Summertime the perfect time to maximize critical thinking training

Many parents share with me that their number one challenge is trying to determine how to fit training in critical thinking into their already overloaded schedule.  I recommend several techniques for doing that during the 'normal' school year.  However,  the summer months provide opportunities to focus on these important skills while at the same time providing variety to the student.

 

Here are a couple of ideas for getting some focused critical thinking worked into summer and a couple of recommended resources I think work really well for summer enrichment.  

1. If your students have never worked with the Building Thinking Skills series, now is a perfect time to begin. This would be my top recommendation to you.   In as little as 30 minutes per day, your student can work through a substantial portion of the book or software and build cognitive skills that will support learning throughout the rest of the year.  The Building Thinking Skills resources are unique in their format and the type and variety of skills that are taught.  Your student likely will not have been exposed to most of the types of exercises found in this series.
2. Identify one area of your student's weakness and focus all efforts on that component using resources which challenge while building critical thinking skills.  Important for future learning and ultimately, college entrance exams, are the following skills:  reading comprehension, grammar, vocabulary, and mathematical reasoning.  My top recommendations for each of these areas, respectively are:  Reading Detective, Editor in Chief, Word Roots, and the Mathematical Reasoning series.  Choose just one area for focus, if time is hard to commit during the summer months.
3. Choose an assortment of fun resources that can be worked by the entire family after dinner, taken in the car when traveling on vacation, or introduced as 'group brain fun' when friends are at the house.   I'm able to get a few activities worked with my son's friends by negotiating a trade-off between 'gaming time' and 'brain time'.  For every hour he and friends play computer games, they need to spend one-half hour moving their brains, and one-half hour outside moving their bodies.   Yes, there is the anticipated moaning and groaning, but only until the challenge of the riddle, puzzle, logic matrix, or red herring is laid out in front of them.  Then, they rise to the challenge - carrying their competitiveness and analytical skills from the gaming world into the world of critical thinking.  Some of my favorites for these activities:  Creative Thinking Puzzlers, Think a Minutes,  Red Herrings Mysteries, and Mind Benders.  
   
4. Schedule a "Critical Thinking Day" - Sometimes, the real challenge for homeschooling parents is to have a set time for introducing and supporting our students as they work critical thinking activities.  Because these require deeper work and more thoughtfulness, having a parent present or readily available is a key component to our student's willingness to stick with the activity.  That requires us to set aside other distractions and devote ourselves to making the most of these activities.  I've found that one approach is to dedicate an entire day to the resources I want my son to work through.  Once we are both focused on the activities for a large block of time, we have found that we can get much more done.  I use this approach during the school year to provide a pace change every couple of weeks. 
   
5. If you are a parent of an upper-middle school or high school student, you might consider putting together a group of students to work through a formal course in critical thinking.  I've taught a small class of students using the course: Critical Thinking.  This course is designed to be discussion-based with a group of students.  The parent serves as moderator, instructor, and devil's advocate to stir discussion and thought.  Summer months may provide the time and opportunity to start the group and then decide whether to keep it together once Fall arrives. 
   

I hope these are helpful ideas for your family.  If you implement any of them, I'd love to hear from you.