Textbook Recommendation

I know I said something about creating a list of literature for the kids, and that will come, but tonight I want to give a brief recommendation for the textbook "Reading and Thinking: A Process Approach" by James Twining. It's an excellent resource for teaching late middle-school to high school students how to think about what they're reading.

Unfortunately, thinking critically is a lost skill in our society. It's extremely difficult to find quality employees who can think, and our culture is creating a whole new batch of workers with the inability to think. This book, while it isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, is very good for its intended purpose - to teach this lost skill.

My only problems with the text is that it seems to wander into some bad philosophy in the essays it presents as reading material. As long as you're monitoring what is being read so you can refute the less-than-objective essays, you should be fine.

And if you can't find a copy of this book, please find another way to teach your children how to think critically about what they are reading, as well as what they are hearing and seeing on TV. You'll be doing them a huge favor later in life.