You get some special prices at the convention and free shipping on any order taken at the booth.

Hi, MCT is a whole LA curriculum which starts with the Island series, which was indeed originally aimed at gifted 3rd graders, but this is only Level One. There is Grammar, Vocabulary, Writing and Poetics for another 5 Levels, all in increasing depth, with Practice Books along the way.

Your purchasing history is what counts.

Hi, Sorry for the confusion. The code is given in order for you to find the offer on the website. It is not visible otherwise. So type in the code (either HSG1 for Grammar Island or HSG2 for Grammar Town) in the Search box in the left hand side of the rfwp.com website and it will take you to the books and to the offer. It will charge you $30 for the books and then $5.00 shipping. This is open until midnight (ETA) on Sunday 23th January and is for those who have already purchased Grammar Island or Grammar Voyage last year and who would like the updated version of both student book and teacher manual (as now we consider you need both to teach these). Your purchasing history will be checked before accepting your order. HTH

As people have been asking: we are delighted to let you know that Michael Clay Thompson has been invited to make presentations at: The Mid South Homeschool Convention, March 3-5, Memphis; the South East Homeschool Convention, March 17-19, Greenville, SC; the Mid-West Homeschool Convention, March 31-April 2 Cincinnati and the North East Homeschool Convention, June 23-25 Philadelphia, PA MCT and RFP will also be at the Curriculum Network Conference at William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA, March 9 –11 and at the North Carolina Association for the Gifted Winston-Salem, March 17-18. Look forward to seeing you!

Great. Welcome back!:grouphug: Rachel

Hi Jeri.. you should go to this link <http://rfwpsupport.com/login.php?do=lostpw>and enter your email address. Then you should be able to choose a password for yourself. Do let me know if it works as we should like you to be on the new forum. If you still have problems let me know by private message your email and preferred user name and I will get you in there manually. Best Rachel Royal Fireworks Press

Hi Alane: jumping in here from Royal Fireworks Press, publisher of MCT curriculum: Children in 6th grade begin most readily with the Voyage books, which is Level 3 of the curriculum. As well as Grammar Voyage there is Practice Voyage , Essay Voyage, Ceasar's English 2 and World of Poetry. If your child is a Gifted 6th grader however, Level 4 may be appropriate: Magic Lens 1 and Word Within the Word 1. There are sample pages on the website for each of these books. Other homeschoolers will help, as will Dr Tom Kemnitz at Royal Fireworks Pres. He should be in the NY office from tomorrow: tel (845) 726 4444 Hope this helps. Rachel

:001_smile:Thank you so much for sharing this.. makes us at Royal Fireworks Press happy too and I will make sure that MCT himself sees it.

Hi, the Royal Fireworks Press edition is the same as the Seton Press edition (minus typos) and the Teacher Book is essentially an answer key. http://rfwp.com/5346.htm HTH Rachel Royal Fireworks Press

PS: LOVE your photos on FB. Thanks!!

I should say that it is written with the Middle School student in mind, but I think it would be useful almost any age....

Here is a foretaste of the Guide to Literary Terms, which may help:): In the Preface the authors write: We hope this toolbox of vocabulary enables students to define and discuss all aspects of literature and allows them to unlock the mysteries behind the imagery created by great minds. and an example of a stylistic technique: Irony Types of Irony: Cosmic Irony A literary device that contrasts what a character attempts to become and what actually happens, due to forces of the universe. Example: When protagonist Henry in Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage thinks he has survived he instead is suddenly “war†confronted with the true attack or second assault. Dramatic Irony Also called Tragic Irony, this occurs when what a character says or believes contradicts what the audience knows to be true. In these circumstances, a character’s words and actions have one meaning for the character and an entirely different meaning for the audience. Example: In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, when John Proctor “forgets†the specific Commandment against adultery, his audience senses the dramatic irony of his Freudian omission. Situational Irony A literary device in which the expected action and the actual action are in direct contrast, usually due to forces out of the control of the characters. Example: Some of the situations that occur with Willie Loman in Miller’s Death of a Salesman are, lamentably, ironic. Structural Irony This occurs when a naïve protagonist holds a view or outlook that differs from the one the author holds. The reader will usually feel intellectually superior to the protagonist, and empathy for the hero often suffers. Example: In Gulliver’s Travels, Swift uses structural irony effectively when his naïve narrator relates tales and judgments of people whom he encounters through the skewed lens of conservative morality/ pride. Verbal Irony A figure of speech in which a character says one thing but actually means the opposite. Sarcasm often falls into the classification of verbal irony. Example: When Hamlet says, “I am too much i’ the sun,†he is using both a pun (sun/son) and verbal irony. Table of Contents: Section I: Literary Forms and Genres.... Section II: An Introduction to Style........... Section III: The Novel and Short Story..... Section IV: Drama or the “Play†Section V: The Poem............... Section VI: Film Studies.... Section VII: Literary Movements/Periods.... Section VIII: Media Literacy.. References and Bibliography

It is being printed now.:001_smile: Rachel

All the MCT books in the curriculum can be used individually as stand alones, but with the cumulative ones (Caesar's English 1 and 2; Word Within a Word 1, 2 and 3 and Magic Lens 1,2, and 3), you had best start with the first. This may be obvious but still worth saying!

