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  • Home
    • Disclosure Policy
    • About Me
  • What's New! (Blog)
  • Low-Carb Lifestyle!
    • Trim Healthy Mama-inspired Grocery Lists
    • THM-style Beverages >
      • Mock Starbucks Mocha Frappuccinos
    • Family Favorite Recipes (Not Low Carb) >
      • Snacks >
        • Delicious Homemade Gooey Granola Bars!
        • Healthy Peanut Buttery Treats
      • Soups and Stews >
        • Jamaican Seafood Chowder
        • Chicken and Gnocchi Soup
      • Salads >
        • Red Cabbage Coleslaw
      • Main Dishes >
        • Beef >
          • Beef Stroganoff
        • Chicken >
          • Chicken Fiesta
          • Chicken Nachos
          • Marinated Zucchini and Chicken Sandwiches
          • Chicken or Turkey Enchiladas
          • Hungarian Chicken Paprikash
          • Green Chili Chicken Lasagna
        • Lamb >
          • Slow-Roasted Lamb Shoulder
        • Seafood >
          • Chilled Quinoa and Salmon Salad (E)
          • Shrimp and Zucchini Tostadas
        • Pasta Recipes >
          • Baked Lemon Pasta
          • Paccheri (Pasta) with Cauliflower and Tomatoes
      • Desserts >
        • Cookies >
          • Free Christmas Cookie cookbook download!
          • Healthier Gingerbread Man Cookies
          • Healthier Holiday Cut-Out Cookes
          • Maple Leaf Cookies - YUMMM!
        • Donuts
        • Frozen Desserts >
          • Lemonade Ice Cream Pie
    • Recommended Ingredients and Foods >
      • Inspiration Mixes - Gluten/Dairy/Caseine/Wheat Free and delicious!
      • Organic Maple Syrup
  • Homeschooling
    • Homeschool Curriculum & Product Reviews >
      • Homeschool Curriculum Reviews >
        • Art >
          • ARTistic Pursuits
          • Simply Draw!
        • Grammar >
          • All About Homophones - (Marie Rippel)
          • Time 4 Learning
          • Daily Grams
        • Handwriting >
          • Cursive Handwriting - New American Cursive
        • History >
          • The Mystery of History >
            • MOH vol. 3 Audio MP3's
          • Tapestry of Grace History
          • U.S. History >
            • America, The Last Best Hope (William Bennett)
          • Winter Promise
        • Latin >
          • Latina Christiana, by Memoria Press
          • Visual Latin
        • Literature-based Unit Studies >
          • Beyond Five in a Row
          • Further Up and Further In by Diane Pendergraft
        • Logic and Reasoning >
          • Building Thinking Skills (Critical Thinking Skills Co.)
        • Math >
          • Math Mammoth
          • Math Tutor DVD.com
          • MathRider: Horselovers' Math Facts Software Game!
        • Music and Composers
        • Online Educational Courses >
          • Aleks Online Courses
        • Science >
          • Apologia Science >
            • Apologia Science's Notebooking Journals
            • Zoology 1 - Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day
          • Science Weekly newsletters
        • Spelling >
          • Phonetic Zoo (by IEW)
        • Writing >
          • The Write Foundation: Level 2 - Paragraphs
          • WriteShop's StoryBuilders
      • Homeschool Product Reviews >
        • eBooks >
          • College Success Begins at Home (TOS eBook)
          • Dreams and Designs—Homemade Supplies to Complement Your Homeschool
          • Help, Lord, I'm Getting Ready to Start Homeschooling My High Schooler!
          • The 2010 Schoolhouse Planner
        • Online Educational Website Memberships >
          • KB Teacher
        • Science >
          • Polymer Crystals
    • Driver's Education for Homeschoolers
    • Foreign Language >
      • Latin >
        • Christmas Songs in Latin
        • Latina Christiana (Level 1) >
          • Latina Christiana Level 1 Lesson Links >
            • Charts and Helps
            • Year One Sayings
            • LC1 Intro and Lesson 1
      • Latina Christiana (Level II) >
        • Latina Christiana Level 2
        • LC2 Intro and Lesson 1
    • Forms and Charts >
      • "Week At A Glance" Planner
      • 2012-2013 Homeschool Attendance Form
      • 2012-2013 Homeschool Attendance Form
    • Free Audio Books to Download
    • Free Homeschool I.D. Cards!
    • Government and Civics
    • Handwriting
    • History: Classical / Chronological >
      • The Mystery of History, by Linda Lacour Hobar
      • The Middle Ages (MOH vol. 2)
      • Ancient History (MOH vol. 1) >
        • Ancient Rome >
          • Roman Architecture
          • Roman Houses
          • Roman Town (software game by Dig-It)
          • Roman Trade and Commerce
    • Language Arts
    • Science
  • Free Printables
    • Holidays >
      • Christmas
  • Book/DVD/Audio Reviews
    • Children's Movie/DVD Reviews
    • Other Product/Company Reviews
  • Home & Family
    • Frugal Living
    • Gardening and Herbs
    • Marriage - God's Way
    • Life at Home
    • Godly Kids & Teens >
      • Godly Womanhood
      • Sharing God With Your Children
      • Training Our Daughters to be Keepers at Home >
        • Keepers At Home - "Beginning of Club Year" Helps
        • Keepers At Home - "End of Club Year" Helps
        • KAH Skills >
          • Bible Memory >
            • Memorizing New Testament Books and Their Meanings
            • Proverbs 31:10-31
          • Cake Decorating
          • Card Making >
            • Stitched Cards
          • Computers
          • Character Studies >
            • Contentment and "I'm Bored" phrases
            • Willingness
          • Decoupage
          • Hospitality
          • Library Skills and Literature Pins
          • Sewing >
            • Beauty and the Pig - Goldie Doll
            • Edwardian-Style Aprons
            • Paper Piecing
      • Children >
        • Bible Study Bookmarks
        • The Church History ABCs (for kids!!!)
        • The Lord's Prayer - copywork
        • Some Thoughts...Family Bible Time
        • Running Away...with permission
      • Young Adults (Teens) >
        • Stepping Heavenward, by Elizabeth Prentiss
        • Deeper Roots: Discovering Our Amazing God
  • Frugal Family Trips to Washington, D.C.
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Dr. Funster's Think A Minutes, by The Critical Thinking Skills Company

