The Critical Thinking Co.™ (A Whodunnit Forensic Mystery review)

Generally speaking, I have always enjoyed using materials* from The Critical Thinking Co.™, and I was looking forward to using Something Fishy at Lake Iwannafisha with my Youngest (almost 11) who loves to play cops and robbers/ FBI types of games with his cousins and other family/friends. The description on the website sounded like it might be just up his alley: "Students work individually or in small teams as police detectives to solve this fun and engaging crime mystery. Students begin by learning about different types of forensic evidence such as fingerprints, ballistics, handwriting, and more." 

Unfortunately, in our case the "and more" was something of an issue for my family... fingerprints, ballistics, and handwriting are all fairly innocuous sounding and something that my detective-loving kid would enjoy. However, the description on their webpage doesn't really do a good job of describing the actual book, and it was not at all what I expected. I think I was hoping for a little more advanced "Encyclopedia Brown" type of kid-friendly (burglary and theft?) thing in typical Critical Thinking format, not CSI-style (identifying dead bodies and determining time of death) type of thing that makes us ALL rather queasy~ not really something appropriate for 5th-9th grade, in my honest opinion... and my 17-year-old has no interest either... We truly aren't a CSI -type of family, and there was no mention on the website of the actual type of crime that would be investigated in this book.

That being said, if your family appreciates that sort of crime/drama investigation and conversation, then this book might be a perfect fit for you. It really does show how every clue is intertwined with the others and that each area of an investigation is important. There are forensic evidence lessons in Anthropology, Arson, Ballistics, Counterfeit Money, Death Investigation (Entomology/Autopsy), Document and Handwriting Analysis, and Fingerprints. The lessons in Ballistics, Counterfeit Money, Document and Handwriting analysis and Fingerprints are pieces that I was able to read through without getting nauseous (Yeah, EMT/Doctor/Police material I most definitely am not!), and found them quite interesting, but I wasn't able to do much with them, because of how intertwined they were with the rest of the investigation.

By the way, unlike other Critical Thinking Co.™  titles, this book is NOT one to just hand to your kids and let them go. The first 20 pages are intended only for the instructor and contain background information on the suspects, witnesses and missing persons, as well as summaries of police and forensic reports, witness statements, forensic lab reports, timeline of events, and a general overview of the crimes committed. There are also step-by-step instructions and a checklist for handouts (which are numerous), and answer keys for investigation notes and final reports on the cases being investigated.
Copies of all of the handouts may be made directly from the book or printed from a file that is accessed through a link in the book.

*Previous Reviews for The Critical Thinking Co.™ products:
2010 Balance Benders (Grades 2-6)
2012 Crypto Mindbenders (Grades 3-12+)
2015 Practical Critical Thinking (Grades 9-12)

2016 Sentence Diagramming (Grades 3-12+)
I have purchased and used many other books from them. This has been my only disappointment with this company, and only because it wasn't a good fit for our particular family~ which could have been avoided by a better description on the website.

Not So Nutty Nitty Gritty 

• Company: The Critical Thinking Co.™
• Product:  Something Fishy at Lake Iwannafisha 
• Ages: 
• Publisher recommendation 5th-12th grade, 
• personal recommendation 10th-12th grade
• Price: $14.99

Visit The Critical Thinking Co.™on their Social Media pages on:
Facebook, Google+,   Twitter, and Pinterest

Please click the banner below to visit the TOS Homeschool Review Crew and see what others had to say about this and the other Critical Thinking titles reviewed that are pictured below. As always, I hope that this review was useful to you as you choose where best to spend your homeschool budget.

BONUS: to help your budget along a little more, The Critical Thinking Co.™ is offering a deal to my readers:
Free Shipping + 15% Off Any Size Order!
Use Coupon Code: TOSCREW18
Expires 12/31/2018

Blessings~

#TheCriticalThinkingCo #HSReviews

The Critical Thinking Co.™ (Do You Diagram?) (Review)

The Critical Thinking Co.™ has long been a favorite provider of mine. They offer a variety of supplements and curriculum, including Critical Thinking/Logic, of course, but also a variety of Language Arts and Math, typically presented in a clear and engaging format. I mean really, who wouldn't be interested in a workbook entitled "Dr. DooRiddles" or "MindBenders."

