Philosophy Adventure

Philosophy Adventure - Learn how to write skillfully, think critically, & speak articulately as you explore the history of ideas.
Written by Stacy Farrell
Published at Homeschool Adventure

I recently saw an opportunity to review a new product on the market for students in grade 6 to 12.   Having one child finishing grade 6 and slowly starting his grade 7, I thought it would be nice to explore how to cultivate and defend a biblical worldview in learning how to write skillfully, think critically, and speak articulately.   This specific course allows the student (and the teacher) to explore the history of philosophy.

The course includes a reader which contains philosopher stories, images relevant to the time the philosophers were alive, writing lessons, critical thinking lessons, public speaking lessons, historical geography, and a biblical worldview analysis.   It also contains detailed checklists for the writing exercises as well as numerous writings prompts.   The student workbook includes philosopher notebook pages, mapping assignments, quizzes, tests and more.   Finally the Teacher’s Resources includes the keys to the quizzes, tests, and mapping assignments, timelines and easy to follow instructions.   The CD would contain the digital edition of the Reader and all the resources.

How the material works

This specific curriculum will introduce students to academic content and help them to develop practical skills  like writing, presentation of ideas and critical thinking.

My Thoughts

I didn’t know what to expect from the curriculum when I signed up for it.  I had read the description and thought it would be a great way to discover philosophy combined with biblical worldview.    I was open to check out the product, explore it and share my thoughts about it.

I received a first draft of the document via email and quickly uploaded it on my iPad.   Imagine my surprise and delight in the material to read when I discover Thales and Pythagoras.   I only explored these two philosophers so far and I am impressed by the information contained in the pages I have read.   Intertwined with the story of these two philosophers, you can also get some quick one page lessons on writing, thinking and speaking.  At the end of each of these lessons, there is a little exercise to do based on what you have read.   For example, in the first writing lesson, the student is asked to answer three questions:

• Where did I come from and why am I here?
• Why is there evil, suffering, and death?
• Is there hope for my future?

The author also mentions that the answer “I don’t know.” is perfectly okay as long as it is not a way to avoid work in the process.   I like that kind of thinking because sometimes the student might not be able to express himself and might not be able to find an answer for a specific question.

In each lesson, you will have many components that will be repeated –

• the Philosopher’s Story will highlight interesting parts of the life of the philosopher, describe the time and place where he lived, and present his main accomplishments and beliefs.
• the Write, Think and Speak articles and assignments will complement the concept learned and are placed across from the story of the philosopher.
• The Geographical information will allow the student to identify the place and time when the philosopher lived and the School of Thought will highlight what kind of school of thought the philosopher participated or founded.
• Finally, the Contrast section will allow the student to become familiar with some of the material written by the philosopher and permit him/her to explore whether the ideas of that philosopher align with a biblical worldview.

Essential you could use this curriculum in a four or five days week.    Read the complete philosopher’s story from the week’s lesson and complete the philosopher’s notebook page and mapping assignment on day one.   On day two, you can read the Write sidebar and begin the assignment,   Day Three will allow the student to explore the Think sidebar and do the assignment on this lesson while day four consist of reading the Speak sidebar and begin the assignment.   Finally, day five consist in completing the Write, Think and Speak assignments as well as complete the timeline and mapping exercises.    You could also take the lesson quiz.  

The Student book contains notebook pages in order to answer some questions on the philosopher of the week, mapping exercises in order to label and record facts on specific places linked with the philosopher, detailed assignments for writing, and much more.  In the Teacher’s Resource you will get instructions on how to guide the student in the lesson, a list of vocabulary words and memory cards to help the student memorize the information for a specific philosopher,and all the answers to the assignments and quizzes of the student.  The material is well presented and very colorful.

What I particularly like about the writing assignments is that it is specifically indicated in the instructions to set a timer with a time assigned for each exercises.    At this point in time, my son is currently learning to write with another curriculum specialized in writing and he is enjoying it taking more time to write and work on his assignments.   Knowing that the writing assignments in Philosophy Adventure are time restricted will help him quite a bit in knowing how long he need to develop his answers.   The student is definitively guided step by step in order to help him/her in developing ideas to write and expanding their critical thinking at the same time.   And knowing that this course material intertwined the biblical worldview with the lesson is fabulous because it will give the two sides of the coin – philosophy thinking versus biblical thinking.

On Wednesday night, I was reading about Pythagoras and learned quite a bit about this philosopher.  Almost at every paragraph I had a reaction in my mind – no way!, really?, seriously?, wow!.   I know he was linked with the Pythagorean Theorem but that was about it.  I learned more about this philosopher in the few pages included in this curriculum than I had before.   I asked my son if he knew who Pythagoras was.  He answered the mathematician.  To which I told him he was more than that and tomorrow we will sit down together and read about this specific philosopher. 

Needless to say I am very impressed with the quality found in this curriculum.   I seriously think that Christian homeschoolers should go through it in order to prepare themselves in being able to write, think critically and speak with confidence about their beliefs.

Wondering how much does Philosophy Adventure cost?   Well the physical set will be sold for the price of 89.95$ US while the digital set will be available for the price of 39.95$ at Homeschool Adventure.

GREAT NEWS!

One of my reader have the possibility of winning a full digital set of the final publication!   It would be a great curriculum to guide your child to write skillfully, think critically, and speak articulately.  This curriculum is perfect for grade 6th to 12th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You can blog hop to other moms who reviewed the Philosophy Adventure to have the opportunity of entering more giveaways.  

Oh and there will be a Philosophy Adventure Twitter party on Tuesday June 4 at 9 p.m. EST. There will be physical prizes of all of Stacy Farrell's amazing products!!!