Our experience with 'Grammar Town' - MCTLA

Yes, it's something new again! Finding the right tool to fit Maestro's Language Arts learning style has been a bit of an interesting journey lately. He likes to get to the point; no waffle please. A quick version to download into the recesses of his mind, with a few reminders of how the whole plan works, then moving right into application; this is how he likes to work.

Mid March, our books from the Michael Clay Thompson Language Arts curriculum arrived. Deciding on the right level at which to start was actually a tricky decision, but we're using Level 2 as it's a new method. I really wanted him .. well, US actually, as some of this is all new to me too! .. to get a good grasp on all this so it becomes easy at the end of the whole experience.

We've followed the plan according to the Application in Elementary Levels slideshow. This meant that the first and only book we started with was Grammar Town.

Grammar Town starts so easily, as a regular 'read aloud'. The conversation then changes to a more 'grown up' tone, using all the correct definitions and explanations with diagrams, to quickly give you a great overview of the English language.

We worked our way through this at various paces, slowing down if there was something new and applying it in the practice pages. From my personal experience, I felt like someone had actually finally been able to give me a proper bird's eye view. I think this is a very helpful thing, especially for children, as they see that the whole subject is only so big, with just a certain number of elements to learn. Regular review and practice, naturally, helps reinforce the teaching, and a view of our language as a whole begins to look more beautiful.

When we were starting, I made a wall chart similar to that in the book. The eight parts of speech were all written out, with definitions and some examples. Then, via the MTCLA homeschooling support forum, I read that this wonderful lady had made a Grammar Help Sheet on her blog, GuestHollow. This has been a great help, and is laminated ready for use with our books, so many thanks are sent to her!

We've started using some of the Building Poems book, but will only continue with that intermittently at this stage. Right now, this week, we're sinking our teeth into Paragraph Town and Caesar's English 1. We actually had our first session with the former today, and will read some of the latter tomorrow.

If you'd like to have a tour of these books and other links online, then you may like to use these quick links to help you:

* Royal Fireworks Press Home Page: latest news and new featured books

* Michael's Home Page: the Overview of the Curriculum with links to each level of grammar, vocabulary, writing, poetics, and practice books, and to other works by the author. Sample pages are also available via this link.

* MCT Slideshows and Downloads about his approach to teaching and how to implement.

* Some great videos of Michael speaking about teaching language arts.

* Homeschool Packages: the most cost-effective way to purchase the MCT Levels.

* What other Homeschoolers say: some excerpts. There is also a link to classroom teachers' testimonials.

* What Cathy Duffy had to say in her review about MCT.  This is a far more detailed review, and will probably answer more questions than I have.  I agree with her advice about the possibility of using the Teacher Manuals only, but you'd need to be organised with a notebook to write out the practice work. Cathy reviews the entire MCT program, not just Grammar Town.

So far, this has been a big THUMBS UP curriculum for us. I probably could have placed Maestro further along into level 3, but what we're learning isn't too easy and certainly covering new ground which has kept it very interesting.  I'll let you know how we get on with the program as we progress further!