Michael Clay Thompson English books?

[theologianmom]

Has anyone used these? What is your opinion? I have a DD8, DS 7, DD3, and baby, but I would use them with the elder two, who are each about 2 to 4 grades above grade level in reading and language skills.

 

Thanks!

Angela

[radiobrain]

You should search MCT in the thread search. There will be PLENTY for you to look through and oodles of opinions. ;)

 

I am a very happy MCT user.

 

As far as what level to start with, Island level is great for those ages, but you might want to start with Town, if you think your kids can handle it. That will be a decision only you can make. :D

[theologianmom]

What do you like about it, if I might ask? My dd8 is doing Writing Tales now, but she's not thrilled with it. I thin she finds it tedious.

[radiobrain]

It is my favorite curriculum I have ever bought. It is as close to the way my brain works as anything I have ever seen... I usually need to tweak things A LOT, with MCT, that is not the case.

 

Please go search the boards.... many of us MCT devotees spent a long time on all this already, and I doubt that we want to rehash it. ;)

[catz]

Has anyone used these? What is your opinion? I have a DD8, DS 7, DD3, and baby, but I would use them with the elder two, who are each about 2 to 4 grades above grade level in reading and language skills.

 

Thanks!

Angela

 

There is a lot out on the board about this series, but I'm not yet tired of pitching this series! :) I used the Island level this year with a GT 3rd grader who is reading at early high school level. And it was great. Since your kids are exactly the right age to start at the beginning, I would unless they have done a lots of in depth grammar. You can use it at a deeper level with your older. We did a lot more writing than was suggested in the series (like written narrations based on something we were doing in history or science, or summaries of field trips, stories, etc). The other good thing about starting at the beginning is there are big leaps between the levels and you will probably be well set up to keep moving in the series. Not to mention, the first level is really fun! My 5 year old enjoyed it too, but I will come back to it with her as a 2nd or 3rd grader.

 

My own kid is HG-PG and I love how this series just throws everything at them very quickly. It's in a kid friendly format but the content is deep and above level. I had a jr. high English teacher tell me she teaching the same content to 7th and 8th graders after she looked at the series. It has worked very well for us and it's the only curriculum that has worked well for my son with the exception of Singapore math.

[Crimson Wife]

I would base placement on the writing portion. My DD started the "town" level back in January. The grammar was mostly review for her and the vocab & poetics were at the right level as well. However, I think she would've gotten more out of Paragraph Town had I waited a year or two. She definitely won't be ready for Essay Voyage in the fall. What I may do is continue on with Ceasar's English 2 and hold off on the rest for a while. Then, I'm thinking of doing a quick refresher of PT before she starts EV.

[theologianmom]

Thanks, ladies! I'll search the boards for more. This was helpful.

[Chaqar]

I agree with the above and think it would work well for you to combine your two oldest. My boys (just turned 9 and 7 1/2) started it in April and BEG for it daily. I love the visuals and clever stories. It assumes the student is intelligent and that grammar is inherently interesting. Wonderful!