My youngest two will be in 2nd & 3rd next year do you think I can use the same level for both? I’m looking at the Island grammar and sentence for my 3rd grader but maybe I should get the level before for both, if there is one?
There is a new level under Island. I believe the book is called Poodle Knows Grammar? I have no experience with that, but it might be a good fit of you want to start even more gently than Island. That said, I don’t think it was at all a stretch for my 8yo son. He did very well going at our own pace and retained a ton of info. Whichever you decide, you could certainly start together read-aloud-style. If one seems to be ready for more, you could just work with them individually from then on.
I really liked this video - the way you laid out the sequence you used. Your video on paragraph town that actually explained what's in the teacher section was so helpful. I haven't been able to find that kind of information, like what it actually looks like to teach the program with practice and writing assignments and things scheduled out. I'd love to have a similar video for each of the components you use, like how each session goes with the vocab book. Surely it's not just reading and discussing the book when your daughter is making flashcards. You're a wonderful wealth of knowledge. Thank you!
This comment made my day! This was exactly why I started this channel. I couldn’t find what I wanted on the curricula we were looking to switch to. I’m so glad this was helpful! I’ll definitely plan to go through more MCT books in detail ☺️
This is so incredibly helpful. I love your videos so much! Although, the inflation on this package is nuts-it’s now $350 for the non-color package, instead of $280 two years ago. Yikes!
This is THE best review I have seen on MCT so far! I watched it a couple times because the information was so good. We own the Poodle and Island packs. We plan on getting the Town pack in the near future. Thank you!
The fact that you said rewind and take notes and I thought the same thing 😂 I am so thankful for how well you explained this curriculum. I was so confused by it. Thanks ☺️
I knew about AOPS for math, but I had no idea they also had language arts. I can’t find anything on it though. Do you happen to have a a link I could check out?
I'm so happy you made these videos. Someone suggested MCT to me and I'm very interested in it, but the cost! Did you feel you needed the teacher and student book for Sentence Island? I'm looking to save where I can like you did.
For a lot of what I used, I don’t feel the teachers manual was necessary especially for the Island level. So no, my opinion is that you don’t need the teacher’s manual for Sentence Island ☺️
Thank you for doing this review! I’ve been considering MCT for next year and haven’t been able to find ANYTHING about the books, with the exception of a video about grammar island. This looks perfect for my upcoming 6th grader.
This is the best MCT video yet! I am so happy that you made this. So thorough! We hit a wall early on with MCT. It's possible my daughter just isn't ready. Also possible that it won't be a good fit for her at all. Regardless, I really appreciated your detailed view!
I use highlighters made by crayola. I bullet point then number them when writing . Gel pens 🖊 for vocabulary words. Then pencil ✏️ for writing. Regular words .
You did so well explaining this! I am wanting to start this with my son next year and as you know there is not much info on here so I really appreciate this. Thank you for being thorough
I appreciate this video. Contemplating on this with my 9/10yr old. He would be a 4th 5th grader. Do you think that starting on the town level is possible if he has a solid grammar background?
Yes, I think so. It covers everything in Grammar Island and then some. The verbal phrases get a little tricky, so I recommend pre reading and maybe pulling in some additional worksheets on that part.
I have a question, how did you start practice island before you did parts of a sentence, phrases, and clauses? We are into phrases but I don’t see how to start practice island yet since you are suppose to do 4 level analysis on each sentence in the book.
That’s an excellent question! I’m sorry if I didn’t address that. The practice book includes sentences that change in difficulty as you go through the book. It’s not perfect, but generally the earlier practice sentences don’t have as many different phrases, clauses, etc as the later sentences do. You can try (and I think MCT even recommends) starting the practice book after completing all of Grammar Island. In this video, I only shared how we did it. I went ahead and started Practice Island after getting comfortable with parts of speech because I knew my daughter wouldn’t spend all that much time in Grammar Island. If I remember correctly, I had them only evaluate sentences with the pieces that they had already covered. For example, they started out analyzing sentences with only the first level, parts of speech. Then after we learned parts of a sentence, they analyzed each sentence with both the first and second levels. I hope that makes sense. Thanks for asking! I definitely didn’t explain that bit well enough.
I have an upcoming 5th grader. For this year, 4th grade, he did Fix it grammar (the first book) and Essentials in Writing level 3. I’m not a huge fan and looking for other options. My question is, do you think starting from the very beginning is necessary or would you start in Town???
