Thinking Skills for Tests: Early Learning Review

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew. All opinions are my own.

I fondly remember using Reading Detective from The Critical Thinking Co. when I was in 3rd or 4th grade. When the Homeschool Review Crew announced the opportunity to do a Thinking Skills for Tests review, I leapt at the opportunity! 

I chose Thinking Skills for Tests: Early Learning. I received the instruction/answer guide and the workbook. You definitely need the instruction/answer guide to fully implement this product.

My son is 6 years old and just completed kindergarten. He has never taken a standardized test. (Our state mandates annual standardized testing beginning at age 7.) Thinking Skills for Tests gently introduces the concept of filling in bubbles. The student also learns to choose the best answer when he is uncertain.

How We Used It

We did 1-2 pages per day. There are 60 pages in the workbook. I consider it to be a supplementary product, but a highly useful one. My son is the type of kid who feels more comfortable when he’s familiar with what’s expected of him, and I think this curriculum will help him when achievement testing time rolls around next spring. 

Thinking Skills for Tests: Early Learning is designed for pre-K-2nd grade students. Critical Thinking Co.’s copyright policy permits the use of the product with multiple children in the same family. Because of this, I also allowed my 4 year old son to try some of the activities. Both my 6 year old and my 4 year old loved it! 

The layout is colorful and attractive. My boys asked to do more pages after they had finished the day’s assignment. The instruction/answer guide is scripted and easy to use. No teacher preparation time is required. 

What We Thought

As a mom of three young kids (ages 6, 4, and 2), I always consider how realistic the curriculum is to implement in a household full of littles. Adding Thinking Skills for Tests: Early Learning to our homeschool day was seamless!

I like how Thinking Skills for Tests reinforced the habit of attention for my boys. They quickly realized that if they didn’t listen carefully to my verbal directions, then they would struggle to find the correct answer. Through the book, they learned about patterns, sequencing, classifying, the process of elimination, and more. 

If you’re interested in learning about Critical Thinking Co. and their curriculum, be sure to check out their special offers page. You can download free PDFs with math puzzles and critical thinking puzzles.

If you enjoyed our Thinking Skills for Tests review, you can check out more reviews of Critical Thinking Co. products from other homeschooling families by clicking on the image below.