weeks)

Catholic Apologetics (12 to 24 weeks)

10th Grade

Vocabulary and Writing 1 (14 weeks)

Vocabulary and Writing 2 (14 weeks)

Advanced Formal Logic (12 weeks)

Latin II (24 weeks)

Philosophy 101: What Do Philosophers Do and How (8 weeks)

Advanced Catholic Apologetics (12 weeks)

11th Grade

Creative (Fiction) Writing (16 to 24 weeks)

Latin III/IV (24 weeks)

ACT/SAT Prep (4 weeks)

Thomistic Philosophy (12 to 24 weeks)

Understanding Our Faith Series (8 to 16 weeks)

12th Grade

Leadership and Communications (6 weeks)

Advanced Writing and Rhetoric (10 weeks)

Advanced Research Writing  (10 weeks)

Theology of the Body Series (24 weeks)

Early Modern Philosophy (12 weeks)

Philosophy of God: Natural Theology (12 weeks)