Looking for curriculum suggestions in a few areas

[JessBurs]

Hello everyone.

I am doing some planning for my rising 6th grader and was hoping to find some curriculum suggestions.

1. I wanted to start doing some logic with her but really just wanted something simple, not an intense curriculum. Do you know of any good workbooks, etc? Affordable and not too time consuming are key. Looking for an intro.

2. I also wanted to start working through some basic literature examinations. She is an advanced reader but we haven't gone too in depth on this yet. She has assigned reading every school year and I am hoping to find some type of workbook that corresponds to a few of her books. Something that maybe explores character and plot development, asks for some critical thinking about plot lines... Of course, I haven't actually made her book list for the school year yet, so hopefully you will know of one comes for a variety of different books...

3. Coding. We have done Scratch and Code.org type exercises. We tried Codecademy last year (free version) but she had to hit the 'help' button more than I wanted and I don't think we're quite ready for that. Does anyone know of anything in between-- ie actually teaches HTML, CSS, or Java (versus just placing blocks a la scratch) but is more geared towards kids than codecademy?

Thanks for any/all suggestions you might have!

[Brittany1116]

Hello. For logic, Fallacy Detective is popular at this age/stage. We are planning to use it this year for the first time. She could read it solo but I believe it is meant to be used together for conversation. 

Progeny Press is a literature guide company I love. They have dozens of titles. They are a Christian company and Biblical worldview plays a part in the analysis. I know Memoria Press also makes lit guides, but we have never used them. 

No help for coding but someone here will know!

[Lori D.]

For beginning to dig a little deeper into literature, you might continue with assigned reading as you have been doing, but add some "together time" to work through Figuratively Speaking and some of the go-along poems, short stories, and/or longer lit. suggested in this past thread: "Figuratively Speaking paired with short stories." Then, as you learn about different literary devices, you can also be looking for them in the assigned reading.

Edited July 8, 2022 by Lori D.

[hollyhock2]

I would suggest the Blast Off with Logic series from Prufrock Press. I have mine do Logic Countdown in 5th and Logic Lift-off in 6th. They are quite similar, only Lift-off has slightly harder exercises. They are nice because they are just simple workbooks that don't really require planning. I love Fallacy Detective, too, but mine don't do well with that one until 8th grade.

[Momto6inIN]

Fallacy Detective is what we use in about 6th grade, followed by Art of Argument in 8th.

For lit, I second @Lori D.'s suggestions of Figuratively Speaking. That's all the lit analysis we do until high school. Other than that we just read and discuss.

[LauraClark]

For logic we're going to start with Blast off with Logic before moving on to Fallacy Detective. They are more workbook style if that's what you're looking for.

[El...]

Both my kids got a lot out of the Blast Off with Logic, and it was easy to implement. I third that recommendation. 

[cintinative]

On 7/7/2022 at 9:57 PM, JessBurs said:

 

1. I wanted to start doing some logic with her but really just wanted something simple, not an intense curriculum. Do you know of any good workbooks, etc? Affordable and not too time consuming are key. Looking for an intro.

 

These might? fit the bill? The space themed logic books from Prufrock press. Logic Countdown, logic liftoff, orbiting with logic.  https://www.rainbowresource.com/category/3446/Blast-Off-with-Logic.html

 

We also liked Perplexors (start with A).   https://www.rainbowresource.com/hSearch.jhtm?keyword=Perplexors+A

We did those before we covered Fallacy Detective. 

ETA: Okay, it's hilarious because I didn't look at the other responses and we all said the same thing.  😃

 

Edited July 10, 2022 by cintinative

[cintinative]

We did cover Figuratively Speaking using short stories/novels and I have an MS word file in which I have the updated links, if you want it. I think we might have done it in 7th/6th?  We did the reading as read alouds. 

[Malam]

What do you guys think about this: https://www.criticalthinking.com/the-basics-of-critical-thinking-book.html  It seems like it might be easier to go through than fallacy detective

[cintinative]

4 hours ago, Malam said:

What do you guys think about this: https://www.criticalthinking.com/the-basics-of-critical-thinking-book.html  It seems like it might be easier to go through than fallacy detective

It has different content really. The Fallacy Detective, if I remember correctly goes through many of the logical fallacies (e.g. informal logic) such as red herrings, faulty appeal to authority, etc.

[kbutton]

On 7/8/2022 at 12:51 AM, Lori D. said:

For beginning to dig a little deeper into literature, you might continue with assigned reading as you have been doing, but add some "together time" to work through Figuratively Speaking and some of the go-along poems, short stories, and/or longer lit. suggested in this past thread: "Figuratively Speaking paired with short stories." Then, as you learn about different literary devices, you can also be looking for them in the assigned reading.

Figuratively Speaking is fun!

Some other ideas that can be tailored to stories you have:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Reading-Interactive-Notebook-Literature-Activities-Literary-Elements-745824  (She has a lot of products, but this is an example of one that is flexible vs. on a specific work)

Materials from Rooted in Language

https://www.rfwp.com/bookstore/suppose-the-wolf-were-an-octopus-guides-to-creative-questioning/

At that age, my younger son LOVED Mosdos Press anthologies. He still goes back and refers to their information about literary elements. That is a more all-in-one solution with thoughtful questions in the text and a workbook option as well.

[SilverMoon]

1) Art of Argument fits that description. Mine used it around 6th-8th grade, depending on the kid and their workload that year. Spread throughout a year it's totally doable for an average 6th grader. To go even lighter I'd check out thethinkingshop.org, and just cover one a week through discussion. If you meant challenging, puzzle type logic, maybe book two of Reasoning and Reading. 

2) I'll add one more vote for Figuratively Speaking. It's simple to use, effective, and fabulous. 

3) I've got nothing, but my rising 6th would like to dabble here too. 🙃 

[HomeAgain]

On the coding, ds and his friend tried out two different kits and each loved them.  The friend did Radio Shack's 30 Days Lost In Space, which I believe teaches C or C+ language.  It has 30 challenges with the goal of getting the crew home from their mission.  DS did a Let's Start Coding kit which teaches C++, but there isn't a storyline.

For logic, Fallacy Detective was fabulous.  Ds didn't fill in the workbook part, but instead we used it to springboard into discussion.  For extra practice we watched CSPAN and local politicians to identify fallacies "in the wild". 😂

[Malam]

17 hours ago, cintinative said:

It has different content really. The Fallacy Detective, if I remember correctly goes through many of the logical fallacies (e.g. informal logic) such as red herrings, faulty appeal to authority, etc.

The critical thinking book also seems to cover fallacies, but with a broader area of focus (fallacies are one of the final chapters)

Edited July 11, 2022 by Malam

[JessBurs]

Thank you all so much for these suggestions! The Logic Liftoff looks like a good place to start for logic. For the future, however -- I can't help but notice that the Art of Argument has several components that get pricey together. Are they all needed to complete it successfully?

 

I am also looking closely at figuratively speaking which looks like it might be great. I am also having her try out a Lantern English class to help improve writing and I'm feeling good about how we're taking English to the next level :yay:.

 

LOve the two coding suggestions. I am thinking about asking for one of them for her for Christmas. If anyone nhas any other suggestions to throw into the mix, I'd really appreciate it!

[SilverMoon]

The DVDs for Art of Argument are optional. The books were out for years before those existed. If you really need to cut costs you could get away with just the teacher book and read aloud together, but it's more ideal to have the student workbook and the teacher book.