Another vote for Apples and Pears. We are now on the last book and my son is spelling all of those hard words-just finishing up 6th grade. All about Spelling worked until the middle of the 2nd book he hit a wall. About the time they have words spelled with ee and ea mixed up. He never could remember which was which and we stayed with it for too long. Sequential Spelling was a complete waste of time. Apples and Pears has been the easiest to teach, least time consuming, and least boring of all of them and it works! Don't know how it works but it does.

I'm using MCT with my youngest who has some learning disabilities. I wish so much that this had been available with my oldest ADHD son. It would have been perfect for him. He would have loved all of the humor. He did turn out to be an excellent writer, but I wish there would have been more joy in the early years.

11 yrs at the end of 5th grade. Just after Finishing up Singapore 5B. Great review and we both loved it.

I always feel like my life is falling apart every fall when school starts. It is just an adjustment period that I go through. After about a month of school I am back into a flow and everything's getting done again. My advise is to give it a few more weeks before giving up and see if things improve.

This year we used a great history curriculum that I think is particularly appealing to boys. It is Winter Promise's American Culture. It has a heavy emphasis on Invention and Technology through the later half of American History. Next year we plan on using Winter Promise's Adventures in the Sea and Sky which promises to be a scientific journey through History. We’ve also enjoyed their Energy Curriculum for Science Jiggle, Jostle, & Jolt . It comes with a cool Physics Solar Workshop kit that has kept my son busy for many happy hours. My ds will be a rising 6th grader soon. His favorites this year besides the History and Science above have been: MCT -both Island and Town levels Life of Fred -I’m looking forward to LOF Pre-Algebra with Biology for next year. All books on tape -even girly ones like the Little House Series Any Strategy board game,Legos, Models, and Science kits Favorite Books he’s read this year: The Overland Chronicles Percy Jackson Series- which has started a fascination with Greek Mythology so I’m trying to capitalize on that right now My Side of the Mountain Series He loved watching the Owl Cam of Molly/babies and doing owl studies. http://www.sportsmansparadiseonline.com/Live_Owl_Nest_Box_Cam.html Outside Learning- Boy Scouts, Spanish, Art, and PE classes where he’s formed some great friendships and given me a little break. Field Trips- We try to do field trips every couple of weeks even when I feel that I am getting behind in our studies. I never regret getting out and doing this kind of hands on learning. My preference is to do outside classes not just walking tours. Some of our favorites this year have been: Canoe trip Classes at the National Building Museum Energy Class at a Nuclear Power Plant Terra Cotta Warriors Exhibit Holocaust Museum-Children’s exhibit only Civil War Class and tour of the White House of the Confederacy and the Confederate Museum Real Pirates exhibit and classes at Nauticus Museum Virginia Aviation Museum classes Follow interests: A friend offered to give us a plot on his property to plant a garden this year(Our yard is too shady). I was going to decline but my ds got so excited and spent several hours on the computer researching gardens and drawing up a plan. We've learned a lot of science through this experience. I am lucky this year that I only have one ds left to homeschool and so I can really focus on what he is interested in.

Hi, MCT users. I'd appreciate your feedback on this post in the General Forums: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=169711

I've been toying around with the idea of starting a MCT blog. Do I need permission from the company especially if I use the name Michael Clay Thompson? I have lots of ideas that I'd like to share and I'd like a central place where others can share ideas as well. I haven't found anything like this out there. I've never done a blog before so I'd appreciate any feedback. Thanks

We've used WP American Cultures this year with my 5th grade ds. We've loved it-not choppy at all. Here's a link where I've posted twice about it: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=161618

We love it. Here are some more comments that were posted yesterday on this thread: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=164695

View demos here: http://www.thelosttoolsofwriting.com/demo.htm See frequently asked questions her: http://www.thelosttoolsofwriting.com/faq.htm Quote from frequently asked questions about grade level:

If he has ADHD then I wouldn't skip this. Dictation is a tool to help kids learn to keep what is said in their heads. It is a skill they struggle with and need to practice. Again I like Apples and Pears. Sentences start out slowly with few words and easy spellings. Work on the punctuation and handwriting right from the start while the sentences are easy. As you progress work on repeating each sentences a fewer number of times. I usually only have to repeat once now. I give the sentence and then a little over half way through I repeat it again. If my ds has gone off course a little he can correct it then. I agree with you that if a child has ADHD or any LD then dictation is hard. They have to keep the sentence in their head while focusing on spelling, handwriting, and punctuation. I too gave up dictation in the early years with my ds but now that we have been doing it every day of 5th grade it has helped his writing assignments so much. He can focus more on what to say and not so much on the mechanics, and writing is not so frustrating any more. Don't give up on dictation the rewards are worth it in the long run.

