Medical Investigation 101

Homeschooling for the most part has been fairly easy for us.  After all, I have been teaching our four kiddos for over 23 years!  I plug in reading, writing, math, science and history to our schedule and off we go!  

The hard part?  Electives!  All our kids are quite different and therefore have quite different ideas of what an elective should look like.  Sometimes I let them chose and sometimes something catches my eye to try.

 

Such was the case with Medical Investigation 101, given to us by Timberdoodle Co to review.  I mean, just the name sounds cool, right?

 

 

Medical Investigation 101 is comprised of a 247 page Student book, student work text, and teacher's edition.  The subtitle- "A Book to Inspire Your Interest in Medicine and How Doctors Think" gives you a good idea of what this book is really about.

 

The book begins discussing the medical field and introduces many vocabulary words by talking about various kinds of doctors.  It mentions some of the challenges of the medical profession (should be required reading for any current doctors) and encourages the reader to explore the world of medicine on their own.  It then turns to medical complaints by the presenting of "patients", giving patient backgrounds, symptoms and such, and encouraging problem solving skills using the background information they have provided to diagnose the patient.  As you proceed, more medical information is provided such as the role of blood, food-borne illnesses and common conditions including diabetes, respiratory illnesses and heart attacks.  You can think of it as a mini science lesson!

 

The accompanying student workbook begins with a good amount of vocabulary review and then has corresponding pages to each medical case.  After taking notes on each patient, further activities include vocabulary, fill in the blanks and matching activities, and word puzzles.  Do not let the graphics fool you though, this is not fluff and will challenge a high schooler to use their brains a bit! 

The teacher's edition is basically the workbook with the answers filled in (thank you!), but also has a short summary of each chapter to help you as a teacher keep up.

OK, every mom wants their child to be a doctor, right? ;)  But this is not only a neat way to introduce the world of medicine to your student in a fun way, but also to challenge their problem solving.  We often tell our kids they need to think outside the box, and that, I believe, is most certainly true in the medical world! 

So yes, if your child is even the bit interested in medicine you will want to grab this set!  It is also a great way to expose them to more areas in medicine than most of us are familiar with.  I am a firm believer in our kids would have more choices deciding their chosen career if they actually KNEW what choices were out there!  But even if you have a kiddo who does not long to be a doctor- this is a great elective offered in a fun, non threatening way that will challenge their problem solving skills.

Medical Investigations 101 can be found in the 11th grade curriculum kit offered by Timberdoodle, or ordered separately.  I would recommend it for 8th grade and up.

Marble Circuit Fun

You know we love games and such around here, right?  There is just something about a game that brings people together and makes things fun.  We play a lot of different types, but for some reason we always seem to eventually drift back to problem solving type games.  It may because we have a wide range of ages under our roof currently, or maybe we are just such left brain dominant people we can't help ourselves.


Either way, I knew when I saw Marble Circuit being offered by Timberdoodle Co  I had several in our family that would love it.  Turns our everyone does and many competitions to see who is better and faster have been had!

Marble Circuit is a relatively easy game as far as instructions go.  Pick a card you want to try, there are 64 that vary in difficulty, and try to get your eight marbles to run a course to a final resting place that ends up matching the card you choose.  All answers are on the back of each card.

Sound easy?
Think again!

To direct your marbles to the appropriate final space you must arrange  ten different tiles that force the marbles one way or another.  By changing the direction of a tile, you can change the path of a marble.  But that same tile may direct the path of additional marbles to place you do not want them to go.

Once you think you finally have the solution, you slowly pull the stopper at the top and watch your marbles run the course you have set up.  When they all settle into their final places you then check to see if your marbles match the solution card.

Of course, our 12 year old was the first to try out Mable Circuit.  He is, after all, the master of puzzles.  After doing a few of the easier cards he conned his brother into trying and the competition was on!

As soon as dad came home he got into the fun and his older sister, who I think may be the fastest so far, got in on the fun!
 

I love this game for so many reasons!

• Because it is on the smaller size, it is easy to take with you on the go and pull out when you need to fill some time.

