Royal Fireworks Press Blog: 2021
Ring Out 2021 on a High Note for Children!
Beginning tomorrow, we have some extraordinary three-day workshops for kids. For young children, nothing can top Michael Clay Thompson reading his latest book, Poodle Knows Poetry. It’s funny, it’s silly, it’s full of high-level intellectual play, it’s educational, it’s challenging, and Michael can read it like nobody else can. Kids will love exploring poetics with […]
High-Level Fun for Children during Winter Break!
The Royal Fireworks Online Learning Community is offering a variety of three-day workshops for children during the winter break. Structured as an hour each day on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, these workshops are designed to develop kids’ creativity, resourcefulness, knowledge, and skills, as well as to give them a positive alternative to video games or […]
It’s the last day of fall semester, but it’s the perfect day to sign up for spring courses!
At the Royal Fireworks Online Learning Community, we’re celebrating the last day of our fall courses and the successful semester that so many of our students have had. It has been five months of learning, growth, and satisfaction for the more than 1,000 kids who are part of our Online Learning Community. Online learning with […]
A New Story that Teaches Young Children Multiplication!
Royal Fireworks is excited to announce the next book in the Awesum Alex series: Awesum Alex, Math Detective: The Multiplication Problem. Children who have been following Alex and her friends through the addition and subtraction books will be thrilled to encounter them again as they learn how to multiply! The Awesum Alex series is different from […]
Announcing a New Philosophy Book!
“When I was in college, I took a philosophy course. I thought it would be interesting to learn about different ways to approach the big questions in life. The course was a lecture, and we were told names and dates and theories by the professor. We were given handouts about different philosophical movements and what […]
MCT Level 1 now on Kindle!
Royal Fireworks Press is excited to announce that Level 1 of the MCT language arts curriculum is now available in digital form as a series of Kindle books! Level 1 of the MCT curriculum includes both student and instructor books for Grammar Island, Building Language, Sentence Island, The Music of the Hemispheres, Practice Island, and […]
NEW Online Arts Courses and Workshops in the RFOLC!
“As a dyslexic boy, I did much of my thinking using colors, shapes, and patterns rather than verbal language. I learned to read by the shapes of the words rather than by sounding out the letters. In this I was like many gifted dyslexic children. I had a great advantage in my development from basic […]
A Special Holiday Offer from Royal Fireworks Press!
It may be Black Friday today, but don’t spend all your money before you read this. Royal Fireworks Press is making a special offer, running from Black Friday through Cyber Monday, that MCT fans won’t want to miss! For four days only, we’re giving away special posters of beautiful scenes featuring the quirky characters from […]
Announcing a Helpful Video to Guide Homeschoolers New to MCT
At Royal Fireworks Press, we are proud of our award-winning curricula, including most notably the MCT language arts curriculum, created by beloved author Michael Clay Thompson. Many homeschooling families come to us interested in this program for their children, but they can be overwhelmed by the scope of information when they’re first introduced to it. […]
It’s Time to Sign Kids Up for Online Winter Workshops!
The Royal Fireworks Online Learning Community has set up our annual winter workshop session! This session runs for three weeks between the end of the fall semester and the start of the spring term. Each workshop lasts for three days and costs only $75. We have workshops in a variety of subjects, and we’ll be […]
Announcing the Newest Book by Michael Clay Thompson!
Royal Fireworks Press is thrilled to announce that the newest book by Michael Clay Thompson is now available! The book will be printed this week, and we’re taking preorders beginning immediately! Poodle Knows Poetry is the third book in the Poodle series, Michael’s preliminary-level books for kids ages 6-9. Children who befriended Poodle the chicken […]
Royal Fireworks Students Win Big in Writing Contest!
Royal Fireworks is excited to announce that five of the students in our Online Learning Community creative writing courses won or placed in the international Saugus Halloween writing contest! At all three levels—elementary, middle school, and high school—first place went to one of our young writers. In addition, Royal Fireworks students also won second place […]
Science Resources for the Next Generation of Leaders and Innovators!
October is Energy Awareness Month, but it seems as though that designation probably isn’t necessary this year. Between the various issues of energy costs and sustainability, topics such as energy production and availability are top of mind to many people right now. From the current energy crisis in drought-stricken areas of the western U.S. that […]
October is Emotional Wellness Month, and that goes for kids, too!
The month of October has been designated Emotional Wellness Month, and while many groups and organizations will be focused on how to help people achieve less stress in their lives and find balance between their work life and their home life, we at Royal Fireworks Press want to make sure that children aren’t left out […]
Does math SCARE your child? Make it fun with these SPOOKY math books!
Plenty of children think of math as an absolute nightmare, but it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, math can be—dare we say it?—spooktacular! Before your child protests that there’s not a ghost of a chance that that’s true, check out the Mathematical Nights Math Fiction books from Royal Fireworks Press, a phantasm…er, […]
An Interdisciplinary—and Very Human—Approach to Math
Children need to learn math; it’s one of the subjects that has always been a core of academic learning. However, for many children, math is an uninteresting series of operations—cold, impersonal, and meaningless. Royal Fireworks Press has been working to change that. Our Mathematical Lives series, by author Robert Black, combines math and language arts […]
An Arts Curriculum for Kids!
