Royal Fireworks Press Blog
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 […]
Royal Fireworks Press Announces the Newest Book by Michael Clay Thompson!
During the past few years, Michael Clay Thompson has been teaching his language arts curriculum in the Royal Fireworks Online Learning Community to groups of lucky students. This interaction with the children has brought him great joy, a new burst of creativity, and a desire to share his vision with even younger students than those […]
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 available in three forms online. First and foremost, it is taught in many online classes from many different sources. The luckiest children are those who are instructed by Michael Clay Thompson himself […]
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 and printing, iBooks and ebooks, 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 […]
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, […]