Hey! 
You know how it's good to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills?
You know how lovely it is when you can do so in a fun way?
Then let me introduce you Enlivenze LLC who has come out with FlipStir puzzles, a fun way to do logic and creatively thinking, in our home we used the Solar System puzzle.

Recently we went on vacation.  It was a five hour trip to our destination with two boys in the back seat.  They played minecraft for a while but it does start to wane after three hours.  This was followed by... what can we do?  Can we stop for a while?   So I pulled out my critical thinking puzzles on the tablet, my son's pet spider, and the FlipStir puzzle.   ALL were an instant hit.   Two boys talking over the tablet puzzles and working to solve them, then my lad watched his spider and his friend worked on the FlipStir Puzzle (Solar System).   This is a 10 piece 3D puzzle, contained in a plastic sleeve with a wand for helping to move the pieces about.   No pieces can get lost.

I have to admit, when I first got the puzzle I wondered...would I ever get it together?   But then my fine international student took a hand.  :)   It didn't take long before he showed me this:  (Well done eh?   He finished it in 10 minutes what it took me 10 just to get set up!)

I have to admit he made me laugh, When I asked him how he did it so quickly, he said "You must have patience of the French", giving me this big cheeky grin.  :)  "It is not so hard if you remember to go slow and carefully" he added as an encouragement.

I do need to tell you that my son is great at watching people do it, but has yet needed to work up the courage (and willingness) to do it for himself. He currently excels at offering advice to others though about what they should do.  :)  Hubby won't try it at all (but that's not a surprise as physical logic puzzles tend to annoy him), but I've happily worked away at it several times.  It gets easier the more we do it.

It has recently developed a squeak to it, which I am not sure why, but I've been wanting to dump a touch of cornstarch on it to see if that solves the issue.  it doesn't impede the game at all and means I am more aware of how I am moving the stick.. which perhaps is why it is occurring, to make the user more aware and therefore more careful, definitely adds an extra level of difficulty to the puzzle.  :)

The Game is not hard.  You shake up the puzzle to rearrange the pieces, then you use the stick to line them up and then to move the pieces from the wrong location into the right one.  You need to carefully shake the tube to help turn pieces around (while using the stick to keep the correct ones in places).   The wavy lines of this level two puzzle I found to be very helpful in getting them to stay in place nicely.

Selling for $24.95, this durable, self-contained puzzle (so you can't rearrange the stickers or lose any pieces) will last a long time.  The puzzle I received had the picture of the final image printed on the bottom in case you got it mixed up.   It has definitely served our family well as a travel game, boredom buster for international student, pain-distractor for an injured person, and an advice aid, helping my lad clearly articulate what he thinks the next move should be.  (You do need to state it more clearly then move the stick thingey over that world and turn it over) 

If you are looking for a game to help your child think critically, that might take a bit of encouragement to get them to do, looking at a long car trip and needing a distraction for them, or even have a child needing to articulate directions well...this self-contained puzzle game should do the trick!   (but that's just my opinion)   :)

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Product Accounts
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Twitter: www.twitter.com/flipstir

Company Accounts
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Some quotes
As to gods, I have no way of knowing either that they exist or do not exist, or what they are like.

Man is the measure of all things.

There are two sides to every question.

Protagoras was a greek sophist, who took an idea like this
It is a spring day in Athens.
A visitor from Sweden days the weather is warm, while a visitor from Egypt says the weather is cold.   BOTH people are speaking the truth.
Truth is dependent upon perspective and is therefore relative.
ERGO... man is the measure of all things.

Protagoras, who became an influential Sophist, lectured in law and rhetoric to anyone that would pay him, he mostly talked about practical matters that would help win a civil case rather than trying to prove a point but as he taught he began to see philosophical applications to what he was saying.  

to him, since he helped to fight civil cases, every thought, every argument had two sides to it.     His point was not to prove a point worthwhile, but to merely make the argument for it better.  it is man opinion that makes a point valuable or not.

He took a legal method and applied it to philosophy.   This was a new thing to do.   It placed man as the center of philosophical thinking rather than God.   God was taken out of the realm of philosophy.    To Protagoras, wondering about the cosmos or the beginning of things was a pointless endeavor as we simply could never know the answers.   He was very focused on the practical.

To Protagoras, "something is ethical or right, only because a person or society judges it to be so".

Wow....
Protagoras would fit into modern society really well don't you think?   With today's emphasis on "well if he thinks it's okay, then it's okay" thinking that is going on.   i find it sad.   Life would always be in flux wouldn't it?   With popular opinion being the guide to right and wrong and not even considering God at all.  

Sources:
The Philosophy Book
Quotes of Protagoras
internet encyclopedia of philosophy

One of the things I wish had been emphasized for me as a child was the ability to put different facts together and use them to think critically about them.  Ergo, as I am teaching my son I continually look for ways to help him learn to think critically about the things that he comes across.  