We at Royal Fireworks Press have fielded many inquiries lately about instructing children in the arts, which includes the visual arts, music, dance, and drama. While we’re known for our award-winning MCT English language arts curriculum, as well as our varied course offerings in the Royal Fireworks Online Learning Community (which include courses in subjects […]
With a Book about Texas, the American History Collection Is Complete!
Royal Fireworks Press is excited to announce the publication of the last set of books in the Adventures on the American Frontier collection: Brave Men of Early Texas. This set of books, available as both a four-chapter novel and a series of four dyslexia-friendly books, chronicles the colorful and tumultuous history of Texas, from the […]
It’s Not too Late to Register for Online Courses!
The first classes for many Royal Fireworks Online Learning Community courses will be held this coming week, and there’s still time to register for them! We are proud of the intellectual heft of our courses. We offer learning opportunities well beyond those open to most students before they get to college. There are two courses […]
There’s Still Time to Register for Select Online Courses!
There is still time to register for the Royal Fireworks Online courses that are already underway. A few of those courses are closed, but most of them are still open for students to join. The previous sessions have been recorded, which makes it possible for students to catch up. The recordings are also a major […]
Immerse Children in Early American History!
George Washington: First president of the United States, Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, guy with wooden dentures (sorry, folks, that thing about his teeth is not actually true). We all know some basic facts about Washington (or we think we do). But did you also know that as a young man, he experienced a treacherous […]
Newly Revised Mathematical Reasoning Books for Kids!
Royal Fireworks Press is excited to reintroduce the Problemoids mathematical reasoning books for children in grades 4, 5, and 6! These books give children an opportunity to put on their thinking caps to try to figure out the solutions to challenging problems in mathematics, mathematical reasoning, and basic logic. The books emphasize problem-solving strategies that […]
The Royal Fireworks Online School Extends Registration!
Fall semester begins on Monday, August 16th, in the Royal Fireworks Online Learning Community, but we are delaying the beginning of our school year for some of our courses until the week of September 13th (after the week of Labor Day). We made this decision based on feedback from parents because of the uncertainty that […]
The Royal Fireworks Online Learning Community Continues to Grow!
As July ends, we at the Royal Fireworks Online Learning Community are still adding courses for the upcoming fall semester. Our community of young scholars continues to grow, and so does the number of instructors and courses. One innovation this fall is the addition of evening courses, particularly those taught by Michael Clay Thompson. This […]
Our Favorite Novels, Just in Time for Summer Reading!
We at Royal Fireworks Press are pretty selective about what we choose to publish. We’re proud of the high quality of our products, as well as the high level of intellectual heft that many of them offer to children. We have a huge catalog of offerings, and some of them have been out for a […]
The Adventures Collection Grows Again!
Royal Fireworks Press is pleased to release our newest set of books in the Adventures on the American Frontier series: Resolute Men of the Illinois Country, available as both a novel and as a series of books with special features for children with dyslexia and other reading disorders. The title of this book may not […]
Royal Fireworks Wins Best Curriculum Award for the Third Year in a Row!
Royal Fireworks has done it again! We’re delighted and honored to announce that we have won a Best Middle & High School Homeschool Curriculum & Resources award from How To Homeschool for the third consecutive year. With hundreds of nominations and rigorous criteria to win, we’re grateful for this recognition. How To Homeschool is a helpful […]
Leonardo DiCaprio’s “The Revenant”—but for kids
By all accounts, the movie The Revenant, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, was a box office hit, grossing $533 million worldwide and winning an impressive number of awards. It has been described as “gripping,” “intense,” and “gorgeous,” but also “mature,” “tense,” and “violent” (it’s rated R), which makes it a great movie for adults but not so […]
Coming Soon: The MCT Language Arts Curriculum on Kindle!
We at Royal Fireworks Press are bursting with the news: We’re producing the entire MCT curriculum as digital eBooks on the Kindle platform! And we won’t be stopping there. We’ll be converting many of our titles to eBooks, starting with our most popular and newest offerings, to give you the option of using our print […]
Royal Fireworks Is Undergoing a Major Digital Overhaul!
