Logic for 7th grade

[SS in MD]

For 7th grade what logic books do you use? My 6th graders used Mind Benders (from A1 to B2) and Grid Perplexors. I've heard of Thinking Toolbox & Fallacy Detective. Are these two books used in one year? Which book is read first? Also, does your dc "do" logic alone or with the family as read aloud? (I heard some folks do this as well) My other kids are younger (10,7,4) though.

Thanks!

[Lizzie in Ma]

We did it once a week together and made flash cards as we went along.
It was very enjoyable, we learned a great deal and are looking forward to The Thinking Toolbox this coming year. While I think it could be done independantly, we found great value in talking it all out.

[Lizzie in Ma]

You said your kids are younger, it shouldn't be much of an issue, our 7 year old enjoyed doing it along with us. There is some content that was mature (for instance abortion) but it is handled well. It also led into some very important family discussion/devotion time.

[Myrtle]

Do the books that you mentioned actually directly teach logic or do they give problems that require the use of logic? In other words, what is the scope and sequence of these logic books?

In primary school I relied on our math curriculum which came with multi-step word problems requiring the use of logic. In the sixth grade we have used Harry Stottlemeier's Discovery which was mostly about quantification in natural language. Our algebra program directly taught logic (p's and q's, don't assume the converse, etc) and next year in 7th grade I plan on using Patrick Suppes Mathematical Logic. The title makes it sound like it's all about math but it's about training a student to evaluate the validity of both natural language and mathematical propositions.

[Lizzie in Ma]

Do the books that you mentioned actually directly teach logic or do they give problems that require the use of logic? In other words, what is the scope and sequence of these logic books?

In primary school I relied on our math curriculum which came with multi-step word problems requiring the use of logic. In the sixth grade we have used Harry Stottlemeier's Discovery which was mostly about quantification in natural language. Our algebra program directly taught logic (p's and q's, don't assume the converse, etc) and next year in 7th grade I plan on using Patrick Suppes Mathematical Logic. The title makes it sound like it's all about math but it's about training a student to evaluate the validity of both natural language and mathematical propositions.

in the Trivium as opposed to logic as a mathematical method of thinking....
http://www.memoriapress.com/articles/logicmath.html

and another http://www.memoriapress.com/articles/logic.html

I think that both things are of great value but I chose to teach in this method. We will be coming across the mathematical reasoning as we continue into the higher maths as well.

[Lizzie in Ma]

I could give you scope and sequence as in the TOC, here is a link to that and samples from CBD
http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=887500&netp_id=310773&event=ESRCN&item_code=WW&view=details#curr

[Kathie in VA]

Fallacy Detective doesn't teach formal logic. It teaches informal logic, specifically fallacies or errors in logic. It's written in a narrative format. So you begin with a definition of a fallacy. Then it explains the fallacy and several examples are given. These are short paragraphs of one person talking to another to make a point or argument but using the current fallacy. After all this, there are about 10 exercises to read. Each is a short paragraph. Goal is to determine IF the current fallacy applies. Then there is another set of exercises to determine IF a fallacy occurs and if so, which one and why. That's the end of the chapter.

We do the whole thing orally. My 13yo dd and my 11yo ds really enjoy this part of their day. My 7yo son loves when I let him join in and try to guess which is a fallacy. The funnest part is when my kids are watching the news, or more specifically the politicians and they point out the fallacies being used!