Great question! My daughter also did Fix It Grammar for a little while (around the same age too), and I think it was helpful to start with Grammar Island. We probably would have been fine with Town, but Island was a gentle intro and gave us time to get used to MCT’s approach. Town also introduces quite a few new things with phrases and clauses, so unless your kiddo is very comfortable with grammar I would go with Island. ETA: The structure if the books makes it easy to go at whatever pace makes sense for you too. If I remember right, we only spent maybe 4-6 weeks in Grammar Town. Hope that helps!
OMG - so helpful and thorough. Thank you so much! I have struggled to understand MCT and how to use it for awhile now. Thank you for being so detailed!
Can you show us a day in the life (DITL) of how you use with daughter? or at least what an entire in each book look like concurrently? Does that make sense?
I think I see what you’re looking for, but it does look quite different depending on what books we’re in. If you haven’t seen it, I do have a general DITL video that includes a bit of MCT work (ua-cam.com/video/iiHZU0w7pBk/v-deo.html). But now we are working through Paragraph Town, so those lessons are a bit different. Is there a specific book/lesson you’re wanting to get a visual of?
Excellent video, thank you so much 😊 it was funny I had just said in my head, I need to rewind and take notes and then you said it 😅 off to grab a pencil and printout the packages from the website to lay out my plan!
Thank you so much for this video! I've been interested in this curriculum and haven't seen much in the way of reviews. I'm in the UK so shipping prices are ridiculous. There's no one that really sells homeschool curriculum in the UK. After seeing your review I think I'll be okay to go with the e-book option even though I prefer a copy in my hands 🙃 Thanks again!
I was rewatching this video again trying to take notes and was wondering, do you supplement with any other language arts? I know you use BYL for literature, but do you do any additional writing or spelling? (Thank you)
Great question! I shared all the curriculum I chose for this year in an earlier video, if you’re interested, but I do also use: Evan-Moor Spelling (not every day, it’s on a supplement loop) and copywork/dictation passages from our literature read-aloud. We JUST (as in, right when this video aired) started Lightning Literature to see if we like it. We’re still doing MCT, just a little lighter/slower paced, and we dropped copywork simply to save some time. I have a feeling we’ll just kind of bounce back and forth when we feel like it, but we’ll see how LL goes. I hope that answers your question 😊
@@RegularSecularMama We are currently using Lightning Literature and thinking about possibly switching to MCT next year due to the writing and literature component. I'd like to get my literature from elsewhere and want the writing more detailed. Do you plan to do an update or comparison of the two?
@@liljdw1 I can definitely do an update/comparison after we’ve been using it a while. I will say that MCT takes its time with the writing component (a whole year on the sentence, then paragraph, then essay). Neither one seems to give a ton of really structured guidance, like you would see in IEW. I’ll be sure to post a video on it sometime in the future though!
I have the entire island set arriving on Wednesday and then 2 additional student sets arriving on Friday and I intend on doing this with 3 kiddos total as a group. I have a fourth grader in the autism spectrum, and 2 second graders- one that is gifted and the other insanely academic and works grade levels ahead. I’m hopeful that this will target everybody’s placement 🙌
This video helped me make sense of how we are going to implement it and was hands down the most helpful MCT video on UA-cam. Also your skin is glowing- 🥰
Hı, great information here thankyou so much. l am New to MCT series, can l ask you - what's next after these book - early SATs and graduation or another series to lead them there? Also would you say these books can be used to teach a group of 15 kids together?
I think teaching a group would work as long as they get enough individual attention and are maybe close to the same skill level? My eldest is 11-almost-12, so I really can’t speak to high school levels. We are moving into the Voyage level this year, and then I was going to reevaluate after that.
Absolutely, I’ll have to do an update after we get a few more weeks in! I think starting with Island is a great idea, and it goes quickly for this age.
Great review! It's hard to find information about MCT. I'm contemplating the Poodle books for my 6yo twins (and 5yo twins since they like stories too) since it sounds like Island is a bit more than they'll want to handle as young second graders. You're right that one of the biggest disincentives with this program is the cost. I'm trying to decide if it's worth the investment right now since I could use it with all seven kids (assuming it goes well with the first set). My alternative is Harvey's Elementary Grammar & Composition.
Everyone is different, of course, but I have found it well worth it to use with my two kids. They also seem to hold their value well for resale. Another option, if you have a kindle fire or a good iPad, is their new kindle book version! I have not tried these yet, but if I had a device that could show the color well I would definitely try it. Nothing beats a good book in the hands, but it's definitely a more affordable option.
