Michael Clay Thompson: Levels and Homeschool Packages

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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. 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 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 Complete 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.

Extra copies of the student books: If you have more than one child studying at any of the levels and need an extra set of student books, we offer packages of additional student books. However, this offer is only available to those who also have purchased a Complete or Basic Package. Please do not order these supplementary books unless you have purchased the relevant level package from us within the past three months; we will not fill orders for customers who do not meet this qualification, and your order will be delayed while we establish contact with you and collect the additional amount due. Thank you!

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Packages in this series

1. MCT Level 1 Basic Homeschool Package
2. MCT Level 1 Complete Homeschool Package
3. MCT Level 1 Additional Student Books
4. MCT Level 2 Complete Homeschool Package

5. MCT Level 2 Additional Student Books
6. MCT Level 2 Complete Homeschool Package with Caesar's English I Color Edition
7. MCT Level 2 Additional Student Books with Caesar's English I Color Edition
8. MCT Level 3 Complete Homeschool Package

9. MCT Level 3 Additional Student Books
10. MCT Level 3 Complete Homeschool Package with Caesar's English II Color Edition
11. MCT Level 3 Additional Student Books with Caesar's English II Color Edition
12. MCT Level 4 Complete Homeschool Package

13. MCT Level 4 Additional Student Books
14. MCT Level 5 Complete Homeschool Package
15. MCT Level 5 Additional Student Books
16. MCT Level 5 Complete Homeschool Package with The Word Within the Word I Color Edition

17. MCT Level 5 Additional Student Books with The Word Within the Word I Color Edition
18. MCT Level 6 Complete Homeschool Package
19. MCT Level 6 Additional Student Books
20. MCT Level 6 Complete Homeschool Package with The Word Within the Word II Color Edition

21. MCT Level 6 Additional Student Books with The Word Within the Word II Color Edition
22. MCT Level 7 Complete Homeschool Package
23. MCT Level 7 Additional Student Books
24. MCT Level 7 Complete Homeschool Package with The Word Within the Word III Color Edition

25. MCT Level 7 Additional Student Books with The Word Within the Word III Color Edition

MCT Level 1 Basic Homeschool Package

Order code: HO3B

This is the basic Michael Clay Thompson language arts curriculum for children at Level 1, the Island Level. It includes both student books and teacher books for the grammar and practice strands of the curriculum but only teacher manuals for the vocabulary, writing, and poetics strands.