We STOPPED Using Michael Clay Thompson // MCT Language Arts Homeschool // Curriculum Update + Review

MCT had its season in our homeschool, and it’s going back on the shelf… for a while at least.

I am firmly in the “make homeschool curriculum work FOR you” camp. The moment something stops meeting our needs, I have no problem switching it up!

This video outlines an update on what we’ve covered so far with MCT, a quick review with reasons why it’s not going to be a good fit for the rest of this school year, and what we’ll be using instead for language arts. Grammar is basically on hold so we can focus a bit more closely on writing, composition, and crafting quality sentences. Our needs are always changing, though, so I’ll be sure to update regularly!

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❤️ Thank you so much for watching!

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📣 Mentioned in this video:

👉🏻 Michael Clay Thompson at Royal Fireworks Press

👉🏻 Writing With Skill, level 1

👉🏻 Killgallon's Getting Started with Sentence Composing

👉🏻 Word Roots from Critical Thinking Co.

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💛 Affiliate links:

— Amazon storefront:

— Pandia Press: History Quest, History Odyssey, and Real Science Odyssey!

— Home Science Tools: My favorite place for science materials!

— All About Reading & Spelling

— Better World Books (this link: $5 off order of $30 or more)

— Pango Books (app for buying/selling my used books)
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(This video is NOT sponsored by anyone, but some of the links above may be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, but of course, there is no extra cost involved.)

❤️ Your support means so much! Thank you!

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Related videos of mine you may find helpful:

🎥 How to Use MICHAEL CLAY THOMPSON // Island & Town Level Overview // Secular Language Arts

🎥 HOMESCHOOL LITERATURE Feb. Book Haul // Book Mail Makes Me Happy!

🎥 GRAMMAR is Easy! // MCT SENTENCE ANALYSIS Walk Through // Homeschool Language Arts

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#languagearts #homeschoolcurriculum #secularhomeschool

[ashburgess]

I really appreciate the depth you go into about your experience using MCT, your older videos helped me decide to start the program. I am using the poodle level, this year, with my second grader. He LOVES it and is grasping the concepts, really well and easily. I think we will continue on to Island level, next year, and then we may pause for a while or even re-assess if we want to go forward.

[desireehagen]

Thank you so very much. I really appreciate your thoughts on all these. I own writing with skill but am finding it a huge jump from the previous Writing with Ease which just has an entire fourth grade year of summarizing interesting portions of well written literature... so then I was wondering iF MCT would break apart the process more for us. I think I'm going to turn back to Writing and Rhetoric for a more thorough step by step approach. I needed your video to clear up where I was stuck as well. thank you again.

[kristenphillipsgray]

Thank you for this video. Were the instructor manuals for MCT worthwhile?

[Qetesh]

I love your videos on MCT. We have used the full island level and have a few of the town level purchased. 2 of My kids are both 1 year behind yours so I also love listening to what you choose. We are also basically on hold from MCT. We did the vocabulary with Carson Dellosa’s graphic organizer for root words we are actually continuing the graphic organizers even though we stopped with MCT building language after island level. I do hear you with writing on the island level I have not used town yet… we paused and we use brave writer and also writing and rhetoric ( it has not been religious at all for the first level at least) my oldest is doing well with creative writing but not yet at the essay level yet.

[angelarenee]

Oh my gosh! I am so glad that I watched this video. I have been struggling with the fact that we are in the middle of the second level of MCT, and I have decided to switch everything up. I found myself agreeing with everything that you said, as it is exactly what we have been feeling. I had even switched my daughter to Word Roots for vocabulary. I was the most disheartened by the writing portion of MCT. Maybe I just need a bit more direction than was offered, but I also want my daughter to be excited about writing. We tried IEW along with MCT, but found it to be kind of sterile, and I know other people enjoy the videos. My daughter did not enjoy the content or the length. We originally used the Susan Wise Bauer grammar and writing prior to MCT, but I am contemplating a switch back. It was working really well. Anyway, thanks for the validation. It came at a time when I need it!

[cats]

Totally agreed. I love MCT and my children have excelled, but I had to look at outside sources to better explain the phrase portion. I was underwhelmed with the explanation of the phrases. It was very “here’s a definition of xyz phrase now go apply your knowledge” without really teaching. Otherwise, I
think we will continue with voyage next year, although the writing portions are a a bit vague and a challenge (which is why I wanted the program in the first place).

[liljdw]

Thank you so much for this update. I'm trying to decide what to do with my daughter for next year. She did really well with Grammar Island for 2nd grade, but because she is so young, I'm not sure about pushing her into grammar Town yet. We took it at our own pace and finished after the first semester. We are starting Building Language this week after working on some practice sentences. We aren't using the writing or poetry portion at all. I'm wondering if the grammar will be too much for her next year, and I've already decided to use a different word root program for next year. Could you show more of the difference between the Grammar Island book and Grammar Town?

[meganrose]

Thank you for sharing your honest thoughts about your experience with MCT. We are still working through the island level and it’s good to know how big of a jump the befit level is.

[DorelisaGC]

Thanks for sharing this video. I’ve kept the grammar strand only from MCT because even my gifted child hates writing (strong word but the right one lol) and we’re not interested on poetics. I use writing and rhetoric it has all the sentence play to get really good sentences. Then it goes into the writing part. Writing with ease and writing with skill was too wordy and it overwhelmed me just looking at it. Never tried it though but heard great things about it.

[stephaniemiller]

We did not like MCT at all. It seems universally adored but my kids somehow knew basic grammar and it just seemed like this made it harder. My kids felt like the language was mocking them and I felt like it was kind of pretentious. I would ask my daughter to write things like sentences with no predicate and she would say, "are you serious?" Maybe we're just not jovial enough to "play" with language. And it somehow just feels dated to me to learn a lot of sentence terminology--like maybe it's culturally useful to know what a noun is but maybe knowing what a "direct object" is isn't common or recognized as useful? Somehow it seemed both too short for the $ but also like a slog to get through it. Plus, my kid writes beautiful, rich and varied sentences, so it just seems unnecessary to put her though it.

[heathergrohn]

Thanks so much for your thoughts! We are really enjoying Island level of MCT this year, but I really appreciate hearing feedback regarding the next levels, etc. Quick question though... for your town level, did you have both the instructor/teacher versions of each book, or the student versions, or both? Do you have a flip-through of the town level on your channel? I'd definitely be interested in any flip throughs of the upper levels of MCT, if you've got them. Thanks again! I really enjoy your channel and perspectives.

[weird.homeschoolers]

How has Word Roots gone for you guys since you left Caesars English. I actually came across this video because I'm considering using CE with an older child and I was looking for reviews. We've tried both Vocabulary from Classical Roots and Word Roots and this child just finds both so boring. If I thought she was learning the vocab I'd persevere but it's the Workbook style that seems to drive her nuts. Maybe I should think about English from the Roots Up instead.

[kerriali]

Can one only use the grammar portion (grammar island/grammar town/etc...) and get something out of it? We already have other things for so how long would you say a lesson takes?

[BustlingHome]

For vocabulary, might you like "English from the Roots Up" better than MCT?

[MakingEverydayMagic]

Love your insight, thanks for sharing!

[TheChan]

This was fantastic. Thanks for sharing! New sub here. I’ve wondered about MCT. I have also enjoyed many of your other videos. I have a channel too and right now it’s mainly about homeschooling. I’d love to connect and be friends here. Looking forward to watching more of your content! 😊

[simpleregina]

Great updates. Sending love and full support. Pls stay connected❤️👍