I do add spelling, but not as a daily core subject. We had it on a loop for a while. My son likes All About Spelling, and my daughter used Evan-Moor. She is trying out 180 Days of Spelling instead in the coming year. I didn’t add much extra writing except for the occasional history assignment. For example, we researched a few notable figures from the Revolutionary War.
This sounds great. Very good review. However I’m not seeing the ebook version being available for all products. This is necessary as we run a paper minimum homeschool.
I don’t have experience with the ebooks. I believe they are fairly new (or this version of them is), so perhaps they are still working out the kinks on all their products?
I have the ebooks for Island. I believe they have ebooks for all the levels. You just have to select the homeschool package and then they will ask you to select the format. One thing to note, they are very strict on their copy-write rules. They only allow you to download something 1 time. So once you download it I would save it several places in case you have an issue with your PC. Good luck!
It looks like you have to purchase through the Royal Fireworks Press website. Here’s a link to the ebook version of Grammar Island as an example. I hope that helps! P.S. This is not an affiliate link, so I don’t get any sort of compensation if you use it. www.rfwp.com/bookstore/grammar-island/
I used just the instructor manual. Building Language does not have any pages where you might need to hide the answers, and there are a couple of quizzes included at the end that you are allowed to make copies of.
Hi- you've got me intrigued and looking seriously into this curriculum for next school year. I've got a gifted 9-year-old daughter, a 14-year-old daughter with learning disabilities, and if I can convince him to homeschool next year, a 15-year-old son with dyslexia/minor struggles. I just sent off an email to the company with placement questions. I had looked at this program 2 or 3 years ago, when my youngest was showing signs of giftedness but not reading yet, and it looked overwhelming. Wondering if there is sufficient guidance for the parent as to how to implement all the different books- is there some type of lesson plan anywhere? Do you do all/more than one book at a time, or just one? Do you have any experience with IEW's various programs? Wondering how they compare? How much time does a typical lesson take each day? I should probably do as you suggest, and go back and rewatch your video and take notes, lol...
Also, forgot to ask- I had been planning to use Write Shop next year before I watched your video (lol)- if I did both would that be overkill? I just heard back from RFP and they recommended both girls start in level 1 of MCT. At what point do they start the writing component?
Hi! If you have the time, I highly recommend rewatching this video to get a better idea of when books are used concurrently. RFWP does include a detailed “implementation guide” if (and only if…) you purchase a complete package. It is a common complaint on the Facebook group actually. There is a link in my description to a very general implementation guide, however. That is helpful to get a broad overview. The “writing” component begins with Sentence Island. However, the focus is solely on quality sentences, so there is not as much actual composition work being completed as opposed to, say, IEW. We are just getting into level 2’s writing component, Paragraph Town, so I can’t say for sure how much actual composition work is involved. It doesn’t look like much. I give a pretty detailed flip-through of that particular book in another video, which I have linked in this description as well.
I do have a good amount of experience with IEW (my daughter has been through the older Student Writing Intensive A, and I taught the units myself the following year using their TWSS teaching guide/DVDs). The two programs are very different! I’ll add a comparison video to my list of videos to make in the future, so stick around 😉 I do not have experience with Write Shop, but I have heard great things about that one! I will say that I’m not upset at all that I started my kids with the Island level, even my 11 year old. She is pretty average in language arts, and the first level was a fun, gentle introduction to the program. Whether or not you get multiple books will depend on your family and your teaching style. Some things to ask yourself might be: What does my budget look like? Do I mind sitting side by side reading to everyone? Am I teaching this one-on-one or as a group? Will the kids mind sharing books? I taught my kids one-on-one, mostly side by side on the couch unless we used the white board to analyze a sentence. For me, just the teacher book was sufficient for all the books I showed in this video. But of course, you’ll want to look at how they will be used in your homeschool. I hope that was helpful! I would absolutely stay in touch with the publisher, too. From what I hear, their customer service is wonderful.
Thank you for the video. Surprisingly there aren’t enough review on this curriculum. We are using it for the first time this year and love it but I wish I knew a little better when I decided on it. I have a question for Town. How do you teach poetry with the book? How do you do the writing part of the Town? Thank you for sharing!,
You would think there’d be more reviews with as many people who claim to love using it! I have not used any of the poetics portions of MCT. We simply choose one poem at a time to memorize and practice a couple of times a week. I decided not to get too deep into poetic devices unless they showed a particular interest or wanted to improve their writing with it later on. We are in the middle of Paragraph Town right now actually. There is a nice teacher guide in the back of that book that breaks down lessons into reading, sentence analysis, and a “paragraph lab.” Around lesson 8 or 9, another piece is added: a sheet of exercises to help with things like mechanics and some punctuation. Around this same point, the paragraph labs also get longer and ask for more actual written work. We simply spread a lesson over a week, and that has worked very well.
