Tell me all about MCT Language Arts...

[Heather in VA]

I can't figure it out from the online samples. I've looked at it occasionally over the years but have never been able to wrap my mind around exactly how it works, day to day. I have seen people make comments about it being discussion-based/socratic which is good for my daughter so I'm trying to figure it out in my head. 

 

If my primary purpose in using it would be grammar, what would I need? How do the lessons look? Which book would I start with? Are there any written grammar lessons (like a workbook) or is it all discussion? Can you use it without all 5 books? 

 

Thanks!

[EKS]

This is how it works...You open up the grammar book and start reading.  You stop where it seems good to stop.  Once you finish the grammar book, you start the practice book.  Do one sentence each day.  You do not have to use any more books than that (except for the Island level where it is good to use Sentence Island in addition to Grammar Island, but it looks like your child is older).

 

That's all there is to it.  I know it seems crazy.

 

[Heather in VA]

No - seriously - how do you use it LOL??? That's really all there is to it? And this works? With which book would you recommend starting? My daughter is 13. She is currently using Winston Grammar. We will be done in November. She isn't gifted. I know this is a gifted program, but she's a "different" learner for lack of a better term and I think she'd do well with this kind of approach. Winston has been very good but grammar programs before with a traditional 'do a bunch of sentences' were just pointless for her. Diagramming is frustrating for her so I prefer something that doesn't require lots of drawing of lines. My understanding is that MCT is more analysis and less (or no) diagramming. 

[SanDiegoMom]

We read grammar island all the way through. Then we used practice island one sentence a day together until they could do it separately. We used the poetry book on poetry day- just reading it a section at a time. Last year we added in the vocab book. We read the writing instruction book but didn't use the writing instruction.

 

I love the four level analysis - we haven't done diagramming yet but this has been working for us. It's not really scheduable - you just have to section it out yourself. There might be a schedule floating out there that someone has made. But if you want to go bare bones just make sure you get the teacher manual for the practice book. It's pretty important at least for me as I have been learning along with my kids so I won't always know the answer either!

[EKS]

No - seriously - how do you use it LOL??? That's really all there is to it? And this works? With which book would you recommend starting? My daughter is 13. She is currently using Winston Grammar. We will be done in November. She isn't gifted. I know this is a gifted program, but she's a "different" learner for lack of a better term and I think she'd do well with this kind of approach. Winston has been very good but grammar programs before with a traditional 'do a bunch of sentences' were just pointless for her. Diagramming is frustrating for her so I prefer something that doesn't require lots of drawing of lines. My understanding is that MCT is more analysis and less (or no) diagramming. 

 

It really is all there is to it (I actually had the books on the shelf for a year before starting because I couldn't figure out how to use them).  It worked better than any other grammar program we used, particularly for my dyslexic son (who was also 13).

 

There is no diagramming (at least not in the levels we used).  Once you master the four part analysis (or whatever it's called), it is *very easy* to get the diagram from there.  The weakness of the four part system is that it doesn't have the student figure out what the modifiers modify, but it is easy to add that in.  

 

Probably the best place to start would be Grammar Town, but if you think that would be too young, then do Grammar Voyage.  You need to use the practice book for whatever level you decide on.

[Heather in VA]

Ok - I think I'm getting it. Just one more question, I think :-) . What about mechanics? Would I need something separate for that? 

[Reefgazer]

It really is as simple to use as the other posters mention.  However, we didn't have time to do 2 grammar programs and so we had to ditch it because there was virtually no lessons/teaching on mechanics and DD needed that,  It's a wonderful rgammar program if a kid doesn't need attention to mechanics.  Also, the writing leaves alot to be desired, IMO.

Ok - I think I'm getting it. Just one more question, I think :-) . What about mechanics? Would I need something separate for that? 

 

[Heather in VA]

It really is as simple to use as the other posters mention.  However, we didn't have time to do 2 grammar programs and so we had to ditch it because there was virtually no lessons/teaching on mechanics and DD needed that,  It's a wonderful rgammar program if a kid doesn't need attention to mechanics.  Also, the writing leaves alot to be desired, IMO.

 

This worries me. I really don't want to have to do two things, actually 3 since we already have a writing program, and she needs mechanics. 

 

What did you switch to when you left MCT?

[lisabees]

Adding mechanics is an easy fix - you can go with Daily Language Review or Simple Solutions or Use it or Lose It.

 

Each Paragraph Lab in Paragraph Town has a punctuation activity, btw.  

[kbutton]

We use Daily Grams or Giggly Guide to Grammar for mechanics. 

[LMD]

Yes, I seem to remember some mechanics in paragraph town...

Dd is mostly through voyage, I am just starting to have her go through daily grams (gr6) just because I happen to have it on my shelf.

 

We've done mct since island and I'm really pleased with her retention.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I'm using MCT with a second kid now, and that's all we do.  We open up the book and read.  We stop when we've had enough.  Some days that is a page, and some days that is a whole section. 

 

I have thrown in some other things here or there to practice punctuation skills. 

 

 

[Clemsondana]

I got mixed up between 2 threads, so I've got some review about the MCT that we just got posted here

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/624197-anyone-have-a-review-for-mct-literature-level/

 

ETA - copied and pasted from the other one

 

 

I got the complete homeschool package for the Island level in the mail on Friday (yay, new book!).  I've had a chance to look over everything and do a little with the first book, Grammar Island, so here's the promised write-up. 

