Michael Clay Thompson: Levels and Homeschool Packages

FREE SHIPPING for every order (in the domestic U.S. only) that includes a Michael Clay Thompson Homeschool Package (does not apply to the Level 1 Basic Package). When you order a Homeschool Package, you can add any other books at the same time and qualify for free shipping on the entire pre-paid order. Enter MCTHSP in the voucher box in the shopping cart. (Contact us for shipping costs outside the U.S.)

The Michael Clay Thompson grammar, vocabulary, writing, poetics, and practice books are available as packages to enable you to implement a complete language arts curriculum.

The literature series is an optional add-on to enhance your child's reading and experience of classic writers.

The Levels: The books in the curriculum can be studied individually and ordered separately. However, they are designed to integrate your child’s studies, and they complement one another to provide a full language arts curriculum. Therefore, to get the most benefit, many parents choose to buy all the books at the appropriate level for their child or children so that they can teach across the spectrum of grammar, vocabulary, writing, and poetics. It is for this reason that we have put together packages that cost less than what it would cost to buy the books separately, with the literature books also available at a special price if they are purchased with a package.

Where to start? There is no hard and fast rule for knowing with which level to start. It depends, of course, on the age and competence of your child but also on how much work he or she has done in language arts. For children who would be in grades 3 to 4, it is generally better to begin at Level 1, the Island Level. For those who would be in grade 5, the second level, the Town Level, is often the better choice. And for those in grade 6, the third level, the Voyage Level, is often the best place to start. For children who are beginning the curriculum a bit later, the recommended starting point is Level 5, the Lens I Level. Where appropriate, the use of the Level 3 writing book can be used in an abbreviated way to introduce the child to the basic concepts of the essay, and the child can then move on to writing text for Level 5.

Note that Level 4, the Classic Literature Level, is a special level that does not necessarily need to be done in order. It acts as a bridge between the elementary and secondary levels of the curriculum, but it is so enriching and engaging that children who have advanced beyond this level would benefit from going back to it and completing it.

The Homeschool Packages contain a student book and a parent manual (or teacher manual) for the five components at each level of the curriculum (grammar, vocabulary, writing, poetics, and practice). This is the way Michael Clay Thompson intended his books to be used—for the child to read in the student book and for the parent or teacher to raise Socratic questions based on the extra materials in the teacher or parent manuals. With the exception of the practice books, these curriculum books are not workbooks but are books to be read and reread, with concepts as well as competencies for the child to absorb—hence also Michael's emphasis on the look and presentation of the material in the student books and his desire that each child have his or her own book.

The Basic Package for Level 1 contains only the teacher or parent manuals for the vocabulary, writing, and poetics texts. This enables parents to implement the curriculum, but it rather eviscerates the Socratic design of the implementation. These are difficult times, and economies have to be embraced wherever they can be found. Even in this configuration, however, in which the child is working out of the teacher manual and has access to the teacher materials, it is still possible to raise the Socratic questions and to pursue them—and it is generally well worth doing.

Copies of just the student books, no instructor manuals: We offer packages in each level that contain only the student books, with no parent or teacher manuals. This is especially convenient for parents who have more than one child studying the same level of the curriculum and need an extra set of student books.

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Packages in this series

1. MCT Level 1 Homeschool Package
2. MCT Level 1 Package of Student Books with No Instructor Manuals
3. MCT Level 1 Basic Homeschool Package
4. MCT Level 2 Homeschool Package

5. MCT Level 2 Package of Student Books with No Instructor Manuals
6. MCT Level 2 Homeschool Package with Caesar's English I Color Edition
7. MCT Level 2 Package of Student Books with Caesar's English I Color Edition, No Instructor Manuals
8. MCT Level 3 Homeschool Package

9. MCT Level 3 Package of Student Books with No Instructor Manuals
10. MCT Level 3 Homeschool Package with Caesar's English II Color Edition
11. MCT Level 3 Package of Student Books with Caesar's English II Color Edition, No Instructor Manuals
12. MCT Level 4 Homeschool Package

13. MCT Level 4 Package of Student Books with No Instructor Manuals
14. MCT Level 5 Homeschool Package
15. MCT Level 5 Package of Student Books with No Instructor Manuals
16. MCT Level 5 Homeschool Package with The Word Within the Word I Color Edition

17. MCT Level 5 Package of Student Books with Word I Color Edition, No Instructor Manuals
18. MCT Level 6 Homeschool Package
19. MCT Level 6 Package of Student Books with No Instructor Manuals
20. MCT Level 6 Homeschool Package with The Word Within the Word II Color Edition

21. MCT Level 6 Package of Student Books with Word II Color Edition, No Instructor Manuals
22. MCT Level 7 Homeschool Package
23. MCT Level 7 Package of Student Books with No Instructor Manuals
24. MCT Level 7 Homeschool Package with The Word Within the Word III Color Edition

25. MCT Level 7 Package of Student Books with Word III Color Edition, No Instructor Manuals

MCT Level 1 Homeschool Package

Order code: SO3C

This is the Michael Clay Thompson language arts curriculum homeschool package for children at Level 1, the Island Level. It includes both student books and teacher books for each strand of the curriculum: grammar, vocabulary, writing, poetics, and practice. Literature trilogies are not included in this package.

This package also includes an implementation booklet that provides both a general implementation guide and a detailed, week-by-week lesson plan for all strands of the curriculum, including the optional literature trilogy that is recommended for this level. The implementation booklet is ONLY available to those people who have purchased a complete pack.

This package qualifies for free shipping in the domestic U.S. on the whole pre-paid order! Enter code MCTHSP. Contact us for shipping costs outside the U.S.