Imagine my delight when I was given the opportunity to review Math Analogies Level Two  for The Critical Thinking Company?   It was great!   I had another way to help my boy learn to think in a critical manner and become a better thinker which will help him well in the future.

Math analogies is a downloadable product, for Windows only.  The goal of The Critical Thinking Co. is to develop better thinking students.      In the product that I downloaded, they used math as the vehicle for doing so.  

The start screen starts with the last person to use the program.  One student can use it at a time and needs to complete it before the next student uses it as the program does not keep a record of more than one student at a time.  The sign up is easy.  It will ask for the student's name.  As you can see it will show your first attempt and what percentage you are achieving.    Where the white block is, is where the students name is located.   You have four attempts to complete each question. 

Each subsequent attempt will have it's own label.   I have to tell you this, my son likes seeing his progress.  He wants to see that percentage be above 70%.   He was a bit bummed that he missed one on his second attempt as shown so far.

I have to say I like how they make it very clear if your answer is correct or incorrect.   Do you see how for correct the words are in green and next analogy box is as well.  For incorrect everything is in red.

One of the things we liked about math analogies was the sheer amount of variety in the questions.  Fractions, pictorials, multiplication, clocks, money and more.  I will suggest that before you actually start doing the questions that you actually take the time to read the instructions on how to play.   As you'll notice from the picture below a system of dots is used.   The dots that look like a colon stand for "is to" and the four dots together  mean "as".   It may take your student a bit of time to understand the system but once they understand it, doing the program will be quite easy for them.  The question mark shows clearly what answer you are looking for.

It is an easy to use program in that there is a question with four possible answers given.   Then it is just a matter of dragging the correct answer to where the question mark is.

Our thoughts
I have to admit, this program surprised me.
I thought my boy would take to it immediately.   He didn't.  It did not intuitively make sense for him with how it worked.   I despaired having him willingly do it.

But I learned something... Time is important.  My lad worked it out.  He did!   He was happy and excited.  "Mom!" He came to me.  "I know how to do it now!" 

We ended up using this critical thinking program 2-4 times a week.   We fit it in on a regular basis doing 5-10 questions at a time. 

The initial dislike turned into a confidence booster. "Think we can beat  it mom?   Think I can get better mom?    I know I can do it mom."  I have to say how much I liked that boost in confidence he gained.   Smiles and yeahs speak volumes to me.    His confidence in being able to figure out some "I don't know how to do this math" to "maybe I can figure it out math".   It's very good to see this.

When I asked my son what he liked he said:
"I liked that the questions are not all the same."
"I like that if I really don't know the answer I can guess."
"I like that some of the questions are really easy."
"The picture questions are really easy."
"I like that I can't cheat if I get the answer wrong.  I have to wait until the next attempt to try to do it again."

What do I like?
The clear start up instructions.   I have to admit, I didn't make sure that my son had a really clear understanding of the dots before he started.  I thought it would make sense intuitively to him as it did to me.   I was wrong.  Reading over the instructions and letting him figure it out in his brain.    But what I have now is a boy who likes the program and willingly works at it.

Variety.
Words.  Clocks.  Fractions.  Pictorials.   Blocks.   Multiplication.  Patterns.  and more.   Means that you don't get stuck on one pattern, that you can see math in more than one way, that the program is interesting rather than repetitive.

Ease of Use. 
I found it very easy to use and almost had the program done before my son wrapped his head around it well.   Once he understood the dot system he found it easy to use as well.

Tracking of achievement.
My son found this to be an encouragement to know how well he was doing overall.

Downloadable Product.
Once I have it is mine.   This means if I have more than one student I can have each of the children work their way through it.  

Other products being reviewed by the Crew are:

Alphabet Song Game (Windows software download) (Gr. Toddler - 1)
Math Analogies Beginning (Windows software download) (Gr. K-1)
Math Analogies Level 1 (Windows software download) (Gr. 2-3)
Editor in Chief Level 1 (physical book) (Gr. 4-5)
Editor in Chief Level 2 (physical book) (Gr. 6-8)
Pattern Explorer (physical book) (Gr. 5-7)
World History Detective Book 1 (physical book) (Gr.6-12+)

To read what the crew members thought of these products, do clink on this link or on the banner below.

Product Details:
Vendor: The Critical Thinking Co.
Product:Math Analogies Level 2
Price:   Pricing options can be found here.

The Critical Thinking Co.  can be found at the following social media links:
https://www.facebook.com/TheCriticalThinkingCo
https://plus.google.com/114500823774999703181
https://twitter.com/criticalthinks
https://www.pinterest.com/source/criticalthinking.com/

I received this book a while back.  I was supposed to review it, then I lost all the contact information and never did get the job done.