1/30/2011

2 Comments

 
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This page contains affiliate links.

     We all want our children to be able to think clearly and make right decisions.  We don't want them to be bamboozled by the latest craze in pop psychology or cultural "un"awareness. 

     One of the things parents can do to help their children think clearly, or critically, is to provide them with materials that force them to think hard - not just about math problems, or how to spell words, or where Timbuktu is, but to have to think hard about choices and problem solving.

     I'll admit it.  One of my problems during my childhood is that I was lazy and wanted the "easy" answer.  When I didn't know how to spell a word, I'd ask my parents.  I'd get frustrated when they wouldn't just tell me the answer.  They would tell me to get out the dictionary and look up the word for myself.  Sigh.

      Or with my math homework.  Okay, so my dad is this mathematical genius, like the guy on the "Numbers" television program that used to be on TV, and I would look at my dad like he was plain dumb.  While doing my math homework.  Duh.  I would whine and complain, "But that isn't how the teacher explained it in c-l-a-s-s!!!" and I would usually break down in tears, sobbing, because I didn't understand math concepts in a logical way like my genius dad.  This time, he was sighing.

     I remember doing very few activities that had to do with problem solving while I was in school.  I remember breaking into teams, and we had to choose 10 items we could keep with us if we were stranded on an island.  I think we did that activity more than a few times in school.  But other than that, I don't remember much time dedicated to making wise choices, figuring out when we were being deceived, and critical thinking skills.

    Dr. Funster's Think A Minutes contains thinking puzzles and games that are designed to develop critical and creative thinking skills.  It also contains a variety of games and puzzles that include language development, math, writing, visual, spatial, and perceptual skills activities that build deductive, inductive, and logical reasoning.
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     Here are Brittany's thoughts on this book:

     "Dr. Funster's Think A Minutes was fun, but it was also really hard. I had to get Mom's help to explain a lot of it."


     She did enjoy viewing the problems presented on the pages she was able to complete, but the kinds of thinking in this book were quite different from what she was used to doing.  So, she did come to me quite often.  I would give her a clue or two, but even then, there were some problems that she couldn't solve.  Considering that she's in the 5th grade and this book is rated at the 6th-8th grade level (ages 12-14), I didn't mind walking her through some of the problems.  Now that she has used some of the pages, I think we will put this book away in her school box of materials, and we'll bring it out in another six to twelve months when she has matured a bit more. She did like the challenge of the problems and how they really made her think!  She just wasn't able to solve all of the problems. 

     Easy-to-follow directions and answers are included in this book, so if you as the parent are stumped on how to solve a problem, you can check the back of the book for the answers.  There are 44 pages in Dr. Funster's Think A Minutes.

View a sample page from Dr Funster's Think-A-Minutes C1! 

     What other kinds of materials do you use with your children to help teach them critical thinking skills?  Please share your ideas! 
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Disclaimer:  Timberdoodle kindly sent me this book in exchange for my honest and forthright review of this product.  No other compensation was provided.

2 Comments
Lindsay link
1/31/2011 08:16:34 am

Beautiful blog and excellent review! I am just walking by on the blog walk with TOS and am a new follower :)

Reply
Julieanne link
1/31/2011 03:16:18 pm

Thank you so much for coming by and visiting, Lindsay! Hoping you enjoy looking around.

Julieanne

Reply



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