A rigorous, sequential and creative Language Arts Curriculum: Grammar, Vocabulary, Writing and Poetics, by Michael Clay Thompson from Royal Fireworks Press.

Hi Beth! Welcome to the homeschool yahoo group! Sorry about having to decline your membership of the classroom forum. Glad you understood :001_smile:Yahoo seem to leave no option once you have applied. We do have problems with the names of the group but it is now clearer on the RFWP website that MCTLA is the parents' homeschool forum; MCTteachers is for classroom teachers. Rachel

Hi: The online price is the price.. there are no ebooks as yet. You can get away with just the Teacher Manual for the poetry books. Re: the Parent books for WWW: This is on the RFWP website: "Where possible, we provide the full text of the student manual in the teacher manual, so home schools need only purchase the teacher manual. This does not work for Word Within the Word and Magic Lens , both of which require more intensive testing on the part of the parents. Our solution has been to create low-cost Home School Parent Answer Manuals for Word and Lens; these give the parent a separate book from the student at the same cost as the Teacher Manual. They provide all the answers to the exercises, and they contain every word [and more] about implementation that is in the Teacher Manual. The tests that are provided in the Home School Parent Answer Manuals are different in content but not in structure from those in the Teacher Manual. This arrangement serves two purposes: first and most importantly it enables parents to test their children and because the tests are in a separate book, student access to them can be restricted. Second, it enables school teachers to use the tests in the Teacher Manual for assessment and for grades that will appear on transcripts without the concern that some parents may obtain the Teacher Manual and thereby give their children an unfair advantage. For this last reason the sale of the Teacher Manual is restricted only to teachers at their school addresses. Parents should know that that the volumes they get are different only in the content of the tests; all other information in the Teacher Manual is in the Parent Manual." HTH :001_smile: Rachel

Regarding Cathy Duffy's review and the recommendation to start from the beginning. This is what she says: ," I would suggest starting at the beginning of the series in most situations since there is a cumulative “building†process that occurs with these books that might be difficult to plug into midstream." The key phrase is 'most situations' with the 'building process' most applying to the secondary vocabulary (Word Within the Word) and grammar books (Magic Lens). At the earlier stages, it is quite OK to start at an appropriate age/grade level. RFWP says: For children who would be in grades 3 through 5, it is most often appropriate to introduce them to materials at their grade level. HTH Rachel

You asked whether or not there is writing poetry as well as analyzing.. yes there is. The logic part of your question I will have to investigate...any views out there? The Teachers' book has the student book within it so you can indeed just use that. Rachel

OK. Understood. Forums are certainly better as you get the users' true opinions. But we do hope to get more comprehensive views of the books on the website..eventually!

Have you looked at the website for the poetry books? There are sample pages and descriptions: http://www.rfwp.com/series36.htm And a video clip (handheld camera by me so apologies for wobbles but it was such a fun presentation), of MCT presenting his vision of teaching poetics and leading his audience into hearing the sound of words: http://www.rfwp.com/video.php#5 This is what MCT himself says: "Poetry is the victim of false stereotypes and misunderstandings about what it really is. We tend to relegate poetry to the sidelines...ignoring all the technical wizardry that really makes them poems. If students don't learn about poetic techniques, they will be unable to appreciate great prose, because the great prose writers all wrote poetry too, and used those devices in their novels, plays and essays." I agree that Building Poems ( recommended for 4/5th grade gifted and equivalent to the Town level) could be a good place to start for a 6th grader. Parents using the books describe how the whole family, even though they thought they didnt like 'poetry', have come to appreciate 'poetics' in everyday life as well as in their reading. HTH Rachel

So sorry Ann got lost in the system when she called Royal Fireworks Press. So many of you report good experiences and so many are so helpful here on the forum. Another way to get advice is to join the Yahoo Group for homeschoolers: MCTLA. (There are nearly 1,000 members now). We are indeed relatively new to the homeschooling community but absolutely thrilled that not only the MCT curriculum but other books are being taken up so enthusiastically. (We have been in schools for more than twenty years and claim to have more titles than any other publisher for gifted education). This year we are going to some homeschool conventions for the first time: Seattle this week, then NoVa (thanks to MariannNOVA), Phoenix and Atlanta in July and lastly Chicago in August. We also meet some parents at conferences like NAGC or Ohio Gifted. Do keep calling and posting! Best wishes to all Rachel, Royal Fireworks Press

The RFWP book about literary terms coming out next month is not part of the MCT curriculum. Any relation to it is purely incidental...though the authors teach at the last school at which MCT taught: Sycamore School in Indiana. A useful 100-page handbook, the book is called A Middle School Guide to Literary Terms and the authors describe it as 'a toolbox of vocabulary' for literary analysis. It covers style, literary genres and periods and also film studies. HTH Rachel

This is so cool.. we are so pleased that you 'get' the idea of how the novels can help and enhance your studies in other areas. We took a great deal of trouble to cross-reference several hundred novels we have in print so that you can search in the website by grade level,subject, and/or geographical area, as well as by author and title. Enjoy! Rachel