kortney in AL Posted May 18, 2008 Share Posted May 18, 2008 I got a catalog from them yesterday. All their products look so good, but so expensive! Are there any of their products that you loved and would use again, or those that you think made a big improvement in your child's abilities? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 18, 2008 Share Posted May 18, 2008 Reading Detective! Hands down, it has been wonderful for my guys. I plan on using Science Detective and Word Roots from them, as well at some point. Oh, and maybe Editor in Chief. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrixieB Posted May 18, 2008 Share Posted May 18, 2008 My dc like the Mindbenders books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mktkcb Posted May 18, 2008 Share Posted May 18, 2008 We have used and loved a number of their products. All my kids have gone through all of some of the BTS books. my kids have used and enjoyed the reading detective software, word roots software, logic spiders software, punctuation puzzler software, and maybe a couple others. These are GREAT programs for the most part. I may be getting the BTS software for my ds next year, and maybe 1 or 2 others (science detective? not sure.) Oh, and we've used the mindbenders books also. Sigh......I love their stuff. Its addictive, but I tend to only get stuff at the conference every year, and it is usually discounted a bit there. Have fun. Kayleen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth in Central TX Posted May 18, 2008 Share Posted May 18, 2008 I really like the Editor in Chief software. It has helped my oldest become more aware of his own common grammatical errors; not all of them, but most. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 But, while their products are good, I feel many are very expensive "one trick ponies" (a big price for puzzles all of the same type), and you can sometimes find similar, less expensive products elsewhere -- and ones with more variety of types of problem solving, too. Here are Critical Thinking Press books we liked: - Dr. Funster's Think-A-Minutes (gr. 3-6) - Dr. Funster's Creative Thinking Puzzlers (gr. 3-6) - Think-A-Grams (gr. 7-12) The Red Herring books were okay -- though some of the solutions seemed lame to us, and we often (at least to us!) came up with more clever or more plausible answers. Other things we've enjoyed for developing critical thinking and logic skills are listed below; wasn't sure of what ages you're looking for, so I included the "whole enchilada" of resources (lol). Most are available through: - http://www.rainbowresource.com - http://www.amazon.com - http://www.prufrock.com Enjoy your critical thinking adventures! Warmest regards, Lori D. grade K-3 workbooks: - Critical Thinking Activities in Pattern, Image, Logic (gr. 1-3) -- by Seymour - Logic Safari (book 1 = gr. 2-3; book 2 = gr. 3-4) - Lollipop Logic (gr. K-2) - Primarily Logic (gr. 2-4) - Connections series (by grade level) puzzle books: - Gifted and Talented series (K-4 gr.) -- by Amerikander, or others - Puzzlemania series (gr. 1-5) -- best of Highlights magazine variety of puzzles - Hidden Picture Puzzle books -- collection of hidden picture puzzles from Highlights software: - Logic Journey of the Zoombinis (by grade level) - Revenge of the Logic Spiders (by grade level) - Crazy Contraptions series (gr. 3+) - Operation: Neptune (gr. 3-6) - Mission: T.H.I.N.K. (gr. 2-6) games: - Set - Duo - Secret Door - Blokus - Scan (old Parker Brothers game, usually available on ebay) - Clue solo logic activities: - Logix - Scramble Squares - Tangrams - Rush Hour Junior simple puzzle pages: - mazes - word searches - Where's Waldo - search and find type of books gr. 4-6 (prep for logic) logic books: - Dandylion Logic series: 1. Logic Countdown = gr. 3-4 2. Logic Liftoff = gr. 4-5 3. Orbiting with Logic = gr. 5-7 - Logic Safari series (book 2 = gr. 3-4; book 3 = gr. 5-6) - Connections series (by grade level) workbooks: - Mindbenders - Perplexors (like Mendbenders) - Puzzlemania series (gr. 1-5) - Dr. Funster Think-A-Minutes (gr. 3-6) - Dr. Funster's Creative Thinking Puzzlers (gr. 3-6) - Critical Thinking Activities in Pattern, Image, Logic (gr. 4-6) -- by Seymour software: - Logic Journey of the Zoombinis (by grade level) - Revenge of the Logic Spiders (by grade level) - Crazy Contraptions series (gr. 3+) - Operation: Neptune (gr. 3-6) - Mission: T.H.I.N.K. (gr. 2-6) games: - Mastermind - Amazing Labrynth - 221 B. Baker Street - Checkers - Chess - Boggle - Scrabble - Quarto puzzle pages: - mazes - crosswords, word jumbles, anagrams - codes, cryptograms - sudoku puzzles books (solving "whodunnits"): - Encyclopedia Brown series (Sobol) - Roman Mysteries series (Lawrence) - 17th century Japanese boy and samurai mysteries by Dorothy Hoobler - Nancy Drew series (Keene) - Hardy Boys series (Dixon) - minute mystery books by Conrad, Sobol, Weber, and others gr. 7-8 (intro to logic) critical thinking books: - Mindbenders - Perplexors (like Mindbenders) - Word Winks; More Word Winks (like Think-A-Grams) -- pub. by Mindware - Plexors, More Plexers (like Think-A-Grams) -- by Seymour - Critical Thinking Activities in Pattern, Image, Logic (gr. 7-12) -- by Seymour - 10-Minute Critical-Thinking Activities for Englishy (gr. 5-12) -- by Eaton; Walch Pub. - 10-Minute Critical-Thinking Activities for Algebra (gr. 9-12) -- by Martin; Walch Pub. logic books: - Art of Argument (Larson/Hodge) - Fallacy Detective; Thinking Toolbox (Bluedorn) games: - Checkers - Chess - Boggle - Scrabble - Quarto - Tetrus - Risk - other strategy computer/board games puzzle pages: - crosswords, word jumbles, anagrams - codes, cryptograms - sudoku puzzles solving "whodunnits" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nestof3 Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 Wow -- thanks for the amazing list, Lori! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merylvdm Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 I really like Get me Out of Here! We have the CD Rom version (I bought it used, so not so expensive) and it teaches Map SKills and teaches kids to pay attention to instructions. Meryl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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