Does your child know how to use logic?

Going into 6th grade I hated math.  Or, I thought I hated math.  Then I had the most amazing 6th grade math teacher.  She made math fun, and showed us that it didn’t just have to be memorizing facts.  Instead we did logic puzzles, or multi-step problems.

I fell in love with logic puzzles because of that math teacher.  Each week we got an extra credit problem we could solve using grids, and logic.  I loved it.  This year I’m adding in Grids for Kids to our homeschool math, and adding in the problem of the week for my kids to solve.  I can’t wait to see if they enjoy it as much as I did.

{Grids for Kids gave me a free copy of their book, I’ll admit it had already been on my to buy list, when I got it, so I was quite happy to get it}

 

What are logic puzzles?

There are several different types of logic puzzles you can try.  There are the classic puzzles like the farmer who must cross a river with his purchases, a bag of grain, a goose, and a fox, the boat only carries him and one item, how will he do it?

There’s the minute mysteries*, where you solve it by deductive reasoning and asking questions.  I loved those, but they can also be frustrating as you have no clue of the RIGHT question to ask.

Then there are the grid logic puzzles. You are presented with information, but not all of it, and you have to use logic, deductive reasoning, and the grid to figure out who goes with what.  These led to my love of Sideways Arithmetic from Wayside School* (an even more advanced logic puzzle, and SO hard, well it seemed so at 12 years old).

I love them.

 

Why are logic puzzles good?

Logic puzzles challenge your thinking.  It’s not a matter of recall, but of puzzling out who did what and why.

• Logic puzzles provide building blocks for debate, as they put together clues.
• Logic puzzles help for programming, as you put together what must happen before something else happens.
• Logic puzzles make you explain your thinking.

 

This is where Grids for Kids comes into play

 

Grids for Kids are logic puzzles.  It’s a downloadable ebook that you can print off as many times as you want.  I go through large amounts of paper and ink already, so I printed off one copy and had my kids create their own grid.

Also I’m trying to force my boys to have better handwriting, and that will only happen with lots of practice.

In my 6th grade math class the logic puzzles gave us extra points added to our average for the 6 weeks, but we don’t really have a grade sheet yet.

I’m thinking I might give them a small perk for completing the puzzle, but I don’t yet know what the perk is.  Any suggestions?

Get Grids for Kids logic puzzles

You can buy Grids for Kids over at their store.  It’s a great price ($1.50 to $3.00), there are currently 4 levels and each level has a supplement with more puzzles at that level of difficulty.