Analytic Development Courses

Logic

Suggested Age

 

Prerequisites

 

Process/Purpose

Logic Course: Logic is the art of reasoning well—of learning to think God’s thoughts after Him.
 

Curriculum/Materials

• Introductory Logic by James Nance and Douglas Wilson: (Fall Semester)
  In this book, directed toward junior-high students, Douglas Wilson and James Nance lay the proper foundation of reasoning in the truth of God, and go on to train students in the crucial skills of defining terms, recognizing basic types of statements, arguing with syllogisms, arguing in ordinary language, and identifying informal fallacies.

• Intermediate Logic by James Nance: (Spring Semester)
  Students are introduced to propositional logic, logical operators, and truth tables, while reviewing and reapplying the concepts of validity, contradiction, consistency, and equivalence. Next they learn to construct formal proofs of validity by using basic rules to derive an argument’s conclusions from its premises. Finally, students discover how they can use the technique of “truth trees” to determine consistency, self-contradiction, tautology, equivalence, and validity.

Critical Thinking

Suggested Age

11 – 18

Prerequisites

none

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Process/Purpose

Teenagers are often overwhelmed with abstract thoughts that seem to lead them nowhere but to confusion itself. Although students in this age group are growing in their ability to craft abstract thoughts, they lack the experience to transform them into practical applications. With God’s grace, Standards of Excellence focuses on students in the age range of 11 – 18 in the quest to help train them to become strong students as well as take intangible concepts and create skills for useful reasoning.

 

Standards of Excellence has developed a course in “Critical Thinking” to help. The focus of this course is the development of competence in critical thinking, informal Logic, verbal logic, and figural logic.

 

The amalgamation of the skills developed though our course will bolster your teen’s confidence and give him or her important tools for a successful academic experience. Miss Viv will meld the course textbooks’ content with fun and games that will help your teen explore and cement important thinking, communication and comprehension skills.

 

Building Thinking Skills® curriculum provides highly effective verbal and nonverbal reasoning activities to improve students' vocabulary, reading, writing, math, logic, and figural-spatial skills, as well as their visual and auditory processing. This exceptional skill set provides a solid foundation for academic excellence and success on any assessment test.

 

 The activities are sequenced developmentally. Each skill (for example, classifying) is presented first in the semi-concrete figural-spatial form and then in the abstract verbal form. Students learn to analyze relationships between objects, between words, and between objects and words as they:

 

Observe, recognize, and describe characteristics.

Distinguish similarities and differences.

Identify and complete sequences, classifications, and analogies.

 

These processes help students develop superior thinking and communication skills that lead to deeper content learning in all subjects. The “Building Thinking Skills” text helps students to grasp analysis, discernment, and fallacious reasoning prevalent within the world today. We will use the Level 3 "Verbal Logic" and "Figural Logic" curriculum from www.criticalthinking.com

 

 Fallacy Detective® curriculum introduces students to the study of Informal Logic and demonstrate how people use misinformation to manipulate you to agree with a particular view.

 

 What is a fallacy? A fallacy is an error in logic – a place where someone has made a mistake in his thinking.  A few examples of fallacies:

 

 “A cloud is 90% water. A watermelon is 90% water. Therefore, since a plane can fly through a cloud, a plane can fly through a watermelon.”

“This new book, The Fallacy Detective, must do a good job teaching logic. It has been on the bestseller list for months.”

 

The Bluedorn brothers – both home schooled themselves – wrote this book to meet the needs of Christian parents who want a do-able text for introducing logic and critical thinking to their children.

 

Fun to use – not dry like a math textbook.

Easy to use – not intimidating, starts students with skills they can use right away.

Each lesson has exercises to practice discerning fallacies!

Covers logical fallacies and propaganda techniques. The text is divided into thirty-eight lessons - the most common fallacies and propaganda techniques. It explains how students can spot fallacies, and gives exercises to stretch student abilities for detecting fallacies.

Geared for ages twelve and older – it is wise to use The Fallacy Detective before advancing onto more difficult logic programs.

 

Additionally, students will work on logic puzzles, brain teasers, Sudoku, and other critical thinking activities.

​

Curriculum/Materials

• We provide the three course texts integrating successive levels of

  • Fallacy Detective

  • Verbal Logic (level 3)

  • Figural Logic (level 3)

  • Introduction to Logic (by Jim Nance-10 lessons)

• Student Supply List

  • 2 black pens

  • 1 two inch 3-ring Notebook (No spiral bound notebooks!)

  • 5 notebook dividers: (Title: Syllabus/Calendar, Notes, Verbal Logic, Figural Logic, Cranium Crackers, and Fallacy Detective)

  • 32 sheet protectors

  • 30 sheets of ruled paper (No spiral bound notebooks)

 

Chess

Suggested Age

 

Prerequisites

 

Chess is widely considered the greatest game ever conceived and is wonderfully fun, but where the game of chess really excels is as an educational tool.