I figure late is better than never and since I was late, I'll make it a slower but more effective review I think.  :)   I'll going through the five elements one at a time.

The five elements as listed in this book by Burger and Starbird are as follows.
Earth - Understand deeply
Fire - Make mistakes
Air - raise questions
Water - follow the flow of ideas
The Quintessential Element - by mastering the above skills you will change.

So this first post we will focus on Earth, the skill of understanding deeply.

Part of understanding deeply is the master the basics.  To know your basic information so well that it flows effortlessly and with exquisite beauty.   Understand the basics of your field of study so well that to recall them is effortless.  

To do this you need to ask yourself
1. What do you know about the subject?   Do this without referring to any external sources.    "Can you write a coherent, accurate and comprehensive description of the foundations of the subject or does your knowledge have gaps? ....Do you fail to see the overall big picture that puts the pieces together?'   
2. Once you have that done and can see where the gaps in your education are... then go to external sources and fill those gaps in.
3. Wherever you see gaps in your knowledge of the basics of whatever you are learning, fill them in.   Be methodical about it.
4. Once you have filled in the gaps make sure you can connect them to the larger whole.   Make you knowledge complete.
5. when faced with a difficult problem that you can't solve, find another problem that you CAN solve.  Work your way up to solving the difficult problem.   You can do this by discovering what the core of the problem is.   Isolate it.  Then work on that.  When you do that you help yourself learn to ignore distractions and the non-essentials are you are getting to the heart of the matter.
6. Say what you see, and if you don't see something don't say that you do.   Be honest about what you are looking for and don't let biases or expectations or others influence that.   Just say what you see.
7. if you are saying something, make sure it's true.  Don't base your facts on what ONE person says.  Do your research and be sure of your facts.
8.  Sometimes by following an opinion divergent to your home helps you make better, more informed opinions.    Just look at your facts from a differing point of view to make yourself more well-rounded.
9. Look for what perhaps you can't see, make the invisible visible.

Have to admit, when I read through this chapter I thought of all sorts of ways to help my son and myself learn better.  Consider what I know.  Write that down.  Then figure out what I don't know.   What information do we lack in our understanding of most anything?     If we start with what we know then we have our grounding and there's no need to repeat it.    I will need to reread this chapter and consider more how i can be an more effective thinker, and then teach my son those same skills.  It will serve him well in his future education. 

Did you know that making muffins incorporates alot of schooling?

Reading, math (if you double the recipe), following directions, chemistry and in our case....also art!  :)     yes, that's an angry bird you see drawn in our muffin mix.

He attempted to do so in the liquid portion as well, that didn't work out quite and well but certainly made the liquid squeal as it was being poured in with the dry ingredients.

FIRST preheat oven to 400.   Child can do this part easily.

In a bowl mix

1 cup mashed bananas (about two large)
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted  (didn't know this could be so much fun for a lad to do.   He had a hoot cutting it up and stirring it ah!!!  I'm melting, I"m melting)
1 tbsp molasses (we didn't have molasses so used honey)    Gave us a chance to talk about substitutions and how they can be made, even how Jesus died in our place (he substituted himself for us) and it's all good. 

Reserve this.  (explain what that means to a child if they don't know).  Practice spelling it in the mixture to if you'd like.   Really...it's fun!  :)

In a different bowl Mix
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup wheat flour (we might have accidentally used multi-grain ... it works too)
1/2 cup wheat bran (we might have used oat bran ... it obviously worked as well)
1 tbsp baking powder (this is what we use in making volcanos right mom?  So why don't the muffins explode in the oven?  - excellent science lesson right there)
1/4 tsp cinnamon (according to the lad, cinnamon tastes horrible on it own)
1/4 tsp salt

OPTIONAL ingridents (we chose NOT to add these)
1/2 nuts of your choice added into the dry mixture.
12 banana chips (these would be placed on the top of the muffin just before baking)

This recipe makes 12 muffins.

I would highly recommend if your child is younger, unskilled or nervous that YOU place the muffins in the oven.   It's just a safety thing.  The lad will bring the trays to the oven, but he'll stand back to let me place them in.

We learned that our oven has a hot spot as 8 of our muffins turned out dark and the rest turned out just fine. Two of them got immediately eaten anyways, we just pulled off the black stuff.

As you can see we made a double batch.  The muffins turned out quite nice and have been being enjoyed by all.    We're freezing a few for our yard sale later this spring.  The lad wants to make some money selling things and this is good work on his part.  :)  (and excellent schooling).

