Raising a child who can think for him or herself is an important part of our homeschooling method. Sure, one can memorize everything they can to fill their brain with, but if you can’t communicate and stand up for your opinion, then you may have missed the mark. Critical thinking is a skill that I believe is good to possess so I was very pleased when we were asked to take a look at the Critical Thinking Detective Book 1.

This book includes 12 easy-to-use detective mysteries for your 4th-12th grader to solve in a consumable book. These mysteries help develop your child’s critical thinking skills by requiring them to carefully read and analyze the information put before them. Once the student has digested the information by identifying and evaluating the evidence before them, they can then use their observation skills, deductive and inductive reasoning skills, along with reading comprehension skills to help in the decision-making process to solve the crime. 

To solve each of these mysteries the author of the book gives some helpful hints including:

~ read carefully and remember that every statement you read is a true statement.

~ proving someone else innocent is helpful in finding the true thief.

~ compare the clues information you gain with the pictures and/or text.

~ pay special attention to what is actually fact and what is an opinion, do not guess or assume anything.

~ take notes on the evidence you find.

~ these are challenging mysteries designed to get you to think outside the box. They will test you, but don’t give up.

The mysteries in this book range from simple to more challenging ones from The Car Thief to The Coffee Mug Thief. With the wide grade range, these mysteries are good for the old and young alike. As long as you are willing to read carefully and analyze the clues your student should be able to solve them. If not, you as the teacher/parent are able to give helpful hints.

Using this book with my 5th and 9th grade daughters was fun and easy to do. Each Friday I printed a copy of the two-page spread, double-sided for each of them. My older daughter would take the assignment with her to complete while on school beak at the gymnastics gym, while my younger daughter completed her mystery at home. Once both girls were home on Saturday morning we would go over the mystery and see how had solved the crime correctly. When one of them had the correct thief but the other one chose the wrong one, I had the child who solved it correctly explain why. If they both chose to the wrong thief, we would work through the mystery together to solve the crime. Solving the mysteries in this format worked best for our family.

If you are looking to add some critical thinking to your homeschool, look no further than the Critical Thinking Detective Book 1 series.

-Product review by Jacquelin Caffey, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, February, 2018