Logic Woes

[Julie in Austin]

So: we started the year with Critical Thinking and I didn't like it because it seemed unclear.

I switched to the Art of Argument. I won't use it now that I realized that it covers issues such as homosexuality and abortion--I'm OK discussing these with my 10yo BUT we do school with 4yo and 7yo in earshot AND I don't approve of using politically charged examples, AND the examples are often unclear.

So. Now what? I really want to do an intro logic course this year and I think it is very important to understand fallacies. What are my options?

[JennW in SoCal]

I couldn't stand Critical Thinking, either! Abandoned it fairly quickly.

We really enjoyed Fallacy Detective, though didn't use it until about 7th grade. Your 10yo I'm sure could handle it just fine -- I personally didn't feel the need to tackle it any earlier. I seem to remember some of the exercizes occasionally included topics like abortion, but politically charged topics like that were never part of the meat of the lessons. The same authors have also written Thinking Toolbox, which I never read all the way through, but my older son really liked it.

During the late elementary grades we used the whole Dandylion series -- countdown, lift-off and orbiting with Logic series which don't deal with fallacies, but are a fun intro into more formal logic.

[Kathy in NC]

I could have written her post verbatum. We ditched Critical Thinking, used Fallacy Detective after using all the Dandy Lion Logic books. The Dandy Lion books were fun and informative, and my dd (now in 8th) loves the Fallacy Detective.

[FloridaLisa]

Yep, yep. What Jenn said. ;)

I've used the Dandylion Logic books and Building Thinking Skills through late elementary/early middle school. You need to watch that BTS isn't *busywork* and choose a level which is sufficiently challenging. My favorite is BTS Level 3 Verbal. Great stuff for the early middle school years (6th - 7th depending on child). Also, in 6th grade we use The Thinking Toolbox and then use Fallacy Detective in 7th. At that point, 8th grade, my ds started Intro to Logic.

HTH,
Lisa