MCT LEVEL 4 Basic Homeschool Package - Package by Royal Fireworks Press

This Student Book of the Third Edition of Magic Lens Vol 1 is entirely based on the four-level sentence analysis. This analysis of parts of speech, parts of sentence, phrases, and clauses, is Michael Clay Thompson's original and enormously successful approach to teaching grammar.

The Student Books and Teacher Manuals are now in full color. There is improved layout and enhanced sentence diagramming, whilst the "loops” of the previous edition and class tests are on a CD with the Teacher Manual. Punctuation is dealt with at each level of the analysis.

 sample page (pdf file)

This is the homeschool parent's manual to accompany the new, Third Edition of Volume One Magic Lens, launched March 2011. It is now entirely based on four-level sentence analysis. This book is in black and white, whilst the student book is full-color throughout.

Grammar is an easily teachable subject because its concepts are so few and well defined and there are only forty or so terms to grasp to understand the elements of basic grammar.

It is the fundamental starting point for the MCT Curriculum which recommends front-loading language arts teaching with grammar. Then Vocabulary and Writing and Poetics can be added once the student has grasped the basics: Parts of speech, Parts of the sentence, Phrases, and Clauses.

This book accompanies the Student Manual (Order Code: 7901). It does not replace it. Homeschoolers need both.

The 4Practice1 Workbook provides an extra 100 practice sentences for four-level analysis.

The CD of 'Loops" is an optional extra for those who wish even more practice.

The upper grades of Practice Sentences make a breath-taking addition to the Language Arts Curriculum by Michael Clay Thompson.

The huge innovation is the extension of the method of four-level analysis, beyond grammar to vocabulary, poetics and writing. For this reason the advanced level volumes have been titled 4Practice. The intellectual demands are, of course rigorous, but what makes them so pedagogically compelling is their breadth of reference.

In 4Practice Volume I, Michael Thompson has produced 100 sentences about the ancient world of the Greeks and Romans. Each sentence uses vocabulary from Word within the Word I, complements the grammar learned in Magic Lens I and the poetic devices studied in Poetry and Humanity. Each sentence challenges students on points of grammar, vocabulary, poetics and writing, and the content of many sentences will propel students to reference works to understand the context. The focus on the ancient world emphasizes the importance of classical Greek and Latin to modern English.

The practice books have fully-annotated Teacher Manuals with the correct answers filled in and comments on the sentences.

The Teacher Manuala have the sentences with the analysis completed, and comments on Grammar and Writing, notes on words or stems from The Word Within the Word, and on elements of poetics encountered poetry texts. It all comes together.

Sample pages: Introduction page 5  / page  7  / Sentence 36 page 47

We have listened to parents who wanted more material in the Parent Manual. This edition is much expanded, making it easier for you to teach your children.

Note that this Manual is a supplement to the Student Manual. It does not replace it.

This new edition of Word Within the Word Volume I is part of our planned revamping of the MCT Secondary Vocabulary series. It still has its main focus on teaching vocabulary, with the original first thirty Lessons containing Latin and Greek stems, word lists, activities and tests, but each lesson now has historical discussions and illustrations that offer students a greater understanding of the classical roots of the English language.  

In the first volume we present an extensive discussion of the history of Greece in the Classical Period from 490 to 323 BC.  There are maps, timelines, and scores of specially-taken photographs of buildings, sculpture and artefacts.  



There are  500 word stems, both Greek and Latin, followed by 250 words made of those stems. The term "stem" includes all word pieces: prefixes, suffixes, and roots.

Volume 1 features Darius and Xerxes, Leonidas and Themistocles, Cimon and Pericles, the Spartans and the Athenians, the Peloponnesian and Delian Leagues, Athenian democracy and Spartan oligarchy, Alcibiades and Socrates, and finally Philip and Alexander of Macedonia. There is an enormous amount of historical material, including descriptions of how the Spartans lived, the strategies of various battles, how people voted, the origin and practice of ostracism, the importance of the navy, and the building of the glorious Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens.

There is an enormous amount of historical material, including descriptions of how the Spartans lived, the strategies of various battles, the functioning of democracy and the jury system in Athens, the practice of ostracism, the importance of the navy in Athens, the Spartan system of education, and the building of the glorious Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens. Interspersed amongst the activity pages are vignettes of aspects of life in ancient Greece as depicted in vases, statuettes, and artifacts so that we learn not only about helmets and shields but also about hairstyles, musical instruments, and sports.

Historian, Dr TM Kemnitz, says: "Our intention is to give students enough of a picture of ancient Greece so that they can understand what occurred and why.  So much of history written for students is little more than a story devoid of meaningful context.   It is the context that helps to explain why people acted as they did, and which helps us to understand that history is not a story of actions but rather a series of reactions. The history is enrichment; the purpose of the book remains to help students learn English vocabulary, specifically the academic English of learned discourse."

There is a new Homeschool Parent Manual for this edition