You have probably heard of Critical Thinking Press. They have been around for more than 50 years; used in both traditional schools and homeschools. They have products for all ages and abilities. The hallmark of their books is the development of thinking skills.
“If we teach children everything we know, their knowledge is limited to ours. If we teach children to think, their knowledge is limitless.” – Michael Baker, President
Critical Thinking Press covers many subjects through different series of books. Three that we recently had the privilege to review are Building Thinking Skills, Math Reasoning, and Word Roots. I know, you are wondering how do these workbooks fit in with a Charlotte Mason style of learning? Well, let me tell you, these are not mere workbooks. There is no busy work here. No fluff or tiresome repetition. No twaddle!
Math Reasoning Level C is a colorful book working through math skills at the second grade level. My DD-L is technically only a first grader, but she loves math. She dove right into this book. It is laid out in a spiral fashion, but you do not have to use it that way. L goes through and chooses the topic she wants to work on and finds all of the pages covering that topic. She starts at the front of the book, skipping over the pages covering other topics. She keeps working on her chosen topic as long as she is interested. She usually spends about 20 minutes a day and covers 3 lessons or sets of pages. She was even asking to work in her book on days we were not doing school.
Building Thinking Skills Book 1 is the book DD-H is working through. This is the third level of this series and is geared to grades 2-3 (Beginning and Primary are the earlier volumes). There are 10 chapters progressing through a figural unit then a verbal unit. There is a note in the beginning that if the first chapter is too much written work for the student, it may be delayed to the end of the figural unit. We chose to follow this suggestion for my slightly pencil allergic H. She jumped right in to chapter 2 with no difficulty. This book does not cover any specific subject, but develops the logic and thought processes used in math, science, reading and writing. The black and white pages are perforated, making them a great candidate for workboxes.
Beginning Word Roots is for the 3rd-4th grade level. My DD-M is working through this book. She is slowly becoming a more fluent reader. Her comprehension for our read alouds is great. It’s another story altogether on her individual reading. The month that we have been working through this book has made a difference. She is coming to me much less frequently asking what a word means. She is able to figure it out herself. This is adding so much to her independence and confidence. I don’t know if she realizes it is due to the few minutes each day spent on the pages of this book. The pages are perforated, so if we chose, we could tear out a page at a time. The front and back cover the same roots. I check to make sure she knows these before moving on to the next set. This book is also black and white, much to the disappointment of my daughter.
All of these books, and many more from Critical Thinking Press, are available from Timberdoodle. Not sure what resources to order or just want the simplicity of getting it all in one box? Timberdoodle has put together complete curriculum kits for all ages through grade 10-even your littlest learners. Timberdoodle was the first place I ordered anything from when we began our homeschooling journey, many years ago. Because of their customer service and product selection, we still are ordering from them. I look forward to the new catalog each year, a collection of the best of all that is homeschooling.
Legal Disclosure: As a member of Timberdoodle’s Blogger Review Team I received a free copy of these books in exchange for a frank and unbiased review.