A Brave Writer's Life in Brief

When children learn to think critically, something amazing happens: they begin to read between the lines, find their own voice on the page, and engage with the world around them with curiosity and confidence. These are the kinds of thinkers—and humans—that homeschooling families have the perfect opportunity to raise.

At Brave Writer, critical thinking isn’t a separate subject or a box to check. It’s woven into everything we do—our products, our online classes, and the other resources we create for families like yours. We believe that when kids learn to question, analyze, and communicate thoughtfully, they become:

• better readers,
• more powerful writers,
• and more compassionate members of their communities.

We’ve gathered eighteen posts on critical thinking into one place so you can explore, return to, and share these ideas at your own pace. Wherever you are in your homeschool journey, we hope something here sparks Big Juicy Conversations around your table.

Critical Thinking Posts

• Start with Facts and Curiosity
• Critical Thinking Starts with Caring
• Clarify Your Bias
• Identify the Storytellers
• Belief vs. Fact
• Don’t Derail Thoughtfulness
• Promote Wonder
• Connection Is Everything
• When We Find Someone Else’s Viewpoint Irrational
• Requirements for Critical Thinkers
• Question the Experts
• Learning How to Think
• One Right Answer?
• Curiosity without Defensiveness
• The Danger of Black and White Thinking
• An Alternative to Certainty
• Critical Thinking and Fundamentalism
• A Critical Thinker’s Bill of Rights

Critical Thinking Podcasts

In his book, Strong Religion, Gabriel Almond (plus authors) makes a case for the idea that when a society is going through seismic shifts that feel unnerving, the tendency is to double down on the past and black-and-white thinking. Many times we adopt a fundamentalist spirit, whether or not, we are religious.

Hallmarks of Fundamentalism

The hallmarks of that fundamentalism are a rejection of the threatening new ideas or technologies, and a desire to return to familiar ones that make a person feel safe and secure.

Black-and-white thinking leads to suspicion which creates in and out groups. Problem-solving to account for a variety of needs goes out the window.

In the homeschool space, sometimes we fall prey to fundamentalist thinking about education—who qualifies as a true homeschooler or we eye other educational spaces or philosophies with suspicion.

Critical thinking starts with curiosity and a willingness to dissent. It also expands to include uncomfortable perspectives in an attempt to learn from them. It means not having the comfort of certainty but the relief of having your own thoughts—even ones that don’t fit neatly into your group.

I know I’m in my black-and-white mind when I’m smug, flippant, and stop being curious about what makes someone else tick. I know I’m thinking better when I pause to wonder—why, how, what was it like for _____, what don’t I know about this?

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Let’s talk about how to think critically when we find someone else’s viewpoint irrational.

Naturally how we define terms, the way we understand the difference between community values and individual rights is going to shape how we evaluate anyone’s opinion or perspective. I’m not saying that we can’t call out what we see as fundamentally immoral.

But persuasion out of a view that feels comfortable and natural to another person doesn’t come from one of us simply telling that person they are wrong.

Critical thinking is…

To me, critical thinking is not so much about getting it right and then trying to convince others. That’s a conversion mindset that rarely works. Instead, Critical Thinking is about understanding the logic that any individual or community applies to their viewpoint, even when we think that person or group is being illogical.

Every person thinks their viewpoint makes justifiable sense. Every. Single. One. Our job as thinkers is to discover that logic—to understand better and to allow that understanding to be a part of our solution-making.

Watch the Accompanying Video