I have both reviewed (2010, 2012, 2015) and purchased an assortment of their products, and been pretty happy with all of them, so was pleased to be offered the chance to review another book, Sentence Diagramming: Beginning Grades 3-12+.

I don't know what your public or other school education looked like, but I don't actually recall learning how to diagram sentences. It's possible that we did, but I truly do not have a clear recollection of diagramming, which is interesting, as I was a student who enjoyed my English Language classes (perhaps the personalities of my teachers overshadowed what they were teaching? Mr. Harrington's ability to throw a small bouncy ball caroming off the ceiling and the blackboard to hit a dozing student on the back of the head was somewhat legendary...).

I digress. Coming back to Sentence Diagramming: Beginning, I decided to use it with both my 4th grader and and my 10th grader, as it clearly wasn't something that we had done before. My 4th grader has been enjoying doing these "puzzles" and is possibly "competing" a little with his older brother.

Because we are working on it together, I am having them do most of their work in a notebook. The Critical Thinking Co.™does allow limited duplication within a home setting, but our ink supply needs replenished, so this works for us. Makes for a little more work for the boys, since they are drawing their own lines, but I figure that is good practice!

So, I sit on the couch with the book, one boy on either side with their notebooks, and we go through the lessons.

 

Each of the 12 lessons has 4 main parts, following the new concept explanation.

1. Find the errors and diagram correctly - sometimes it's a little tricky, others less so, but "finding the errors" is a great tool for learning. 
2. Fill in the diagram - using the provided sentence~ good practice
3. Write a sentence to match the diagram - This is a page that I do print, just because it makes life easier ~ worth the ink even when it's in short supply. ;) 
4. Diagram each sentence without the predrawn lines - mastering the technique

I really like the building block progression of each part, from finding tiny errors to diagramming with no assistance.

The diagrams go from simple + construction to multi-forked builds in the later lessons. Again, a building block progression, from simple to complicated, so that it makes perfect sense. I can see that this is a fantastic way to learn grammar, especially if you have a visual learner, and I'm quite surprised that more curricula don't utilize this, from the very beginning, as it shows very concretely what each word is, and how it relates to the other words in the sentence. It also turns grammar into a puzzle, which is much more exciting than  exercises like "find the noun____ " or "label the adjectives."

Lesson 1: Simple Subject and Main Verb
Lesson 2: Direct Object
Lesson 3: Adjectives
Lesson 4: Adverbs Modifying Verbs
Lesson 5: Predicate Adjectives
Lesson 6: Predicate Nouns
Lesson 7: Prepositional Phrases (Adjectival)
Lesson 8: Prepositional Phrases (Adverbial)
Lesson 9: Compound Subjects
Lesson 10: Compound Predicates
Lesson 11: Compound Direct Objects
Lesson 12: Compound Predicate Adjectives and Nouns

The book includes a review/test at the end that covers each lesson, and for those who aren't sure about their answers, there is an Answer Key at the back. I found this helpful, as I wasn't sure what to do with "the" and "a" when they showed up (makes perfect sense that they are diagrammed as adjectives, which is the way I understand it, because they describe that there is only "one" of the object. If I'm wrong in that assessment, feel free to explain it to me. ;) ).

