Registration is now open for these courses! Go here for more information.

Royal Fireworks Online Learning Community is now open for registrations. More details at http://rfolc.com/ The English language arts courses are for children ages 5 to 18; Spanish starts for children at age 7; other courses are for children ages 10 and up. Africa and the Slave Trade is a high school-level course for children ages 14 and up. We are sure that you will find a course that will supplement your homeschooling, challenge a gifted child who needs extra stimulation, or help a twice-exceptional student who needs one-to-one assistance and encouragement Language arts courses taught by Michael Clay Thompson Philosophy for Kids: Justice, Faith, and Free Will by Sharon Kaye A Fairly Creative Writing Class by Aubrey Lively An Introduction to Minerals and Rocks by Philip LaPorta Lithics for the Budding Archaeologist by Scott Minchak Conversational Spanish with Myriam Borges Thompson African Slavery and the Atlantic Slave Trade by Richard Hull Myths of the Constellations by Margaret Brewer-LaPorta Sign Language by Barbara Champion Althoff Special prices on books used in our courses For a limited time we are offering special pricing for books used in our courses.

The new Royal Fireworks Online Learning Community will be launched in the next few days. As well as a full range of Michael Clay Thompson English Language Arts courses, we are offering Philosophy for Kids: Justice, Faith and Free Will with Dr. Sharon Kaye; Conversational Spanish; A "Fairly Creative Writing" class with Aubrey Lively; an Introduction to Minerals and Rocks, the history of African Slavery and the Atlantic Slave Trade...and much more. If you sign up for news we will contact you direct.

I want to tell you about the new Royal Fireworks Online Learning Community. It is getting exciting and classes are planned to start next month. As well as a full range of Michael Clay Thompson English Language Arts courses, we are offering Philosophy for Kids: Justice, Faith and Free Will with Dr. Sharon Kaye; Conversational Spanish with Dr. Myriam Borges Thompson; A "Fairly Creative Writing" class with Aubrey Lively; an Introduction to Minerals and Rocks, the history of African Slavery and the Atlantic Slave Trade...and much more. It will be fully launched in the next few days. Watch for announcements on our Facebook page or sign up for news and you will get it direct. We look forward to hearing from you!

I came to this thread because MCT was mentioned, and I would like to tell you that Royal Fireworks Press (publishers of MCT language arts) has a new Latin Curriculum http://www.rfwp.com/series/latin-curriculum-fabulae-caeciliae for young learners based on visual connections. Just to let you know!

May we quote your last paragraph? Love it!

Please would you pass on the news that the Royal Fireworks Press Homeschool Curriculum conference at Valley Forge has been postponed until next year.. so sorry to disappoint those who were planning to come in May, but we hope to see you in 2015.

This may be a little late in the day to join in here, but we have two day conference on Asynchronous Development following the Curriculum Conference with MCT. Experts from the Columbus Group will be speaking at both conferences, specially for parents. Not too late to register if you can get to Albuquerque 20 /21/22 Feb.

I am sure you would like to know that there is a new Royal Fireworks Press homeschooling conference with MCT in Albuquerque, NM 20 /21 February, as well as a repeat of last year's Valley Forge conference in May. The NM conference follows one specially for parents of gifted children: Asynchronous Development:Understanding the Implications for Gifted Children at School, in the Home, and across the Lifespan. The schedules are being drawn up right now... but do take a look, and tell all MCT fans!

You may be interested to know that this is also an iBook for the iPad: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id643021840

This conference focuses on academics and has sessions for children. It is the kids' opportunity to get to meet MCT in person, have two sessions specially for them, and for their parents to learn from him about his approach to Grammar, Vocabulary, Poetics, Writing and LIterature. Booking is open now and the schedule available to download. Also in the packed two days at Valley Forge: Dr Shelagh Gallagher, Laurel Dodge, Dr Dave (Science), sessions on Teaching Latin, American History and more science from homeschooler, as well as Dr Tom Kemnitz on Ancient Rome and Classical Greece, and a session on IPad textbooks. Here's the link to information and registration.

