The lighter box created more questions then it answered. Inside was Building Thinking Skills Book 3 Figural… and Word Roots Beginning. That was my FOURTH book on the list of choices. Not one I should have gotten. Maybe not enough people had requested it, and they decided to sent it out to me, too? Nothing wrong with hoping, right?

So I opened the heavier box. There were the three titles on my list. OK… there’s a duplicate. So I examined the packing slips. Aha! The city, state and zip code are mine, but the name and street are different. Didn’t realize that before I opened it. Don’t recognize that street. Pretty sure there isn’t one in my town. Off to Google Maps. Hmm… that address comes up in another city an hour and half away. And the zip code is almost the same, a couple numbers are transposed. Not sure what made the post office decide they were for me, instead of returning them.

The additional books weren’t for me.

Emailed Timberdoodle. Told them what I thought might have happened and offered to drop the books back in the mail.

Check back Saturday for the very cool resolution to the story, plus a contest!

And on to Building Thinking Skills Book 3 Figural:

Given the increase in size between book 1 and book 2, I was a bit underwhelmed when I saw book 3. It’s smaller then either of the other two books, which surprised me, until I realized why. This is only HALF of book 3, the figural portion. The other half is in the Verbal book. The book was too massive to include in just one binding, so it was, quite logically, split into two. (The two books would title nearly 600 pages together.)

Like the others, there are black & white, reproducible pages. Again, like the others, the greatest part of prep time is going to be spent on the photocopying.

There are just four chapters here: figural similarities, sequences, classifications, and analogies. Another difference is that this book recommends classroom discussion and manipulatives in addition to the worksheets. While “classroom discussion” is often not a realistic expectation in a homeschool atmosphere, for many, it would be possible to encourage occasional conversation over “why” the answers are the correct responses, and what ways might the problem be different, or what other methods might achieve the solution.

Though I don’t yet have one here to compare, I expect that the Verbal book 3 is similar in style to the other titles, and would also be a very helpful resource for those in high school with achievement tests in their near future.

This series is definitely a resource I’ll be using with each of my children now and in the future.

Building Thinking Skills Book 3 Figural, from Critical Thinking Press, is available at Timberdoodle. Or, request a free homeschool catalog!

Other books in the Building Thinking Skills series:

• Building Thinking Skills Beginning – preschool, ages 2-4
• Building Thinking Skills Book 1 – grades 2nd-3rd, ages 7-8
• Building Thinking Skills Book 2 – grades 4th-6th, ages 9-11
• Building Thinking Skills Book 3 Verbal - grades 7th+, ages 12+

**Legal Disclosure: As a member of Timberdoodle’s Blogger Review Team I received a free copy of these books in exchange for a frank and unbiased review.**

Quite a while back, I signed up for Timberdoodle’s Blogger Review Team. Didn’t hear anything, and I mostly forgot about it.

Then, in early December, I received an email asking if I’d be interested in reviewing some Critical Thinking Press books. Would I ever! I drool over their stuff pretty much like I do the Timberdoodle catalog.

If you want some ideas for great homeschool curriculum without having to wade through mediocre stuff, request one of Timberdoodle‘s free homeschool catalogs. Then you can drool along with me.

There was a list of titles to choose from, and I rearranged the titles into my preferred order, in case they’d run out of my top choices. Lucky me, I was notified that I’d be receiving the first three picks. Since they were all from the Building Thinking Skills series, and lined up just perfectly with the ages of my kids, all four could be involved and no one would feel left out.

The Princess, my 3rd grade daughter, would try out Building Thinking Skills Book 1.
Doodle, my 5th grade son, would delve into Building Thinking Skills Book 2.
And my older two sons, Tiger, in 7th, and my Chef, in 9th, would explore Building Thinking Skills Book 3 Figural.

Today, I’m going to talk about Building Thinking Skills Book 1:

My first impression of Book 1 in the Building Thinking Skills series is that it is HUGE.

When I delve inside, I find that there are over 300 worksheets in this black & white, reproducable book. That’s nearly enough to do one page per day for two entire years of school. Wow.

There are ten chapters. The order that the worksheets should be used in is somewhat flexible, and a flow-chart showing recommended paths is included at the front of the book. The book is roughly 50% figural (think math-like) and 50% verbal (language-related), though I’d definitely recommend that if you’re planning on having the student self-pace and work alone, that they be reading reasonably fluently for their grade level before starting this book. Otherwise, expect to spend some time reading and explaining directions.

The most time-consuming part of preparation is definitely going to be your photocopying time. This is a LOT of pages. If you intend to have multiple children working through the book over the next few years, consider doing twice the copies now and saving yourself the time later.

Many of the pages seem like games and puzzles, and if approached in this manner, for most kids this will seem like a “fun break” from their regular schoolwork. None of the pages take very long to complete – definitely not your typical drill-like pages. That might well be why it has such a *fun* feel, even though it is worksheets.

Building Thinking Skills Book 1 would only take up minutes of your school day, but it’s an easy way to encourage mental problem-solving and recognition of patterns. Since most core curriculums don’t include a logical thinking component, there’s nothing to replace, and it would be simple and quick to add this in.

The answer key is complete and seems accurate – my only wish is that the print were just a slight bit larger. But then again, I understand why they chose the size they did – increasing the size could have easily added another 40-50 pages to the book!

Building Thinking Skills Book 1, from Critical Thinking Press, is available at Timberdoodle. Or, request a free homeschool catalog!

Other books in the Building Thinking Skills series:

• Building Thinking Skills Beginning – preschool, ages 2-4
• Building Thinking Skills Book 2 – grades 4th-6th, ages 9-11
• Building Thinking Skills Book 3 Figural – grades 7th+, ages 12+
• Building Thinking Skills Book 3 Verbal - grades 7th+, ages 12+

**Legal Disclosure: As a member of Timberdoodle’s Blogger Review Team I received a free copy of these books in exchange for a frank and unbiased review.**