•  It is great way to build problem solving skills. 

• It is great for team building or some friendly competition.

•  It is good for fine motor skills. 

• It is good for visual learners.

• It's a fun quick break from school when tensions are running high.

•  It is quiet! (hey, I AM a mom of four after all!) 

You can find Marble Circuit in the 5th Grade Curriculum Kit from Timberdoodle, but don't let that limit your thinking.  It is fun for all ages! One caution I have for you is the marbles are quite small and could pose a chocking hazard for small children.  Be careful where you store it is you have littles in your house!

Just make sure you keep it close enough to pull out frequently- it can be quite the addiction!

Blessings,

The Basics of Critical Thinking- Schoolhouse Crew Review

The Critical Thinking Co. has always been one of those companies that I pour over their catalog when it comes in the mail. I mean, they just have an amazing bunch of books and such to choose from. From reading to history and language arts, you will find workbooks for all ages and just about every subject.

The Basics of Critical Thinking, recommended for grades 4-9, is one such book. However, this book is a bit different. It explains to a student what exactly critical thinking is and then teaches them how to use it. Through various activities in this 133 page book, your child will learn how to identify and sort through needed, and sometimes not needed information, and then evaluate that information to provide conclusions.

Sounds complicated? It can be at times in the real world! What is truth? Did they really mean that? Is that what it really said? Is that important? Is that logical?  All those things and so many more are important to critical thinking and can be hard concepts to teach. Luckily for us, The Critical Thinking Co. has taken the hard work for parents and made it into fun activities you can do with your children or they can work through on their own. Because they are in puzzle, mystery, and game fashion, I think your child(ren) will enjoy doing a few pages a day!

Chapters include-

• What Is Critical Thinking?
• Conclusions and Decisions
• Beliefs and Claims
• Finding (Identifying) Evidence
• Evaluating Evidence
• Inferring and Inferences
• Facts and Opinions
• Facts and Probable Truths
• False and Probably False
• Facts, Probably True, and Probably False
• Venn Diagrams
• Logical Connectives
• Advertising
• Agreements and Contracts
• Common Errors in Reasoning
• Arguments
• Valid and Invalid Arguments
• Fallacies
• Analogy Argument

How we used it and what we think-

I accepted this review (ok begged nicely for it) with my 3rd grader in mind. We are thick in the middle of learning about thinking things out before we make decisions.  Can anyone relate? I hoped that instead of mom just saying "stop and think first," The Basics of Critical Thinking would help teach the same thing. You know, that whole, "if someone else says it other than mom I actually might listen" phenomenon. Because he is currently under the recommended age range, I did anticipate he would need a little help.

I began the book with my older son, an 8th grader, doing a few pages together. It was a fun way to spend some time with him. He had had some introduction to similar activities so he was able to jump right in, and in a few cases did better than I did.  Go figure. Throughout the review period, he also picked up the book several times (the advantage to leaving it on the coffee table in plain sight) and did a few of the activities by himself. The Finding Evidence chapter was his favorite because the puzzles are like a mini who-done-it type thing.

As for the my 3rd grader?  Some areas he did really well with and others, not so much.  He tends to almost overthink things and wants to add in what he thinks are logical thoughts and conclusions based on his own experiences.  He tended to get frustrated when he did not understand something, showing his age.  I had hoped that it would be a good activity for the boys working together, but though it did bring a few giggles, it mostly brought frustration on both of their parts. Bag the teamwork idea! Instead, it became mommy time where we would snuggle on the couch and try a few pages at a time, which went more smoothly.

As with all the other books I have used from The Critical Thinking Co., I really like this book! It is full color and fun to use.  It takes a light-hearted approach to learning the skill of critical thinking and is a fun way to spend a few minutes each day learning. I also think it would be a good book to add to your Fridays if that is a day that you count as an "extra" in your homeschool. In the past we have used Fridays to add in more fun subjects that the kids can explore on their own, such as math and logic games and activities books like this one. Older kids will have no problem doing this book on their own, just be prepared to be stumped a time or two when they come ask you what you would do! Luckily for the teacher, the answers ARE included!