Primary Analogies
by Gae Brunner, Jean Schoenlank, Marianne Williams, Terri Wiss
Reviewed by Martha Robinson
Purchase details: Primary Analogies, Critical and Creative Thinking by Gae Brunner, Jean Schoenlank, Marianne Williams, Terri Wiss. Book One (40 pages, $6.50) and Book Three (57 pages, $7.45) were reviewed. Published by Educators Publishing Service, Inc.. Please support HomeschoolChristian.com by buying this program from our Christian Book Distributors link.
Primary Analogies were created for elementary students in the Ridgewood, New Jersey, public school system. Analogies build problem solving abilities and allow children to learn about relationships. Practicing analogies allows children to perform better on standardized tests and to improve their creative thinking. The suggested grade range for this series is Kindergarten to third grade.
Book One begins with analogies using pictures only and progresses to analogies with simple words. The "pre-analogy" section has the children work with similarities, categorizing, parts that are alike, and Venn diagrams. Three levels of descriptive, comparative, categorical, serial, and causal analogies follow. Each page shows analogies and boxes from which to choose the answers. The final section, "All Stars," has the children make up their own analogies.
Book Three begins with pre-analogy activities using words and sentences. Activities to order words from general to specific and to determine how thoughts are connected are included in the "pre-analogy" section. Book Three is ordered by type of analogy and then level rather than level and then type of analogy as in Book One. Answer boxes or "word banks" are shown on each page. The "All-Stars" section encourages children to make up their own analogies and write a relationship phrase using the words in the word bank.
Answer keys are available for $4.85 each, but these were not reviewed.
Recommendation: Costing about the same as a workbook, Primary Analogies offers value and stimulating activities that most children will enjoy. I would recommend keeping these fun by using them on rainy afternoons, on car trips, or on relaxed family days. Parents can easily figure out the answers in this series so the keys are not necessary.
HomeschoolChristian.com resources related to this review:
HomeschoolChristian.com's Classical Education Section
Review of Analogies by Arthur Liebman
Review of Reasoning and Reading
Review of Ridgewood Analogies
Review of The Fallacy Detective
Review of The Thinking Toolbox
Review of Logic in 100 Minutes
Find more helpful reviews on HomeschoolChristian.com's Review Page Index!
Reviews represent the opinions of the authors rather than the views of HomeschoolChristian.com.