Hi Everyone, you can now sign up for the conference here: http://www.rfwp.com/pages/royal-fireworks-press-2nd-homeschool-curriculum-conference/ The schedule is in the process of being drawn up, but it will start Thursday evening, 27th June, with Friday and Saturday full days of workshops and presentations. Free evenings to socialize. Rachel Royal Fireworks Press

Chiming in from MCT's publisher here: If you go to the RFWP website, then to Michael Clay Thompson, you will find Levels and Packages. Here , int he full descriptions, there are lists of what you can buy at each level in a Basic Package or a Complete Package. The Basics show you which Teacher Manuals can stand alone and for which books you really do need the Teacher / Parent and the Student book. Hope that's clear! Lovely to read about what parents and children think about the books.

Thank you for your question. Sorry not to have seen your post before. There are some extra discounts at conventions, and no shipping costs for books ordered and not supplied there and then. The next convention we are attending is the one in Hartford, Connecticut in June.

Hi there, the experiments use only ordinary materials that are readily available to anyone, frequently in the home already. Rachel Royal Fireworks Press

The plan is to start parts appearing through Spring and Summer this year. We will put out an announcement.

Just to let you know that Royal Fireworks Press is in the process of replacing Philosophy for Young Thinkers with a new series. Best to all RachelS Royal Fireworks Press

Just to let you know that Royal Fireworks Press is in the process of replacing Philosophy for Young Thinkers with a new series.

CatMomof3 says:But there are only 3 novels right now, or am I missing something. I can tell you that there are now two trilogies published.See: http://www.rfwp.com/series/mct-literature-program

Adding a note from Royal Fireworks Press, publisher of MCT: We sympathize with those who feel overwhelmed, and want to emphasize that MCT's books can work as stand-alones. Even though they work best together as a full curriculum, you do not need to feel that you have to be exclusive, or that you have to work through every book in the program at each level. So if you want you can just use the writing, or the grammar, or the vocabulary, or the poetics to supplement other programs. But most people prefer to use them as part of the MCTLA Curriculum. As for the literature strand: the first trilogy should be ready at the end of June, if not before. The books are: Wind in the Willows, Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. Best wishes to all.

Register at: http://www.rfwp.com/valley-forge-convention.php Program is being put together. We will let you know when finalised. Wonderful support from everyone.

We are working on this right now, sorry for the delay. Rachel Royal Fireworks Press

a note from the publisher: Essay Voyage teaches formal, academic writing. A key tenet of the MCT curriculum is that students need to know how to write correctly in preparation for formal essays for college and for the rest of life.

Just in case you dont get a reply from others here, have you tried the RFWP website and the MCT implementation slideshow there for some answers to your questions? There are sample pages, articles and an MCT support forum and Yahoo Group where others have posted lesson plans. You could also call the Royal Fireworks Office, but Dr Tom and MCT are in Cincinnati till Monday. Here is something to be going on with: The books are meant to be read, you and child together. Just go at the pace of the child. If they get the early pages quickly, move on but dont miss them out as Island builds on the early pages as it gets more complex. As your 9 year old has already done grammar, Island will be a revision but you will find the practice sentences and exercises towards the end very useful to see if she has grasped all the concepts before going on to the next level. It certainly should suit your 8 year old. There is no poetry in Grammar Island. The poetics program starts with Music of the Hemispheres, which many parents can vouch for having inspired their children to appreciate poetry for the first time. There are the basics of writing though in Grammar Island. The MCT Writing program is based on grammar and Sentence Island can be added as soon as Grammar Island is mastered, or for your older child, the next level in the Town series: Paragraph Town. If you find that Grammar Island is too simple for your 9 year old, keep it for the younger one and move on to Grammar Town. Hope this isn't too much information for now. It will all become clear as you get into the program.

MCT has posted this on the RFWP Support Forum. He takes seriously your discussion and contacted Purdue, which was mentioned in a post in this thread at the beginning. He says: "I have received a response from the Purdue University English Department Online Writing Lab concerning my inquiry about whether or not to indent after a long quotation. Here is the full response: 'While MLA is very specific about whether and how you indent long quotations themselves (see section 3.7.2 of the 7th ed. handbook), it does not directly address whether and how to indent paragraphs after long quotations. What we gather, however, is that quotations should always be integrated into the flow of the text in a grammatically and stylistically appropriate way. If the original thought after the long quotation continues the ideas of the present paragraph, then there is no need to indent and start a new paragraph after the quotation. If the original thought after the long quotation formulates a topic sentence (a new idea, a new direction), indeed, starts a new paragraph, then the first sentence after the long quotation would be indented to start that new paragraph. In short, sometimes.'" " Hope this helps!!