 

Schools all over the country continue to incorporate chess into their curriculum, and four-year scholarships are being awarded for excellence in chess at many universities. (e.g. The University of Texas at Dallas)

 

When teaching chess, I don’t tell children which moves they should make, I teach them how to analyze and evaluate the information in front of them so they can make their own informed decisions. In other words, I teach my students how to think by providing them with questions, not answers. (i.e. The Socratic Method)

 

The position of the pieces on a chessboard are similar to the “Given” statements of a geometric proof because they provide information and a starting point of how one might proceed. Therefore, my goal when teaching children the game of chess is to instruct them how to evaluate a situation before planning and executing a decision.

 

Playing chess introduces problem-solving methods applicable outside the gaming arena while promoting cognitive development and increasing a child’s concentration. The mental exercise of evaluation and decision making is applicable to all educational pursuits as well as to life’s daily choices.

 

Purpose

Students will improve their chess game from the basic fundamentals through Advanced Tactics, Opening Principles and Endgame Strategies. Classes are highly interactive while emphasizing fun and providing a variety of activities.

 

Note: While Piece Movement and the Rules of Chess will be reviewed, if your child is a young beginner or has never played chess, please consider enrolling them in a few private lessons to give them a head start prior to attending class.

 

1. Chessboard Terminology, Algebraic Notation

2. Misc Rules: Castling, Pawn Promotion, En Passant, Touch Move, etc…

3. Check, Checkmate & Stalemate Clarification

4. Basic Checkmates

5. Beginning and Advanced Tactics

6. Opening, Middle Game and Endgame Principles

7. Candidate Move Analysis

8. Tournament Rules & Preparation, Chess Clock Rules

9. Chess Variants

 

Curriculum/Materials

• TBD

 

Developing Social Relationships

Suggested Age:

8-12

 

Functional abilities

Suitable for kids with autism spectrum disorders (mid to high-functioning), sensory processing disorder, speech/language and social communication disorders, Asperger’s, ADHD, Down Syndrome, and other special learning needs.

 

Prerequisites

• Students should know how to read and write and/or be familiar with written language.

• Be able to function in a group and answer questions

 

Purpose

The focus of this class will be to learn how to create and sustain relationships with God, peers, and adults by taking thoughts captive. Undesirable thoughts and behaviors often inhibit successful relationships in kids with special needs. The core verse for this class is 2 Corinthians 10:5. We will use the Social Thinking Curricula: I am a Social Detective! and Superflex for understanding the individual emotional landscape (how the child is feeling) and to gain social awareness (what is going on around them.) Kids with special needs are often strong visual learners and these programs have wonderful pictures that help reinforce what we will be studying.

 

Process

First: learn what we need to do in order to be “present” so that we can be in relationship with others ie. eye contact, calm bodies, listening ears.

 

Second: What are the benefits to relationships and how are we obedient to God through our relationships with others?

 

Questions for students to explore during the course:

• How can I take thoughts captive in the moment of temptation to overreact or get very upset?

• How can I overcome rigidity, inattention, and anger to have healthy, fun relationships?

• How can I communicate my thoughts and feelings in a loving way?

• How do my actions and reactions affect those around me?

• How can we learn to be flexible?

• What does the Bible say about relationships?

• How can we live out the most important commandment to love God and our neighbor?

• How does serving others and being in relationships help us become happier?

 

Curriculum

• Jernigan course curriculum (given to each student and price included in $60 monthly tuition)

• *You are a Social Detective!

• *Superflex: A Superhero Social Thinking Curriculum Package

 

*We use these curricula to scaffold the curriculum for this class. It is not necessary to purchase these products.

Scripture and the Fruits of the Spirit

Suggested Age

8-12

 

Functional abilities

Suitable for kids with autism spectrum disorders (mid to high-functioning), sensory processing disorder, speech/language and social communication disorders, Asperger’s, ADHD, and similar diagnoses.

 

Prerequisites

• Students should know how to read and write and/or be familiar with written language.

• Be able to function in a group and answer questions

 

Purpose

My vision of God depends upon the state of my character. Character determines revelation. Before I can say “I saw also the Lord,” there must be something corresponding to God in my character. Until I am born again and begin to see the Kingdom of God, I see along the line of my prejudices only; I need the surgical operation of external events and an internal purification.

 

It must be God first, God second, and God third, until the life is faced steadily with God and no one else is of any account whatever. “In all the world there is none but thee, my God, there is none but thee.”
-Oswald Chambers from My Utmost for His Highest

 

This course will seek to understand the importance of studying God’s Word, memorizing scripture, practically living out the Gospel. We will dive into how to have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ and how to walk out the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Galatians 5:22-23

 

Curriculum

• Jernigan course curriculum