Logic, and why didn't we know that?

This year, for the first time, we began a formal study of logic and critical thinking as part of our homeschool curricula. My daughter does exercises several times a week. I discovered that in some aspects of this she is very good, and in others she just doesn’t seem to get it.

Let me give you a couple of examples. In the word problems that relate one object to another, in the form of “orange is to fruit as wheat is to ____” with a multiple choice answer following, my daughter doesn’t seem to be able to provide the answer “grain” to fill in the blank. I have discovered a whole area of learning that she seems to have very little knowledge of. How did we miss this learning? And where would we have learned that wheat is a grain?

It is not that she doesn’t understand the problem, but more often it is an experience issue. If we do not consume alcohol at our home in any form, is there a reason for my sixth grader to know that wine is the alcoholic product of grape fermentation? It is not that I am opposed to her knowing about wine. The subject just never came up.

There are so many things that we take for granted as adults. We have heard things, and read things, and experienced things that our sixth graders haven’t had the opportunity to experience yet. Working through the logic book has shown me that there is a gap in her knowledge, I am not really sure how to fix it yet, except to let her live and learn. And maybe practice some more problems in the logic workbook!