First of all I have only used the first two levels of MCT-Island and Town. I am basing my response that step-by-step writing is not taught in these two levels and from research I've done on the Voyage level. I'm not sure about the upper levels so please correct me if I am wrong. In the lower levels writing assignments are given but without step-by-step instructions. Second, I have not taught Lost Tools of Writing yet. I have read through it once and have a general idea of what it will cover. I will explain how I believe it works very simply. If anyone has anything to add or to correct me on please do. The 1st book covers the persuasive essay only and does so because it says that all writing can be helped from knowing this model. It covers how to come up with something to say, how to form a thesis from a question, how to prove the thesis with three proofs, how to use definitions and comparisons, how to outline, how to organize the outline, proper form and arrangement of the essay, adding your own voice within a structure, adding style-includes strong verbs, similes,metaphors, alliteration,etc., what not to do like avoiding to many prepositions. All of this is taught using didactic mode for those familiar with that. Again, I am only scratching the surface here. Karenciavo has written some great posts on this curriculum for anyone that wants to do more research including pros and cons. I will have a 6th grader next year and will only cover the first half of LToW along with MCT's Voyage Essay. In 7th I will cover the 2nd half of LToW along with MCT's Advanced Academic Writing. Anyway, that is the plan right now. I have to disagree with the above quote. Compared to grammar programs that go on endlessly with page after page of grammar lessons and practice I think that MCT's grammar lessons are much quicker. 5-10 weeks of short grammar lessons and then a 5-10 minute practice a few days a week after that. When you look at other Programs for writing, poetry, and vocabulary,my experience is that MCT's lessons are shorter in these areas as well.

We tried AAS for spelling too. My son memorized all of the rules but applying them was a different story. We now use Apples and Pears and I am amazed at how quickly his spelling has improved. It takes far less time and for an older child is much less babyish. In Apples and Pear my ds has to do at least 3 sentences a day. I taught him that before he even thinks of the spelling for the first word he has to think capital letter. Then before he picks up his pencil at the end of the sentence he has to think end mark and figure out which one. I would then watch and if he started his sentence without a capital I would stop him and say, "What is the first thing you are suppose to think about?" At the end if he started to pick up his pencil I would say, "What are you suppose to do before you pick up your pencil?" After many many reminders it has finally stuck. Some kids may know the rules but need a lot of practice before it because a habit that they don't have to think about. MCT teaches that Punctuation is like a traffic light. The Capital letters are like the green lights and tell the reader when to go. The end marks are like red lights and tell the readers when to stop. My son really liked this analogy. I remind him to check his traffic lights before turning in his papers.

There are different instructors on different tapes. My dd did not like listening to a couple of them. A few things to be aware of for younger children. I don't think their pre-algebra portion (first tape) is comparable to a pre-algebra course. It moves pretty fast and leaves out a lot that a pre-algebra course would cover. The course covers Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 concepts together. I thought that the first half would be Algebra 1 and the 2nd half would be Algebra 2. This is not the case. I also felt we needed more review. There were extra review problems on their website but I found out when I called that these are very challenging problems for kids who want a greater challenge. Not so much for review. My dd was 11 when we did VT. She had been through Lial's BCM. We ended up stopping halfway through and using only Algebra 1 materials. The Algebra 2 concepts where too frustrating for her.

Rod and Staff is a solid grammar program. I used it for a few years. I've also used First Language Lessons, Growing with Grammer, Hakes Grammar, Easy Grammer, Analitical Grammar, and Shurley Grammer. I've been homeschooling a long time and I have four children so I haven't really jumped around as much as it looks. Anyway, MCT is a solid grammar program too. The biggest difference is that MCT is the only one that teaches a love of grammar and language. I can't say that my kids loved any of the grammar programs above but this one they love. They want to do it every day. It's fun. I love to teach it. Who doesn't want their kids to grow up loving language and writing, to feel comfortable playing around with words and literary techniques. Besides all of this my ds is learning a ton and retaining it. I am adding a step-by-step writing program to MCT. It's the one thing I think that's missing. I've chosen to use Lost Tools of Writing.