heartofdakota.com

Ladies,

For our 5th "sneak peek", I'll share our exciting plans for a one-semester elective credit that we will be including in the World Geography guide.

This elective credit will not be related to the history/geography part of the guide, so it will be located on the right side of the plans. It will be a semester credit (half credit) done all throughout the year in short daily sessions.

The credit will be in logic and will include The Fallacy Detective and the Art of Argument. We have used both resources with our oldest son and really enjoyed them. Together they complement each other very well and make a very solid semester credit in Logic.

Here is the publisher's description of The Fallacy Detective:
In our experience, most children learn logic best when they are thirteen years or older. Therefore, we have designed this book for students age thirteen and above. We know that logic is a new subject to most people, so we wrote this book to be your teacher. We designed the lesson format to contain many concrete examples, and we included exercises for many levels of difficulty. In this way, the concepts are easy to understand, and the skills are easy to learn. Actually, we like to think of it this way – our book helps you to discover the logic which is already written in your mind by God. We only make you more aware of the logic which you’ve been using all of your life.

What Is the Lesson Format?
Each lesson begins with a section for you to read, and ends with exercises for you to answer. An answer key is provided in the back of the book. Learn to recognize the fallacies you see every day, including Red Herring, Ad Hominem, Tu Quoque, Straw Man, loaded question, equivocation, circular reasoning, either-or, generalization, analogy, propaganda, and others, (including two new for this 2009 edition: special pleading and slippery slope fallacies). Original cartoons, as well as Dilbert, Calvin & Hobbes, and Peanuts, illustrate many of the fallacies perfectly.

Sample from the Fallacy Detective:
http://www.fallacydetective.com/downloa ... lesson.pdf

Here is the publisher's description of the Art of Argument:
Young teens are targeted by advertisers with a vengeance. From billboards to commercials to a walk down the mall, fallacious arguments are everywhere you look. The Art of Argument was designed to teach the argumentative adolescent how to reason with clarity, relevance and purpose at a time when he has a penchant for the "why" and "how". It is designed to equip and sharpen young minds as they live, play, and grow in this highly commercial culture. This course teaches students to recognize and identify twenty-eight informal fallacies, and the eye-catching text includes over sixty slick and clever, “phony advertisements” for items from blue jeans to pick-up trucks, which apply the fallacies to a myriad of real life situations.

This text comes in a workbook format with clear explanations and many updated illustrations and examples to insure understanding and mastery. The text aims at the practical application of the informal fallacies through an analysis of current social, commercial and political issues, which are discussed and evaluated. This practical application should insure that students continue to evaluate arguments, detect fallacies and reason well long after the course is completed.

Students master 28 fallacies (such as begging the question, the straw man, ad hominen, et al) by studying many pertinent examples. The text features a variety of:
Dialogues
Worksheets
Real-World Applications
Phony Advertisements
Dialectic Discussion Questions
Tests

The Art of Argument has been revised to include:
Improved chapter and unit organization for greater ease of use
Fallacy explanations rewritten for clarity
Many added and updated examples
Ten new and revised advertisement illustrations

Link to sample pages from the student text of Art of Argument: http://www.classicalacademicpress.com/i ... sample.pdf

Link to samples pages from the teacher's edition of Art of Argument:
http://www.classicalacademicpress.com/i ... sample.pdf

We are so excited about this pairing and know your kiddos will learn so much from these courses. Plus, these selected resources make the study of logic entertaining and enjoyable. Even more importantly though, both of these resources come from Christian publishers, so you can feel good about the content. We are so glad to have these included in the upcoming HOD guide!

Blessings,
Carrie

Awesome! I was just wondering if/when HOD would include Logic into the guides.

So exciting and fun to see the sneak peeks. We are still 4 years away from this guide, but it looks great so far. Our co-op uses these resources for logic also. They look terrific and fun.

So awesome, Carrie! I LOVE how you just keep covering all the bases that I always hoped to cover but was never sure how to fit in to our schedule. You are truly a God-send to us (and to all the blessed HOD families)!!

You did it again Carrie. I have planned on doing this with him because it is a skill he is weak in and this type of reasoning also helps with the logic required for Geometry. Now I don't have to squeeze it in.

YEA!!! I am so excited to see this. I have looked at both of these items and planned on fitting them into my son's high school program, but I was concerned how to make that fit while still using HOD. Now I don't have to! What a tremendous blessing!

Hmmm! I already have two DDs who seem to enjoy arguing. Giving them tools to make them better at it means I'm going to have to up my game. And DH had better as well! I am really excited about this as I already own The Fallacy Detective but never figured when was a good time to use it. Now I know when that good time will be. Getting more and more excited for this guide every day!

My boys used everything they learned in the Fallacy Detective against me!!! Well, at least they learned something. It is a very enjoyable book, and it did force me to produce better arguments as I was often accused of red herrings (true, but effective until they read the book). I will get to have three using the book at once this time. We should have lots of fun!

Carrie,
We are using the older version of The Fallacy Detective this year, however we have not used The Art of Arguing.
What should I do about next year? Should I just use The Art of Arguing and give him the half credit because he completed The Fallacy Detective this year?
Blessings,
Diane

Im totally stoked! I intended to use these as an add on or summer program but now, as often hapoens, youre already planning it for me!! Awesome!!

This looks SO good!

I was just planning on purchasing The Fallacy Detective and The Thinking Toolbox in just a few months. Now I don't have to buy at least one of them.

One question, Carrie, do you plan on incorporating the other book: The Thinking Toolbox in any future guides? I'd like to pick that one up too, as it helps equip student with the "tools" they need for effective logic and reasoning. This plan looks really good! I'm so looking forward to starting this!

The World Geography guide was the one guide my highschooler wasn't going to need because she is doing World Geography this year. While I was still going to need it for my younger children, I think I'm going to get it for my older girl anyway, lol. All the sneak peeks have me wanting to go through the extras with her. She wants to graduate early and is looking at summertime electives to complete her high school diploma in 3 years. This looks amazing!

I love this, Carrie! Like several previous posters, I am amazed at how you incorporate so many of the resources that I was wanting to use, but wasn't sure how or when to fit them in. I LOVE that you are scheduling them for me! Thanking God again for guiding you as you write for us.

I'm glad this is in here. I was just looking at "Art of Argument" the other day and last summer, I bought Fallacy Detective. I'm really glad I won't have to do this myself.

I am very excited. I looked at both of these books and was wishing they could be scheduled for me. Well, now they will be.