Critical Thinking Detective Teaches Vocabulary!

My kids are getting to the age where we are thinking about SAT test preparation, and so I was delighted to have to opportunity for us to review the Critical Thinking Detective: Vocabulary from The Critical Thinking Co.™

Critical Thinking Is Important To Teach, But Even Better When It is Fun!

The piece that really differentiates the products from The Critical Thinking Co.™ is that the company makes learning fun and interesting. Your child will practice inductive logic skills and, with this particular book, also learn those especially difficult SAT vocabulary words.

Will It Enhance Your Homeschool

What You Get

Everything you need is included in one workbook, with perforated removable pages. The answers are located at the end of the workbook. This makes it perfect for handing out a page to your child, or a group of children, and allowing them to work through and solve the case, coming back to you to check the final answer and determine if they correctly identified the “bad guy”.

Contents

The workbook begins with an introduction that explains how to go about solving the cases using inductive reasoning.

There are twelve cases to solve in the workbook, some harder than others, but all of them are challenging and fun!

• The Antique Double-Dealer
• The Stray Accomplice
• The Pilfering Toady
• The Ring Coveter
• The Acrid Saboteur
• The Contrary Instigator
• The Brazen Bilker
• The Cogent Denigrator
• The Disgruntled Defacer
• The Unencumbered Employee
• The Wandering Wayfarer
• The Cunning Customer

Assigning High School Credit

I think that this supplement is best used as an addition to an existing high school class you already have set up for your child. You could use it for extra credit to allow her to boost a grade, or simply as something fun to do over the summer.

Prerequisites For This Supplement

It is probably best if you use this supplement with a high school aged child, but advanced middle schoolers might really enjoy it as well.

How We Ended Up Using The Lessons

We sat together and read through each detective case. Then my kids talked together to answer the questions and decide upon the culprit. Along the way, they pulled out our dictionary to look up some of the vocabulary that they were uncertain of.

How We Liked It

Overall, this is a fun and interesting way to help your child brush up on vocabulary that she will need to know if you plan to have her take the SAT exam towards the end of high school.

Combining the logic fun or solving cases given a set of witness statements as clues with the challenging of learning new words is a fantastic way to supplement your high school student’s English coursework.

Summary of Critical Thinking Detective: Vocabulary from The Critical Thinking Co.™

General Features

• Easy to Adapt To Your Homeschool and Your Children
• You can do with a group, individually with your child, or give it to your child for independent study
• Works with Gifted Children

Works with these Age Ranges

• High School (9-12)
• Middle School (6-8) – upper ages probably

Good For These Educational Styles

• Charlotte Mason
• Classical
• Eclectic
• Relaxed
• Traditional (like public school)

Subjects Covered

• Logic
• Vocabulary
• Writing

For Kids Who Like

• Working with Mom
• Doing Some Work Alone
• Working in a group

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