Would it be quicker for me to do them on my own?   For sure, but it's a whole lot more fun to do them with a lad and it's good schooling too.  :)

Do you see this mostly empty area?
It was filled with all sorts of metal recycling items.
Parts of cars, old metal easy up parts, metal from old cages, and pop cans.
Today the lad learned about taking metal out to the recyclers.   We talked about how metal can be reused, what sorts of metal, what kinds of things can be made from old pop cans, and why they like to take old metal back.

We found our way to the recyclers.  it was a new place to us and took a bit of figuring to get to, but we made it okay.  On the way we talked about a dream to make an outdoor cattery... or what the lad calls a cat coop.  :)   We got on that discussion when I mentioned where we got his cat Milo from.

The lad helped us unload the pop cans and then helped me safely back up after we went on the ramp to be weighed.   He was a good spotter, I am NOT a good backer upper.  :)

How is this homeschooling?
1. teamwork
2. practical learning: hands on seeing what metal is, sorting it, crushing it to conserve space,
3. the answering and asking of questions
4. conservation of the earth
5. saving money, earning money
6. starting and finishing a project (saving pop cans and then selling them)
7. attention to detail

Before we left the lad also had this brilliant idea about making money at the yard sale next month.  He dug up some of the maple trees in the yard and has temporarily planted them in one of the raised beds.  His goal: sell them for $1 each.  He'll need to keep them watered, but dad and I will help him remember.  And he'll need to look for pots to put them in (gardening centres we hope will help with this aspect of things).

After the recyclers we stopped at a friends house to pick up my old doe Slip.  She was staying at their house for the winter since she didn't like the cold.  we took their younger doe here for the winter.  It worked out well.

The lad played while I helped her pack for a weekend away.   Being 8.5 weeks pregnant makes for some exhausting days and she needed a bit of a push to get some things done.  I helped her brain work and her body to pack.  :)   Even loaded the car for her.  The lad did an excellent job of entertaining her children during the whole process.

All in all an excellent homeschooling day, which rounded out an excellent homeschooling week.  If all weeks went like this one life would be very grand indeed.  :)

This past Saturday I went to the homeschooling conference put on by KWCHEA.  it's the biggest quite local homeschool conference and reasonable in price so attending is something I do once a year. 

While there I attend seminars.  Went to two, plus attempted a third.  One of the ones I went to was called math and art.  It was fascinating.  I really enjoyed it came away with good ideas about how to do art with my seven year old and math at the same time.  

As I was browsing the books (as that's a big part of the day) I came away with two thoughts.

1. Some companies seem determined to nickel and dime you for everything.  They charge you the teachers text, the student text, the additional worksheet text, then the exams text, and then separately from that... the answer code.   Makes me NOT want to do business with those companies.  I'm sure there are good reasons for it, but I find it incredibly irritating....as you need to figure out exactly what you need with the hold over your head of "just what if you need it" or ACK...what if I forget something important.

2. some books are VERY good for inspiration.

I saw a book called speed math or some such.  It was for drilling math facts.  The book well, cost more than what I'm willing to pay but it gave me the idea for helping the lad learn his math facts.  he doesn't want to do flashcards, so I'll get him to practice his math by doing a worksheet everyday.     I went to Softschools.com for some help in printing off sheets.  I was able to put an upper and lower limit on the numbers I want used and then I printed off the sheet.   Gave the lad two minutes to get the sheet done.  Once he's getting a whole sheet done in two minutes then I'll give him 1 minutes 45 seconds to get it done.  And eventually get it down to 1.5 minutes which would be 3 seconds per question which is what every program I've seen uses as a goal.

We did some reading - George Brown class clown, a bird book and our devotional time.  We didn't have time to read the paper together today.

We did adventus - he continues to improve in his musical understanding, today he learned more about how notes are different lengths and they are introducing what those notes are called, target the question - today's challenge really made him have to play attention and think his way through the problems. and Tutorsoft math -.  The lad was working on learning shortcuts in multiplication today.   He found it a bit of a challenge but we'll continue to work on it.

I like to develop critical thinking in my lad.  One of the best ways I have found to do that is to read something and then stop to ask him questions about it.

Right now we are reading through "the world Almanac for kids"

Last night we read this myth

After the lad was done with his "gross, Mom" exclamations I asked him... so tell me lad.... what is truth and what isn't truth?

1. The way things came out in order...that's truth mom.  God made things in that order.
2. Bumba.....he didn't make the world.. and mom, that's GROSS.
3. Man was made last by God too!

Then he asked : why would they make a story up like that mom?

My response was that all people carry within them some aspect of who God is.  Sometimes they don't know who God is yet and sometimes they just don't want to believe in God so they make up something that makes more sense to them.   This is a VERY old story from a tribe in Africa, so they might not have known who God was yet.

He got this quizzical look on his face and I could tell he was thinking but he couldn't express his thoughts yet.  I expect they'll come out sometime this week.

How do you teach YOUR children Critical Thinking?