I think this is also a helpful review for older students, which may come in handy if they have to break down sentences on their standardized tests ~ it's a comprehensive but gentle Charlotte Mason-ish approach also~ short lessons that encourage rather than overwhelm. :)

Not So Nutty Nitty Gritty 

• Company: The Critical Thinking Co.™
• Product: Sentence Diagramming: Beginning
• Ages: Grades 3-12+
• Price: $12.99

You can visit The Critical Thinking Co.™ on their social media pages:
Facebook, Google+, and Pinterest

  

  

Please click the banner below to visit the TOS Review Crew and see what others had to say about this and the other titles reviewed: Language Smarts Level E (Which is a full 4th Grade Language Arts curriculum), and a variety of software downloads for Toddler/PreK to Grade 2 (Alphabet Song Game, Letter Sounds Song and Game, Vowel Sounds Song and Game, and Fun-Time Phonics). FYI, the Software is not MAC compatible, one of my few pet peeves for The Critical Thinking Co.™ , as I am a MAC girl.  As always, I hope that this review was useful to you as you choose where best to spend your homeschool budget.

Blessings~

The Critical Thinking Co.: Practical Critical Thinking/Teacher Manual (Review)

As the tendency for the general public to believe almost everything they are fed (hook, line and sinker) goes up at an alarming rate (evidenced by many facebook posts, newspaper and magazine articles and other social media outlets that tend to make much ado about nothing, and get everyone riled up over a tempest in a teacup, usually because someone forgot to use their brains, and stop and THINK for a minute before continuing to spout nonsense), the ability to read between the lines, or even simply determine Truth appears to be declining at an equally rapid pace.

Thankfully, The Critical Thinking Co.  (a well known name in public, private and homeschool circles) has been fighting against the stream of apathy and declining mental skills by creating books, puzzles, and software all engineered to build the brain's critical thinking skills. This is nowhere more evident than in their Practical Critical Thinking book (and Teacher Manual) for high school students, which Middlest has been working through for the purpose of review, and will continue through the year.

The consumable student text is a hefty book, filled with stories, puzzles, and worksheets designed to stretch and grow the parts of the brain that are required for Critical Thinking Skills. The book is filled with logic puzzles, text comprehension and deductive reasoning exercises to name a few of the activities.

The book covers 4 units, with two chapters each. Within the chapters there are approximately 6-11 lessons, some with multiple activities. You can download a sample that includes the Table of Contents as well as a few pages from the book directly from the product page on the Critical Thinking site.

The Teacher's Manual that can be purchased has two parts, a more compact "Answers" section that includes answers where there are concrete solutions, as well as information for the teacher on the "answers will vary" questions, which explain how the questions will help the student grow their critical thinking skills. The Teacher's Manual is fairly no frills, and could possibly use a little more explanation in places, but in general, it is quite useful. The greater portion of the book is the "reproducible" section that includes all of the activities and puzzles from the student manual. These are only black and white, not in color like they are in the student workbook, for reproduction purposes. This is very helpful particularly for the homeschool families of 2 or more children. *note: the license to reproduce is limited to a single family or single classroom, and capped at 35 copies of each page/classroom or family/year. 

While I can see how this would be a great classroom course, it is equally useful to the individual homeschooler. Discussions can take place amongst the teens in the house (if you have more than one), or with Mom/Dad, as they come up in the text. 

My son has been answering the questions on his tablet and sending them to me, so that I can keep track of where he is. For the more graphic pages (chapter 2 of Unit 1 includes a number of Mind Benders puzzles), he either writes in the consumable book, or on a reproduced page, depending on where we happen to be schooling (Since the text *is* rather hefty). 

Already I can see him beginning to think more deeply, and reconsider his answers when I ask him to "Explain! Explain! Explain!" 

Middlest has been enjoying using Practical Critical Thinking each day. He is finding that it is stretching and exercising his brain. I am thankful to have this to counter the effects of somewhat mindless video games that put *my* brain into a daze. ;)

His favorite activities so far have been the logic/deduction puzzles. His least favorite have been the more personalized "what do I think" sorts of questions, because it's always nerve-racking putting your own opinions out there. 

One other thing he appreciates is that he can pretty much plan on working on this 2-3 days per week in order to finish it by the end of the year. If he gets behind for one reason or another he can work through an activity each day until he gets caught up. 


