Royal Fireworks Press Blog
Poodle Knows Poetry Wins Prestigious Award!
Michael Clay Thompson has done it again! The third installment of the Poodle Series, Poodle Knows Poetry, has been named among the best in family-friendly media, products, and services by the prestigious Mom’s Choice Awards. “Our aim is to introduce families and educators to best-in-class products and services,” explains Dawn Matheson, Executive Director of the […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Newest Michael Clay Thompson Book Is Now Available!
The newest grammar book by Michael Clay Thompson is here! Poodle and the Blue Mountain Monster introduces children to the parts of the sentence. Once again we follow the adventures of Poodle the chicken; his faithful friend, a beagle named What?; and their companion Sidney, the world’s fastest snail. Now, as the three make their […]
New Videos to Learn about the MCT Language Arts Curriculum
The Michael Clay Thompson language arts curriculum is the gold standard. Schools and parents all over the country—and in some cases the world—use the MCT curriculum to give their students and their children a thorough, accessible, challenging education in the language arts. But the MCT curriculum is so comprehensive that it might be intimidating to […]
New Editions of Caesar’s English by MCT!
Royal Fireworks Press is excited to announce new editions of Caesar’s English I and Caesar’s English II. The new books feature QR codes of Michael Clay Thompson reading his poems and stories, as well as some of his expositions on the classic words. Hearing Michael read his work, especially his poems and the author quotes […]
New Editions of Three MCT Books to Celebrate National Grammar Day
Today is National Grammar Day, making it the perfect day for Royal Fireworks Press to announce the publication of a new edition of Michael Clay Thompson‘s hugely popular grammar texts: The Magic Lens. These books, in three progressive volumes for children in grades 7 and up, are enhanced with a special bonus feature: audio of […]
Michael Clay Thompson Receives ANOTHER Award!
Royal Fireworks Press is proud to announce that Michael Clay Thompson’s latest book, Poodle Knows What?, has received a Mom’s Choice Gold Award honoring excellence. The Mom’s Choice Awards program is globally recognized for establishing the benchmark of excellence in family-friendly media, products, and services. This comes on the heels of Practical Homeschooling‘s announcement that […]
Another Honor for the MCT Language Arts Curriculum
The readers of Practical Homeschooling magazine have voted Michael Clay Thompson’s language arts curriculum the best for online instruction. The MCT curriculum is taught in many online classes from many different sources. The luckiest children are those who are instructed by Michael Clay Thompson himself in the Royal Fireworks Online Learning Community. The students, as […]
Why Take an MCT Language Arts Course from the Royal Fireworks Press Online Learning Community?
Because there is no better way of learning language arts than from the master himself. Michael Clay Thompson has been teaching his language arts curriculum online for Royal Fireworks Press for the last few years. Students receive more than just the information in the textbooks; they receive Michael’s professional instruction and personalized feedback. Here is a recent comment […]
A Letter to Michael Clay Thompson from Grateful Parents
Our thanks to the family for this letter and for permission to publish it with the names changed. Dear Michael, I wanted to take a moment to tell you how grateful Hazel’s father and I are to you for being such a wonderful teacher to our daughter last semester. Your Mud Trilogy, which she read […]
We Must Advocate for Real Reading by Michael Clay Thompson
If I ruled the world (I recently observed that this is increasingly unlikely), every school system in the United States would make a powerful literature program the centerpiece of its educational strategy. The opposite is what is happening; school systems are ditching real literature for dumbed-down textbooks, with exactly the effects on students’ minds that […]
The Life-Changing Moments that Resulted in the MCT Curriculum by Michael Clay Thompson
In my history with Royal Fireworks Press, there have been two momentous events without which the MCT curriculum would never have been possible. One was, clearly, my first encounter with Dr. Tom Kemnitz, the very embodiment of fanaticism about curriculum and the lives of children that I myself felt. The MCT language arts curriculum reveals […]
The Problem of Evaluation by Michael Clay Thompson
I’ve always had a certain mistrust of evaluation. Haven’t you, too? The warning signs are plentiful. Do you remember that wonderful paper you wrote that the professor misunderstood or criticized, not because it was bad but because it jangled his preferences? Do you remember the papers you tried to grade (think about that word: grade), […]
Common Core and American Nonfiction: Some Thoughts by Michael Clay Thompson
The Common Core standards have been adopted in the majority of states, to our relief or disappointment, depending upon our understanding of the standards. My impression is that some of the negative reactions to Common Core have not so much to do with the standards themselves as with how they are interpreted or implemented. Let […]
Assessing the Cult of Assessment by Michael Clay Thompson
Those new to the MCT language arts curriculum might be puzzled by the absence of sets of stock worksheets and assessments, which other curricula commonly include as the things for students to do. Many programs feature activities that center around pencils, in which students sit silently to fill in blanks, connect matchings, write short answers […]
Education: It’s Not on the Test by Dr. Thomas Kemnitz
This is such a great time to produce educational materials. With digital photography, printing, and delivery, it is possible to do so many more exciting things now than it ever was in the past. I was struck by the enhanced possibilities that technological change has fostered when I came to write the Greek history and […]
Michael Clay Thompson Wins Gifted Education Award
Michael Clay Thompson has won the prestigious Richard W. Riley Award for “superior services to the gifted community.” Given by the South Carolina Consortium for Gifted Education at its annual conference, President Marva Tigner presented the award to Michael for his unique contribution to teaching gifted children, both nationally and locally. His grammar, vocabulary, writing, […]