Michael Clay Thompson: Writing Program

Michael Clay Thompson’s writing series begins with the lavishly illustrated Sentence Island. Ideally, Thompson would like children to use Grammar Island first and then proceed to Sentence Island while working concurrently with Building Language and The Music of the Hemispheres. 

The entire book is devoted to the sentence. A child who cannot write a sentence cannot write and will never be able to write, so it is essential that children master sentence writing. Most programs do not devote enough time and attention to the sentence, and hence many children do not master writing sentences at a level that provides an adequate foundation for more advanced writing.

Sentence Island teaches advanced concepts in a lively way. Understanding these concepts enables the child to write sentences that make sense, communicate ideas, and impart information. The book's approach and the wonderful illustrations demonstrate that it can be fun to write well. Although the presentation is simple, the information is sophisticated, and by the end of the book, the child is getting information not usually taught until high school or college—if at all.

This volume features an array of quirky animals, birds, insects, a talking tree, and an amazing fish whose name is Mud. From each character, Mud learns a different aspect of sentence structure. Mud and his friends proved so popular with children that Thompson was impelled to write a series of novels about them. They make enjoyable learning the rules and concepts that are the essential foundation for formal writing.

The Sentence Island instructor manual includes the full text of the student book plus special boxes that contain tips and questions for the instructor, activities for further study, suggestions for implementing the student book, and answers to questions and exercises.

Paragraph Town is at the same level as Grammar Town, Caesar's English I, and Building Poems. These four books enable instructors to implement a full language arts curriculum strongly grounded in the fundamentals.

This book gives children an entertaining and comprehensive introduction to the paragraph within the narrative of a story. The protagonists who teach the concepts are two engaging ducks who explore the importance of organizing sentences into orderly paragraphs with dialogue, description, comparison, punctuation, and grammar.

The book also contains an extensive, structured section of exercises and consists of twenty lessons, each containing in-depth exposition and assignments.

We recommend that you purchase both the student book and the teacher manual to teach this book effectively.

The Paragraph Town teacher manual includes the full text of the student book plus special boxes that contain tips and further questions for the instructor, as well as suggestions for implementing the student book, an extensive section of activities, and answers to questions and exercises.

Essay Voyage explicates the elements of the correct, formal essay—the essay expected for exams, research papers, critical responses, and other formal analyses of academic subjects. With the use of extensive examples and thorough explanation, children see that formal writing involves the correct use of words, sentences, paragraphs, punctuation, and other elements such as organized structure and unity.

The book has a journeying theme that takes readers around the world. Each chapter is followed by exercises, challenging questions, examples of good essays, and a discussion of the correct use of words taken from Caesar’s English II.

Ideally, this text should be used in conjunction with Grammar Voyage, Caesar’s English II, and A World of Poetry.

We recommend that you purchase both the student book and the teacher manual to teach this book effectively.

Note: This is a second edition of this book. It reflects the current MLA guidelines, which are substantially changed from those that were in existence when the first edition was written. As a result of those changes, the information in the first edition is now wrong, and no one should continue to use the first edition.

The Essay Voyage teacher manual includes the full text of the student book plus special boxes that contain tips and further questions for the instructor, activities for further study, suggestions for implementing the student book, and answers to questions and exercises.

Note: This is a second edition of this book. It reflects the current MLA guidelines, which are substantially changed from those that were in existence when the first edition was written. As a result of those changes, the information in the first edition is now wrong, and no one should continue to use the first edition.

The Writing of Literature is Michael Clay Thompson's seventh book about writing, but unlike the other six books, this one is about literary writing, focusing on the language of classic fiction and nonfiction. The other writing books are about formal academic writing: academic essays and research papers—the sort of nonfiction writing that all students must do in academic courses and in most professions.

Thompson writes in the introduction: "Our task is to see what writing secrets great novels can teach us about the kind of writing that we do and to absorb writing elements that help us become great readers.... Classic novelists show us deeper strategies that are not usually mentioned in school instructions for beginners. One reason the writers of immortal books are immortal is that they take commonly known writing techniques to uncommon heights, finding uncommon depth and beauty in the ways they use them."

The book contains practice exercises, essay or discussion topics, and substantial excerpts to read from classic authors, including nonfiction from James Madison, Mark Twain, Henry David Thoreau, Herman Melville, William Lloyd Garrison, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Ida M. Tarbell, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and W.E.B. Dubois. 

Note: This is a second edition of this book. It reflects the current MLA guidelines, which are substantially changed from those that were in existence when the first edition was written. As a result of those changes, the information in the first edition is now wrong, and no one should continue to use the first edition.

The teacher manual for The Writing of Literature includes the full text of the student book plus information about implementing the student book, as well as answers to the exercises.

Note: This is a second edition of this book. It reflects the current MLA guidelines, which are substantially changed from those that were in existence when the first edition was written. As a result of those changes, the information in the first edition is now wrong, and no one should continue to use the first edition.

This is the first volume at the secondary level in Michael Clay Thompson's writing program. It is an important addition to his curriculum for formal language study and extends the writing series from Sentence Island, Paragraph Town, and Essay Voyage into higher grade levels.

Students practice advanced academic writing with four assignments for which they must review their knowledge of grammar and punctuation, learn the MLA formatting method for research papers, know how to structure a well-written paper, and use standard proofreaders' marks for correcting their work.

