Michael Clay Thompson/5th grade

[alpidarkomama]

I have perused a dizzying number of previous posts on MCT materials, and I didn't find an answer to my question yet. :)

 

DD9 is finishing up WWE4 and FLL4 and has done very well with that. Now I am trying to figure out 5th grade. I'm pretty sure I'd like to continue with Writing With Skill. I've been browsing through samples of Michael Clay Thompson materials and I'm considering using Grammar Town. Caesar's English and the poetry books look interesting too, but we have a hefty dual curriculum and I don't want to overdo it. Does anyone know approximately how much time these books take?? And is Grammar Town the right next book after FLL4? Thanks!

[highfamily]

We have done the first 3 levels. Grammar Town and Grammar Voyage are VERY similar in scope, so I think Grammar Town would be a good choice. The curriculum is structured so that the actual grammar instruction is done in the first 8 weeks or so, then it is reinforced with analyzing a sentence daily from the Practice book. I would think you could work quickly through Grammar Town, then just spend 5 minutes or so daily on the Practice sentence.

 

We did not do very many of the poetry assignments, just read together, so that did not require much time. We chose to cover this book at the end of the school year...can be done quickly.

 

Caesar's English took us 20-30 min. once a week, and it reinforces what the student is learning in grammar. I would definitely start with Caesar's English I.

 

We are adding WWS1 next year to the Voyage level with my younger students...looks like it will be a good combination.

 

Hope this helps,

Jana

[Chrysalis Academy]

It's a great combo for 5th grade. Town is the right level to start it with this age, IMO. It is very complementary with WWS. You can do them concurrently, but if you try WWS and it seems too much at the beginning, complete Paragraph Town then come back to it.

 

If you plan about an hour a day of LA time, you should be able to do 1 WWS lesson plus 1 MCT lesson in that time. Generally you are advised to do the Grammar book first, straight through, and if you do it that way it will take 3-4 weeks to finish, probably. Then you can do the other books, one at a time, or (preferably, I think) once a week in a loop.

 

We ended up doing GT, all, then looping through Caesar's English, Paragraph Town, and Practice Town, and saving the Poetry book for the end of the year when we don't feel like doing much of anything. ;) It works out well.