What’s the Difference Between Study Skills, Executive Functioning Skills, Life Skills, Personal Finance, and Career Exploration?

Let’s find out:

Name of Class	Scheduling Skills/ Budgeting Time	DevelopMemory Skills	DevleopBudgeting Skills	Understanding Personality & Skills	Explore Vocational Interests	Soft Skills Development	Develop Interview& Research Skills	Students discover & develop personal strengths & skills
Study Skills	X	x		x		x	x	x
Exec. Functioning Skills	X	x		x		x		x
Life Skills	X		X	x	x	x	x	x
Personal Finance			X			x		x
Career Exploration				x	x	x	x	x

Executive Functioning Skills 

The Executive Functioning class focuses on intentional self-regulation, along with touching on all seven forms of executive functioning, which include: 

• adaptable thinking
• Self-control
• time management
• working memory (for reasoning and decision making)
• Organization
• Planning
• self-monitoring

 Using multiple resources, the educator will encourage discussion and offer helpful tips to help students gain control and mastery in their everyday lives. The students will also be able to improve their day-to-day school and family life as we work in the following areas:

• making schedules
• creating a personal calendar
• creating short, effective lists
• tips to help our memory
• understanding how our actions affect others

Study Skills 

The Study Skills class will cover material to help students explore different methods, tools, and resources for studying well. Students will begin to identify their learning preferences using multiple senses, 

• organizing a study space
• managing time
• handling stress
• Memorizing
• taking notes
•  annotating and outlining
• Researching
•  Proofreading
• citing sources
• preparing for tests. 

Students will build their confidence as they build their study skills!

Life Skills 

The Life Skills class will allow students to develop an understanding of the skills necessary for launching successfully as a young adult.

The sections of this one-year course are centered on three broad topics:

• Making the most of your life
• Life transitions
• Preparing for your first job. 

Units include:

1. Finding & Creating A Healthy Life Balance
2. Organizing Your Life -A deeper understanding of time management and how to prioritize for the best possible outcomes when life gets overwhelming.
3. Can You Afford to Leave Home? Students create a move-out budget & checklist,
4. Budgeting & Money Management – students create a sample budget & meal plan,
5. The Interview – students participate in a mock job interview experience.
6. Resume– Students complete a resume and cover letter
7. The Workplace Experience

Personal Finance 

Personal Finance focuses on three key areas of money management:

1. How to make wise money choices now
2. How to make wise money choices in the future
3. How to prepare for financial independence
4.  

Lessons Included in Personal Finance:

• College and Careers
• Budgeting
• Car Purchase Apartment Rental

• Spouse Selection
• Credit Cards and Interest
• Baby & Payroll
• House Purchase
• Insurance
• School Choice
• Investments,
• Business Basics
• Layoffs and Reconciliations
• Income Tax
• The Dangers of Divorce
• Retirement

Career Exploration

The Career Exploration Class takes students on a wonderful adventure of discovering themselves, their families, and possible career paths. It’s a must-take class in high school, given that students take 6 years to graduate from college, not 4, and graduate with an average of $37,000 in debt. Furthermore, many of our kids will have 7 vocations during the course of their working life. Preparing them in high school to understand their interests, skills, and family strengths and beginning to develop leadership skills will save them so much time and money throughout their life. 

• Students will identify the intersection of passions, interests, and the necessity of work.
• Students will explore the difference between work and career and how both fit into their personal pathways.
• Students will learn “How They Learn.”
• Students will identify their strengths and weaknesses using a multitude of assessments.
• Students will leave class with a Personal Pathway based on strengths, interests, passions, and gifting paired with real-world career exploration, utilizing the Holland Code. 
• The student will identify spheres of possibility instead of a single job or career.
• Students will also create an occupational interest inventory.