There are sample papers to illustrate good and bad writing, an explanation of grading expectations, and ten focus points to use as a checklist for each assignment.

This is a rigorous and detailed program, essential for gifted students—and for anyone who needs to write formal academic papers. The accompanying teacher manual comes with comments for teachers to use when grading papers so that students can learn not only from their mistakes but also from what they do well. This is available for dowload.

"When we do advanced academic writing, we must learn not only to accept but to enjoy the relaxed pace of research, the meticulous construction of sentences, the gradual architecture of essays. The advanced process must be accompanied by an advanced attitude because so long as we resist enjoying advanced competence, we will be unable to achieve it." – Michael Clay Thompson

Note: This is a second edition of this book. It reflects the current MLA guidelines, which are substantially changed from those that were in existence when the first edition was written. As a result of those changes, the information in the first edition is now wrong, and no one should continue to use the first edition.

The teacher manual for Advanced Academic Writing I includes the full text of the student book plus special boxes that contain tips and further questions for the instructor, activities for further study, suggestions for implementing the student book, and answers to questions and exercises.

The book comes with access to a database of hundreds of comments for instructors to use when grading student papers. It is Michael Clay Thompson's extensive archive of his grading comments, compiled over many years, which help to make the grading process simpler for parents and a learning experience for children.

Note: This is a second edition of this book. It reflects the current MLA guidelines, which are substantially changed from those that were in existence when the first edition was written. As a result of those changes, the information in the first edition is now wrong, and no one should continue to use the first edition.

Volume II of Advanced Academic Writing extends from Volume I with more elaborate MLA format rules, more competent essay continuity to forge, more proofreaders' marks, and forty more actual research paper comments to absorb. Like Volume I, there are four assignments, this time requiring the child to write longer, more complex papers than what were required for the previous volume.

Volume II also contains the summaries of punctuation, usage, and grammar rules of Volume I for review, with additional items and special comments.

Note: This is a second edition of this book. It reflects the current MLA guidelines, which are substantially changed from those that were in existence when the first edition was written. As a result of those changes, the information in the first edition is now wrong, and no one should continue to use the first edition.

The teacher manual for Advanced Academic Writing II includes the full text of the student book plus special boxes that contain tips and further questions for the instructor, activities for further study, suggestions for implementing the student book, and answers to questions and exercises.

The book comes with access to a database of more than a hundred comments for instructors to use when grading student papers. It is Michael Clay Thompson's extensive archive of his grading comments, compiled over many years, which help to make the grading process simpler for parents and a learning experience for children.

Note: This is a second edition of this book. It reflects the current MLA guidelines, which are substantially changed from those that were in existence when the first edition was written. As a result of those changes, the information in the first edition is now wrong, and no one should continue to use the first edition.

Advanced Academic Writing III not only requires longer, more complex, and more deeply documented papers of students, it also provides extensive explorations of intellectually advanced attitudes and understandings that differentiate the most mature and outstanding students, teaching students the excitement of aggressive library research and the pleasure of participating in a scholarly tradition that has ennobled research for centuries.

This volume focuses on achieving unity in style and originality in content. It contains more elaborate MLA format rules, more proofreaders' marks, and forty more actual research paper comments. The appendix includes an extensive list of punctuation, grammar, and usage rules and a list of common errors, all of which include and expand upon the content in the first two volumes in the series.

Note: This is a second edition of this book. It reflects the current MLA guidelines, which are substantially changed from those that were in existence when the first edition was written. As a result of those changes, the information in the first edition is now wrong, and no one should continue to use the first edition.

The teacher manual for Advanced Academic Writing III includes the full text of the student book plus special boxes that contain tips and further questions for the instructor, activities for further study, suggestions for implementing the student book, and answers to questions and exercises.

The book comes with access to a database of more than a hundred comments for instructors to use when grading student papers. It is Michael Clay Thompson's extensive archive of his grading comments, compiled over many years, which help to make the grading process simpler for parents and a learning experience for children.

Note: This is a second edition of this book. It reflects the current MLA guidelines, which are substantially changed from those that were in existence when the first edition was written. As a result of those changes, the information in the first edition is now wrong, and no one should continue to use the first edition.

This book of all Michael Clay Thompson's research paper comments supplements his three-volume Advanced Academic Writing series and also acts as a unique stand-alone resource for grading student academic papers. The book is a sine qua non for grading academic papers, a resource as useful to seasoned teachers as to homeschoolers coping with the issues for the first time.

For the past forty-plus years, Michael has graded student papers and has written detailed comments on them. He soon tired of writing the same comments for the same mistakes year after year and began to put his comments into an archive that he could draw upon as he needed. Eventually this archive became extensive and comprehensive.

Opus 40 contains the archive of his comments, his approach to teaching students how to write formal papers, his approach to grading student papers, and his reflections on and explanations of the comments he has written about format, structure, grammar, punctuation, style, and more. The book makes accessible in one place all the comments that are in the Advanced Academic Writing books so that parents can use them when grading.

Note: This is a third edition of this book. It has two significant changes from the previous edition. First, it contains several comments that Michael has rewritten as a result of his online teaching. Second, it reflects the current MLA guidelines, with the publication of the newest edition of the MLA Handbook. As a result of these changes, we strongly recommend discontinuing use of the previous editions in favor of this new, updated edition.