Any Opinions on the Building Thinking Skills books?

[Jean in Newcastle]

They are by Critical Thinking Company.  Do these books help with anything?  Help point out difficulties?  Are they a waste of time and money?  What do you think?  

 

 

[OneStepAtATime]

Well I used the first book to about half way through at the very beginning of last year with both kids.  I think it helped with some things, and I did find a couple of areas that my son struggled that my daughter didn't and vice versa so it pointed out to me some places we needed to shore up.  Since we didn't finish the book, I don't know how much benefit we gained.  We just had so many other things we were doing, and a lot of our other curriculum were time consuming, so we just dropped it.  I will say that the kids did like several of the pages and i liked the progression from a basic step to a more complex one.  The part we did is all really 2D thinking, though, even though some areas SEEM to be asking for 3D thinking.  Manipulatives in a 3D environment, instead of images on a piece of paper might get certain concepts over better.  3D conceptualization from 2D images is an especially weak area for my daughter.  She does much better with physical 3D concept approaches and would sometimes have trouble visualizing what they were asking for in a 2D environment.  At some point I am thinking of at least finishing the first book, since we already have it, though.  Not sure that helps.  Hopefully someone else who used these will have a better response....

[SnMomof7]

I gave mine away! Too much writing in early grades. Decided they were fluff and that I'd teach thinking skills through critical discussion instead.