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Logic... looking for insight into a few different programs


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We're doing some logic games and puzzles this year (5th grade - blast off with logic series and red herring mysteries). Looking at programs for next year.

 

I was thinking about Fallacy Detective & Thinking Toolbox for 6th then The Art of Argument and other CAP programs for 7th and up.

 

Is there too much overlap between the different books or does this look like a good progression?

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Not everyone considers the Bluedorn materials you mention logic. I don't.  They're definitely not formal logic.  

 

I haven't seen the others you mention.

We do Critical Thinking's materials, Bonnie Risby's materials and Martin Cothran's materials.  I don't deeply love everything about any of them, but they do the job. Martin and I have different takes on a lot of things religiously and politically, but enough of his stuff is worth it overall that I still recommend it. That's just going to happen.

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We're doing some logic games and puzzles this year (5th grade - blast off with logic series and red herring mysteries). Looking at programs for next year.

 

I was thinking about Fallacy Detective & Thinking Toolbox for 6th then The Art of Argument and other CAP programs for 7th and up.

 

That's almost exactly the same progression my DS has followed for getting familiar with informal logic and critical thinking principles. It has worked really well for us so far. Logic Countdown and Logic Liftoff in 5th, Fallacy Detective and Thinking Toolbox in 6th, and now Art of Argument in 7th.  He's enjoyed all of them and I felt the level was just right for him at each stage/grade. No, not too much overlap. (FD teaches the "tools" and TT teaches *how* to apply them, for example. Then A of A takes the concepts even further.) He also uses Perplexors, because he just likes doing them. He can pick apart any fallacy or flawed propaganda he comes across - using the correct terminology - in advertising, billboards, articles, etc., better than many adults I know. We're saving formal logic study for high school - not many kids are ready for formal logic in middle school, I don't think - but I'm not too worried about it at this point due to how far he's come already. So I think your plan looks good.  :)

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I've used Fallacy Detective & Art of Argument. The former covers some of the same material as the latter, but there's enough of a difference in rigor & scope that it isn't "too much overlap." My oldest loved FD (done outloud w/me twice per week, all cozy & fun buddy-reading & buddy-answering). We did AoA with a small group of her peers at our house last year over one semester. she also loved that. She's doing Cochran's Traditional Logic right now & isn't feeling the love. She misses the "fun" she had with her friends & CAP materials.

 

Dd#2 is almost done with FD. She's not in love with informal logic like dd#1 was, but she doesn't mind the time we spend (again, cozy, buddy-style, outloud). I'm going to try to get a small group together for AoA next year for her, too. That's the best way to do AoA if you can get a couple other kids together, IMO.

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My daughter is definitely one to cuddle and discuss so I think that will work for us too. Thanks for the tip about forming a group to study AoA - I'll have to mention that to a few friends with kids the same age.

 

Thanks for the help!

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Oooh, a group for AoA! That could be fun.

 

I don't have a lot to add except that DD, seventh grade, likes FD, and when we finish it, we will move on to TT. I had planned to do AoA last year with her but decided to put it off a bit longer; I'm glad to see a PP say it works well after the Bludorn books.

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That's almost exactly the same progression my DS has followed for getting familiar with informal logic and critical thinking principles. It has worked really well for us so far. Logic Countdown and Logic Liftoff in 5th, Fallacy Detective and Thinking Toolbox in 6th, and now Art of Argument in 7th.  He's enjoyed all of them and I felt the level was just right for him at each stage/grade. No, not too much overlap. (FD teaches the "tools" and TT teaches *how* to apply them, for example. Then A of A takes the concepts even further.) He also uses Perplexors, because he just likes doing them. He can pick apart any fallacy or flawed propaganda he comes across - using the correct terminology - in advertising, billboards, articles, etc., better than many adults I know. We're saving formal logic study for high school - not many kids are ready for formal logic in middle school, I don't think - but I'm not too worried about it at this point due to how far he's come already. So I think your plan looks good.  :)

 

I, literally, could have written this post. Word. For. Word.

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