Critical Conditioning

Discerning truth is a necessary skill that Christian parents desire for their children. Critical listening and reading conditioning begins at an early age when parents begin reading to their children and is developed through the maturation of each child as they address more and more complex issues in their reading. Kathryn Stout’s Critical Conditioning is a useful tool for a homeschool parent in accomplishing these goals.

Critical thinking is the foundation of discernment. This accessible resource provides you with plenty of ideas and concepts to master critical thinking. It is uncomplicated to choose from the listed activities what will interest and motivate your child and encourage him/her to discuss with you what they are learning from their reading. Teacher preparation time is minimal as the format is straightforward and uncomplicated.

Helping you to train your child to make inferences as well as analyze the concepts presented are the strengths of this resource. Additionally, there are useful skills delineated into general grade categories so that you can track your child’s progress. Tips on study skills and the SQ3R (study, question, read, recite, review) method are included to aid in your mastery of training your child to read with critical judgment. An interesting section on comprehending different types of literature is another tool that can be used to unlock the door to understanding what is read.

All of these skills for reading can be transferred to any medium of communication where discernment is helpful. I would encourage the inclusion of this resource in your homeschool studies.