For most of the books, the difference between the teacher guide and student book is that teacher books have blocks with tips and questions to use as your students read.  I like that the pages match up - your page 15 looks like their page 15, plus a little box with a tip or question.  We actually started with Grammar Island while on a road trip Friday, and my kids passed the student book back and forth to read out loud while I could follow along in the front seat with the teacher guide and ask questions (don't worry, my husband was driving).  My MIL, a retired 3rd grade teacher, looked at it and said that she thought that it did a great job of explaining how the parts of speech work.  We've been using Growing with Grammar, and I'll probably keep using it, too (it takes us 10 min or less, 3x per week) because I think that my kids need the practice at capitalization and punctuation, but MCT really makes the parts of speech and how they're used (direct objects, linking verbs, etc) clear. 

 

In books that ask questions, the answers are in the teacher's guide in the lesson - there might be a work-around, but it wouldn't be simple to let the student work from the guide.  There are also extra activities and explanations at the end.  I think that I would probably know enough to get through it without the teacher guide, but I there are points that I wouldn't recognize, so we wouldn't get the full benefit from it.  The language book frequently shows Latin roots and then shows both the English and Spanish words that derive from the root;  this may be really cool for my family, since one child takes Latin and the other takes Spanish at co-op.  I also think that I will learn from the poetry book - I did well in English in school, including poetry, but I don't think that most of the concepts were explained so thoroughly.  I also like that he takes poetry from lots of different classical sources and point out lots of different details - meter, alliteration, types of rhyme - and also incorporates occasional art/photography that fits the poems.  I don't think that I could pull this together on my own, but it feels like what I try to do with my high school students, pulling in interesting ideas from lots of other places because I want them to think that biology is as cool as I do. 

 

I'll have to see how this works with my actual children, but I'm cautiously optimistic that it might help my kids to see language as something more than a utilitarian way of communicating.  My son, especially, is great at 'technical writing' like step-by-step directions but doesn't see the point of descriptive writing. I'll try to remember to post again once we're through the grammar and into the more interesting parts...and if this is popular, I'll be interested in checking out the trilogies and some of the other books offered by RFP... the dangers of getting a catalog from a company that you've never used before! 

 

 

Edited October 9, 2016 by ClemsonDana

[quelques_fleur]

I absolutely adore this curriculum. It is full of life and it lays out all the concepts of a somewhat complex and dry topic in simple layman's terms.  I would highly recommend registering on his forum to locate all the editing errors that crop up in the practice books.  He is quite responsive if you have any questions as well.  I recently had a lengthy exchange with him as I stumbled on a third type of predicate that he doesn't discuss in the earlier levels (we are currently in the town level).  He was quite patient with me answering all my questions and explaining himself in simple terms until I finally "got it."  It is an excellent series once you figure out how to use them.  I suggest reading through the teacher resource sections in the back of each book prior to working on each chapter in the books for help in working through them.

 

For our needs, I broke it down to a 6 level analysis:  parts of speech, parts of a sentence, phrases, clauses, sentence structure and sentence purpose.  He lumps the last three categories in level 4 of the sentence analysis but it was confusing to my son.

 

 

Edited October 10, 2016 by quelques_fleur

[TKDmom]

I'm now doing Grammar Town for the 3rd time. I just read with DS11. Today I started him on Practice Town. We aren't quite done with Grammar Town, but close enough that I'd like him to start practicing. 

 

After reading how someone else uses the 4-level analysis, I modified it a little. For parts of speech, we pick out the nouns and verbs first. Then we looks for words that modify the verbs and nouns. I have him circle the modifier and put an arrow to the word it modifies. That makes it a little easier to see relationships between words before we pick out other parts of speech. Whatever we can't figure out is probably a preposition. ;)

 

I think either Town or Voyage would be a good place to start. I haven't used Voyage, but from what I've seen of a friend's book, all three of those levels cover the same info, but the pace pick up and some additional things are added in at each level. Island covers parts of speech, parts of the sentence, prepositional phrases, independent and dependent clauses. Town adds in appositive phrases and verbal phrases (gerund, participle, and infinitives). My only complaint is that all these types of phrases are introduced in one page. I can't quite keep them straight, but I didn't work through all the practice sentences that my kids did. He goes over a minimal amount of punctuation, like when to use a comma or a semicolon to connect clauses. I don't know what Voyage adds on.

Edited October 13, 2016 by TKDmom

[AdventuresinHomeschooling]

There are some exercises in the teachers manual. Not as much in Island, but we are going through Town level now. Not here are some labeling exercises and oral exercises. The grammar is heavily applied in the writing component.

 

I use CAP too because I love it. I bought a GUM book this year for usage and mechanics, but Town level goes a lot deeper. So far, I don't know if I'll need it.

[aelgraham]

I've used MCT for two students, and yes, it is that simple. I used it after SWB's FLL so they had quite a bit of memorizing parts of speech, lists of prepositions and pronouns... etc. They had also done some simple diagramming. I love that MCT gets to the heart and beauty of grammar, but I also like that my kids had some things memorized. If you do MCT alone, just make sure you work on memorizing the lists that he tells you you should. The prepositions are especially handy.

 

Also, since they had had some diagramming practice, we do the 4-level analysis and diagram. It's not hard to add that on. We do one sentence a day.