Field Guide to High School: An 8-Week Program to Build the Skills High School Demands

By Greg Wilson

The summer before high school is the last clear window to build the skills that determine how the first year goes.

Field Guide to High School is an 8-week structured high school preparation program that teaches the executive function and study skills high school expects students to arrive with but rarely explains. One skill per week, Monday through Friday, through short readings and hands-on exercises grounded in cognitive science and learning psychology.

Most middle schools never teach time management, note-taking, study strategy, or how to plan backward from a deadline. High school assumes all of it on day one. That gap is where capable kids begin to fall apart. Not because they aren't smart, but because nobody handed them the operating system.

This program does.

Over eight weeks, students build:

Daily routines that catch mistakes before they cost somethingNote-taking methods that turn class time into usable study materialTime management systems and backward planning from real deadlinesStrategies for breaking down complex, multi-step assignmentsMemory and study techniques based on how the brain actually retains informationCritical thinking skills that work in classrooms, conversations, and lifeSelf-assessment habits that keep everything running after the program endsA personal academic system they designed, tested, and refined themselves

Each concept is explained. Each exercise proves it. Each week builds on the last.

This is not a pep talk. Not generic tips. Not a list of strategies to try someday.

It's a complete preparation program. By Week 8, your student doesn't just understand these skills. They own a working system they built themselves.

Who this program is for:

Parents of rising 9th graders who want their student to enter high school prepared, not reactiveFamilies who know their student is capable but not yet consistentStudents who have never been explicitly taught how to organize, plan, and study effectivelyAny family facing the middle-to-high-school transition and looking for something structured

Designed for completion during the summer before high school. Effective anytime a student needs to build the foundation that school assumed they already had.

The student builds the system. The system does the rest.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1972263005
• ISBN13: 9781972263006
• Release Date: July 2026
• Publisher: Dotted Eye Press
• Length: 662 Pages
• Weight: 3.33 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 8.5" x 11.0"
• Age Range: 13 to 16 years
• Grade Range: Grades 8 to 11