Critical Thinking
http://www.criticalthinking.com/
As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, we were given Balance Benders Beginning for free to do this review. This book sells for $9.99. Four levels are available. Beginning for grades 2-6, Level 1 for grades 4-12+, Level 2 for grades 6-12+, and Level 3 for grades 8-12+.
We like logic puzzles and exercises. We regularly do sudoku puzzles and other thinking exercises we find. This book is right up our alley. If logic puzzles aren’t your thing, never fear. There are tips for teaching different algebraic concepts used. The answer key gives not only the answer, but the tip(s) used for finding it. In our beginning book, no numbers are used so a child can easily work on these puzzles without needing to know numbers of any size. The difficulty increases as you progress through the book.
The pages are ready to tear out and place in a workbox or just give to your child as fun, independent work. I have 4 ‘learners’ who all want to be doing what the other is doing. I made copies for each child (permission is given for use within one home or one classroom) and they each worked on their own. My 5 year old daughter showed the most talent for these. Even when she couldn’t explain exactly why she thought her answer was the correct one, she was nearly always right. We had a lot of fun with these, and I can see us buying more.
The Critical Thinking Company has been around more than 50 years and offers many different products. They have products for preschoolers, high schoolers and everyone in between–and beyond. They cover different subjects–language arts as well as the expected math. The one thing in common is promoting the skill of thinking. Many things appeal to just a sense of fun or memorizing facts or performing well on a test. Our family really appreciates that thinking is what is learned with these products.
To read what my fellow Crew mates think look at the links here http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HomeschoolCrew/772075/