Royal Fireworks Press has been publishing books for children and the adults who care for them since 1977, and during that time, we’ve gone through a lot of changes. And now, we’re thrilled to announce that we’re in the process of undergoing an enormous change: a system-wide digital overhaul. This includes a brand new, user-friendly […]
A Book to Get Kids Outdoors and Learning about Science
When most people think of ants, they think of irritating pests that invade kitchens and make picnics a lot less fun. Really, what else is there to know? Well, apparently there’s a great deal, and almost all of us have spent too much of our lives under-valuing the incredible little critters that we often step […]
A Book We Love Made Even Better
In 2020, the pandemic drove more people to enjoy the outdoors than at any time in recent history. But taking a walk is one thing; appreciating nature as a glorious classroom of exploration and wonder that can bring families closer together in meaningful ways is something else. Nature Study for the Whole Family, the award-winning […]
An Array of Online Learning Options for Kids
The 2020-21 school year was difficult for many people across the country as schools, teachers, students, and their parents struggled to adjust to remote learning. However, many children in the Royal Fireworks Online Learning Community have thrived. They have found that online schooling—free of all that actual school entails—is preferable for them. Many of these […]
The Legacy of Asa Briggs
by Dr. Thomas Milton Kemnitz, founder and president of Royal Fireworks Press May 7th, 2021, is the 100th anniversary of the birth of the man whose educational vision plays an enormous part in the shape and diversity of Royal Fireworks Press and our Online Learning Community. He is Asa Briggs, who became Baron Briggs of […]
A Book of Art and One Man’s Creative Process
In the 1990s, artist Frederick Franck created two series of images: one a retelling of the Way of the Cross, depicting Jesus’s journey from being condemned to death to rising again after dying, and the other of the parable of the oxherd, which represents the ten stages of Zen practice. Those images were translated into […]
A Novel for Children about Alexander the Great
When students learn about Alexander the Great, they usually get the same few paragraphs in a history book about what the man did and how those actions influenced what was to come. Maybe they get a picture. What they don’t get is a personal introduction to Alexander himself and an in-depth look at the significant […]
A Book for Making Math Fun for Young Children
Math is important. It is crucial for navigating the world today, and learning it is essential. It is considered a core subject for a reason, and children everywhere—in every part of the world, in every learning environment—need to know, at the very least, the basic mathematical functions of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, although knowing […]
An Important and Timely Series of Historical Novels Reissued
Royal Fireworks Press announces a major update and revision to an important series of historical novels: the Homesteaders series. This collection of six books follows two families as they leave their home in Norway in the 1860s and journey to America in the hopes of building a life for themselves and their children in the […]
A New Book about an Unsung Hero
Royal Fireworks Press is pleased to offer the latest installment in the Mathematical Lives series of biographical novels by author Robert Black. Benoit Mandelbrot: Reshaping the World is a fascinating look at one of the most influential mathematicians of the twenty-first century—although most people have never heard of him. Benoit Mandelbrot was a Polish Jew […]
Another Award for a Michael Clay Thompson Book!
At Royal Fireworks Press, we didn’t need another award to tell us that Michael Clay Thompson’s books are extraordinary. And if you’ve read any of his works, you don’t need someone else to tell you that, either. Michael is one of the most gifted writers of curricula for children that the English language has ever […]
RFWP Book on Giftedness Wins Award
Royal Fireworks Press is proud to share the exciting news that The Essential Guidebook for Parents of Gifted Children has been awarded a Gold Mom’s Choice Award for excellence! The announcement was made on Monday, securing The Essential Guidebook’s place among the outstanding books that Mom’s Choice has named as “the best in family-friendly media, […]
New Books for Children Who Struggle to Read, and a New Novel for Those Who Don’t
There’s a great deal of controversy surrounding the colonization of America. It was either the settlement of a new land of promise for the masses of people who came from Europe and elsewhere to try to establish for themselves a better life, or it was the brutal enslavement and terrorization of tribes of indigenous peoples […]
A New Novel about Deafness
Imagine that you are deaf. You’ve done that. We’ve all done it. What would it be like not to be able to hear sounds anymore? It would be difficult, certainly. You’d have to learn sign language. You’d need to become good at lip-reading. You wouldn’t be able to talk on the phone. You’d need closed […]
Royal Fireworks Press Book Wins Award!
Royal Fireworks Press is thrilled to announce that our biographical novel David Blackwell and the Deadliest Duel has been selected as a 2021 Mathical Honor Book (Grades 9-12)! The Mathical Book Prize aims to inspire a love of mathematics in the everyday world in children of all ages. Each year’s winners join a selective and […]
New Books that Tell the Story of Early America
Ouch. That last nickname is barbed. It’s also unfair. The middle region of the United States is vitally important to the rest of the country, yet it often is seen as less interesting than the areas along either coast—and certainly less worthy of anything more than a passing glance. But the midwestern and central states […]
An Extraordinary New Philosophy Book for Teens!
Royal Fireworks Press is thrilled to announce the newest Western philosophy book from Dr. Sharon Kaye! The Squirrel Behind the Tree is just the latest in Dr. Kaye’s philosophy series, which makes complex philosophical concepts and ideas easily accessible to children. The Squirrel Behind the Tree is a novel that tells a fictionalized version of […]
A New Twist on Math
Royal Fireworks Press announces the re-release of one of our classic publications: Math Verses with Twists. This math book, which originally came in four slim volumes, has been redesigned, freshly edited, and combined into a single book of 100 math problems, logic puzzles, and conundrums that will get kids thinking about math in new and […]