Yet another MCT thread from a newbie?

[snipsnsnailsx5]

I keep seeing all this MCT talk. I finally realized what MCT stands for. I looked at the website and I really like the looks of this program. I like how thorough it is and how it seems to cover everything I wanted to be covered.

I spent days, weeks, months researching curriculum this summer but I never came across this (and I just joined this site a couple weeks ago!). I'm sorry I didn't see this sooner.

 

I have a 6th grader, 3rd grader and 1st grader. I'm happy with my 1st grader's curriculum right now (Explode the Code, WWE, FLL and AAS for his language arts programs). I also am happy with my 3rd grader's curriculum so far, except not so much on the literary/reading side. I had planned on doing LLATL but I'm not thrilled with it, and really its just confusing me on how to use it. I read the teachers manual intro about it, but it still confuses me. Do you do the lessons from front to back, or do you take pieces of diff sections to make up your lesson? Anyway...off topic.

 

Mostly I am not happy with what I chose for my 6th grader though which was LLATL, Winston Grammar, and AAS. There were parts about each I liked but overall I'm not pleased yet. I like the literary aspects of LLATL however its not moving fast enough yet (and again, LLATL confuses me). I liked the grammar aspects of Winston Grammar but it also is moving way tooo slowly for my son. And I chose AAS for my 11 yr old because it seems he never learned about why certain letters make certain sounds when he was in school. He pretty much taught himself to read, and then just breezed through any reading lessons in school...so he never got those beginning lessons on phonograms, etc. I see it come out in the way he pronounces words he hasn't come across before...like tonight he pronounced charisma as "karis-ma" (putting emphasis on ma) rather then "kar-iz-ma" (putting emphasis on 'iz'). I don't know if AAS will help with knowing how to better pronounce new words he comes across, but that was my plan.

 

So anyway, long intro there - but I wonder if MCT would be a better fit for him. I think so, but I really don't know much or anything about it.

I know its expensive. haha Especially since I've already got all this other curriculum (Dh will kill me! ;) )

 

But I wonder if its worth it to purchase? I assume I'd start out with the Voyage level?

Can you ladies help sell me on this program? What are the pros and cons?

 

THanks!

[Shawna in Texas]

Welcome! :D

 

I don't know anything about AAS, but I've started my 12yo with Megawords. She reads at high volume, but mispronounces large words.

 

As for MCT, well, if you've not searched the archives, or tags (especially), you might want to take a while to do that. We've had many spirited conversations over the past year and there's some great info there. My dd did Town in 6th grade. We could have done Voyage, but we would have had to back up the writing portion. Paragraph Town was my very favorite piece of curriculum. If he's writing essays well now, then Voyage is fine. It really comes down to the writing with this program.

[SBP]

I am really, really loving MCT, but it's hard to say if it would be a good fit for someone else. I wish I could tell you, "Yes! Go spend that money! You won't be sorry!" but all I can tell you is that I haven't been sorry, and I truly think if it cost twice as much I would still be buying it.

 

As the previous poster suggested, I would think seriously of starting with the Town level, especially since you have youngers who might use it later. I started with just Paragraph Town and Caesar's English last year (6th), and I wouldn't want to have missed either of those books. In hindsight, I wish we'd used the whole Town level, but like you, I'd already invested in one grammar program and didn't want to buy another. However, now that we're doing the Voyage level in its entirety, I see that much of the richness of the program lies in the way each component reinforces the others.

 

A couple of things to consider:

 

- Do you have an hour or so a day to spend teaching LA to your 6th grader? MCT is not a hand-them-a-workbook kind of program. It doesn't require a lot of teacher prep time, but it does require teacher involvement pretty much every day. I have two kids at the same level, so this isn't really an issue for me, but moms with children at many different levels often have to choose carefully which subjects get the most intensive teacher time. The best curriculum in the world won't do your student any good if it's gathering dust because you don't have the time to use it.

 

- Does your son have a sense of whimsy? My son was just-turned-12 when we started Paragraph Town, and he loved it. I mean LOVED it. The silliness of those talking ducks won all of our hearts. But I've certainly known boys that age who would think it was "babyish" and dislike it based on that alone. I will say that there is nothing remotely silly about either level of Caesar's English, and the Voyage level has a more serious tone overall. We were actually a little disappointed about that ;).

 

- Generally, you can save some $ with the MCT materials if you order just the teacher's books. Most of the answers are in the back of the book, and if you're working one-on-one with your student, the TM is fine. However, if you decide to go with the Voyage level, I would suggest ordering both the teacher and student books of Essay Voyage. For whatever reason, EV is set up a little differently, and all the answers are on the main pages.

 

Hope something here helps!

 

SBP

Edited September 12, 2010 by SBP

[Capt_Uhura]

What SBP said! :iagree:

[Matryoshka]

What SBP said! :iagree:

 

:iagree: Me too! My 6th graders did Town last year as well.