Not So Nutty Nitty Gritty 

• Company: The Critical Thinking Co. 
• Product: 
• Practical Critical Thinking $39.99 
• Teacher Manual ( Black and White hard copy $14.99, full color ebook $9.99)
• Ages: High School (Grades 9-12)

The Critical Thinking Co. can be found on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and Pinterest.
I highly recommend checking out their website/social media for samples and free downloads, so that you can get a good feel for what this company offers.

Please click the banner below to visit the TOS Review Crew and see what others had to say about this product, as well as others that were reviewed, including The Basics of Critical Thinking (grades 4-9), U.S. History Detective Bk 1 (grades 8-12), Surfing the Net: Science (grades 3-6),  and Fun-Time Phonics (grades PreK-2). As always, I hope that this review was useful to you as you choose where best to spend your homeschool budget.

Blessings~

Critical Thinking Company: Crypto Mind Benders

Well, this was a fun little item to review! I appreciate the Critical Thinking Company products, and they recently sent the TOS Crew a variety of items to review. We received "Crypto Mind Benders".

This slender volume is filled with 30 puzzles(And their solutions) to exercise the logic muscle of your children. :) When Eldest picked up the book as it lay on the table, she commented "Oh! This looks like fun!". Middlest was less excited (That word "mathematical" on the cover did it for him... ;p), until he learned how the puzzles worked~ now HE thinks they are fun as well!

This is a wonderful thing, as lately we have been working on getting Middlest to think more logically, and including math in the equation is a bonus from my perspective.

Here is a sample activity~ use the equations on the left side to fill in the chart, and logically deduce which numeral = which letter.

After each puzzle on the page is worked, the letters are placed into the appropriate blanks in the cryptogram to discover a famous quotation.

 (You can find and print this sample activity from the product page's "click to look inside" link)

The symbols used in the clues are identified in the front of the book, and the first 2 pages are a "Sample activity" that walks the student through the process. Very simple to pull out and use, but the problems definitely get more challenging.

Crypto Mind Benders are one activity that I can just lay out, and my kids jump to do them~ I don't even have to ask. :) (And, yes~ I am a puzzling mom that enjoys this sort of thing as well).

Nitty Gritty~ 
Critical Thinking Company
Crypto Mind Benders ($10.99) 30 activities and solutions
Ages ~ Grades 3-12+
Limited reproduction permission granted for home or classroom use

Other TOS Crew members received Balance Math Teaches Algebra , Mathmatical Reasoning Level F, and Inference Jones: Beginning  for review. Please visit the Crew Blog to check them all out.

Blessings~

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this/these item(s)/service for free as part of the TOS Crew Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Critical Thinking Press~ Books for all ages

I have a few "The Critical Thinking Co."  books that I have enjoyed using with my children over the years, but as they have gotten older, there are some products I didn't own that I have wanted to examine in person. Timberdoodle graciously offered my choice of one The Critical Thinking Co. book for each child to use in exchange for an honest review. It was hard to choose, as Timberdoodle carries over 40 Critical Thinking Co. products. Read on to see what we ended up with and our thoughts.....

For my Eldest, we chose to use  Editor In Chief B.  (List price $16.99) I think our "Editing" skills have been a little neglected, and being busy (As most moms with 3 children, one of whom is a 3yo, usually are), I was very happy to have a product that includes an answer key! :) (Call me "lazy", I prefer "practical" :)

As opposed to the generic proofreading exercises in her spelling book, Editor in Chief has some great features that I am especially impressed with.

• Editing Checklist ~ which gives hints to help the student remember what to look for in their editing tasks.
• Answer Key that provides more than just the generic corrected  selection, but a list of the number and types of errors(so you can give hints, if your student is having a tough time finding everything), a paragraph with superscribed numbers showing the location of the errors, and a key explaining the errors with numbers referencing each item in the guide to grammar and usage (mentioned next), as well as a complete, corrected paragraph.
• Guide to Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation in the back of the book, which covers all the skills found in this book. I appreciate having this to fall back on, occasionally, when explaining why something is wrong. Each entry includes at least one or two examples to further help in instructing.