Traditional Logic I REVIEW

Memoria Press never seems to fail when it comes to wonderful classical Christian curriculum that will enhance your child's education.  I was so happy to have a chance to review Traditional Logic I Complete Set.  Yes, I did say Complete Set!  I received the physical products that included the Instructional DVDs (Introduction plus 13 lessons on 2 DVDs), Text book, Student Workbook, Teacher Key, and Quizzes & Tests.  It is designed as a one-semester course.  This was so perfect with my 14-year-old starting High School in the fall.  We're getting a good head start now on his High School studies.

Even though it is a one-semester course, the author recommends you consider the option of combining some lessons (which he has specific suggestions for) to finish it early so that you would have extra time to work on the more complex topics in Traditional Logic II.

Now, of course, my son being who he is, was NOT happy about this course, but I was elated!  It is something I feel he needs to have and after working through some of the book he is now at least a little intrigued.  I really like the way the lessons are laid out.  You cover a chapter a week with individual assignments each day.  Bite size pieces is what he likes.  It is a good fit for him.

Traditional Logic I is an introduction to formal logic.  The introductory chapter explains what formal logic is and compares it somewhat with symbolic logic.  It also mentions mathematical logic.  Basically, there are two main branches of logic and they are formal (minor) and material (major).  The introduction continues on to briefly discuss:

• Truth, Validity, and Soundness
• The Components of an Argument
• Term
• Proposition
• Syllogism

The topics covered in Traditional Logic I are as follows:

• Simple Apprehension (Term)
• What is Simple Apprehension?
• Comprehension and Extension
• Signification and Supposition
• Judgment (Proposition)
• What is Judgement
• The Four Statements of Logic
• Contradictory and Contrary Statements
• Subcontraries and Subalterns
• Distribution of Terms
• Obversion, Conversion, and Contraposition
• Deductive Inference (Syllogism)
• What is Deductive Inference
• Terminological Rules for Categorical Syllogisms
• Quantitative Rules for Categorical Syllogisms
• Qualitative Rules for Categorical Syllogisms

The author, Martin Cothran, is also the teacher on the videos.  There are PDF slides available on the DVD (or they can also be downloaded from a link they give you) of the lessons to be printed if you like.  While you watch the DVD there is a notation on the bottom as to what slide(s) they are on.

DVD lesson shot

Sample PDF page to print

Our typical week working on the program consisted of watching the lesson video on day 1.  On day 2 he would do the lesson for the day out of the workbook which consisted of reading a portion of the chapter out of the Text book and then filling out the blanks in the workbook.  This is also where I expected him to start learning to take notes by highlighting important information out of the Text book.  Within each chapter, there are 4 daily lessons so after he finished Day 4 lesson (on a Friday since we did lessons Mon-Fri) I would administer the short quiz out of the Quizzes & Tests book.  There are a total of 13 quizzes and 1 Final Exam in the Quizzes & Tests book.

Highlighting important points in Text book

Sample Workbook page

I really like that the lessons are pretty short and easily completed.  The author is easy enough to listen to and the content, in my opinion, is wonderful.  I am so glad my son gets to go through this.  I never had the opportunity for a logic course in high school and I think it is a good thing for our kids to experience.  At this point, my plan is to purchase and continue with Traditional Logic II for his second semester freshman year.

I definitely recommend you check out the Traditional Logic I Complete Set.  You can connect with Memoria Press on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, PINTEREST, INSTAGRAM, GOOGLE+, and YOUTUBE.





Please also take the time to check out what my fellow Crew members have to say about this and the other products that were also reviewed to include New American Cursive, Traditional Logic II, and Classical Composition I and II.