Did anyone use workbooks from critical thinking co.?
http://www.criticalthinking.com/index.jspAny feedback please?
I have not used the workbooks, but my dds have several CD ROM's. They enjoy them regularly.
My boys have liked Mindbenders and Mathperplexors.
We used Building Thinking Skills, but it was a long LONG time ago, and we used a science concept map book that I think is now out of print... Both of them were cute and fun and I liked them, but we were done with them extremely quickly, and much younger than suggested... Which is not to say they're badly aimed or anything, just to trust your own knowledge of your own kid in choosing levels. There's nothing magic about the suggested age ranges.
More recently we've used books from their Critical Thinking in U.S. History series, which I really liked. I think that one has been my favorite, because it took the topics we were already reading about and beefed up the discussion significantly, plus addressed the aspect of history that I find most important - that history is written from a point of view, and not as a dispassionate list of Facts. It was also an excellent resource just for the variety of sources it quoted. Whether you were using the exercises or not, it was a useful thing to have six different takes on the Roanoake story, for instance.
My favorite has to be the Word Roots books. We've used several other workbooks and a couple of the CD roms too. Good stuff!
I think they're pretty universally well-liked in GT crowds. I've never heard anything negative, only praise.
My DS loves the Mindbender series.
DS8 is enjoying the Word Roots and Editor in Chief Software. We also bought Reading Detective. I'm very pleased with their products and their IT help desk is as nice as can be.