Each book in this series is written as a series of letters from Uncle Eric to Chris, who could be either his niece or nephew. Each letter is reasonably brief, so students will not be overwhelmed with too much information at once. Because of this approach, he is able to write about heavy concepts in easily-digestible chunks, appropriate for all teens.
What is a model? Richard Maybury defines a model this way:
"Models are how we think, they are how we understand how the world works. As we go through life we build these very complex pictures in our mind of how the world works, and we're constantly referring back to them—matching incoming data against our models. That's how we make sense of things. One of the most important uses for models is in sorting incoming information to decide if it's important or not."
Without models, students learn facts with no real understanding of how to apply them, or way to sort out which facts are important. As a result, the student thinks of facts as drudgery to learn, and easy to forget. Without the real lessons being learned, the student becomes vulnerable.
In these books, Maybury gives a clear overall model of how human civilization works, focusing on economics and government. He writes from a philosophical basis that is consistent in many ways with the principles of America's founders: limited government, free markets, and higher law principles. But he does not write from a Biblical perspective, so you'll want to add that dimension yourself.
While it is not necessary to read all of the "Uncle Eric" books, it is helpful to read the entire series since the ideas presented in each book are so interconnected. There is even a suggested sequence:
You can buy all eleven of these at a discount in our "Uncle Eric" Bundle. Also, almost all of them have study guides for more in-depth study of a topic.
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