Looking into MCT- So did you finish all of the grammar island book before starting sentence island or just through the parts of speech section? I have been watching lots of videos on this lately. This is a great walkthrough!
Hi! Yes I did. After the section on parts of speech, I added in the Practice Town book. She did 3-4 practice sentences per week as part of her independent work while we continued to work through the rest of Grammar Town. After G.T. was complete, we started Sentence Island (and continued practice sentences all the way through the year). We added in Building Language about halfway through S.I. because she was finding it easy to follow and could handle both books concurrently. For my son, I kept them separate and started B.L. after completing S.I. because his attention span is much shorter and I didn't want to overload him. I hope that helps!
This year, we used classical composition from Memoria Press for my 4th grader. It is very structured, but he didn't enjoy it. Do you feel that the Town level would be a sufficient writing program for a 5th grader without using an additional writing program? Do you feel the writing activities in the Island level might help with the writing activities in Town? And did you come across any punctuation instruction? I have read that punctuation rules are missing from this curriculum. Thanks!
Great questions! My 11yo is about halfway through Paragraph Town now. The writing activities in Sentence Island are very loose and open ended, lacking the structure found in a lot of writing curricula. In Paragraph Town, though, the length increases. The assignments still feel open ended, but it’s clear what the focus is for each activity. I hope that makes sense. There is some punctuation in Paragraph Town as it pertains to grammar. For example, students are taught around lesson 8 or 9 some rules for using commas with certain phrases. I also had heard that punctuation is missing, which makes no sense because it is definitely covered from what I can see. I hope that helps!
I have heard good things about MCT but I am very intimidated because the website mentions it is a gifted program and English is my second language so I have trouble with grammar and pronunciation. Not sure if I would be able to teach my kid properly and other side I think I would benefit from MCT curriculum. What advice could you give me? TIA.
Honestly? I have learned or relearned so much from using MCT. I really think it's written in such an accessible way that you could get a lot out of the books right alongside your kids. I can't speak for the company, but I think perhaps a language-arts-gifted child may enjoy it more or be more inclined to branch out with discussions or writing prompts? Like I mentioned, one of my kids is definitely not what I would consider gifted in LA and he has done exceptionally well with this program! If you are thinking about it but aren't sure, I would highly recommend just purchasing ONE book (Grammar Island would likely be the first one you want) and simply cuddle together reading it out loud a few pages at a time. That should give you a good idea of whether or not the format is one that will work well for you and your kid. If it doesn't work, you can always resell it. Or try the kindle book version they have now that is inexpensive (but only if you have a color screen, like a kindle fire or iPad). I hope that helps!
I am very curious about the other grammar program you eluded to but did not name in this video. I am wanting to add grammar but not sure which program to pick.
I guess it’s not a secret, it’s IEW’s Fix It Grammar. I really liked it, honestly. It was just irritating that they called things “who-which clauses” and “clause starters.” It makes it simpler for kids to understand and use them in their writing, but it’s not correct terminology. I plan to compare the two in a video at some point.
I bought Fix It before I learned of MCT, but am leaning toward MCT now. We have not started either. I didn’t realize the naming thing in F.I.G. Interesting. Great video and one that definitely needed to be made since there is so little on MCT, but so many people are talking about it!!! Thanks for making this content!
I'm just watching this now. Trying to decide if I want to use MCT this year. I have a question about the student guides. Did your daughter finish all of Practice Island before starting Practice Town? Or you just did some of them until you felt she she had grasped it well enough?
We started Practice Island and continued doing about one sentence per day until we finished Sentence Island and moved onto Grammar Town. We put the practice book aside and then started Practice Town after finishing the grammar book. I feel like the practice books are more to give exposure to concepts as they are used in a variety of sentences. She really understood the grammar concepts, but I had her keep doing them just to keep the practice fresh. Hope that helps!
This was super helpful - I’m wanting to go through the Island level quickly with my upcoming fifth grader. Did you just follow your daughters pace or did you aim to have a certain amount done each week?
I mostly followed her pace, although I did have an idea in my mind of where I thought it would make sense to be. We made it through all of Grammar Island, Sentence Island, Building Language, Grammar Town, and half of Paragraph Town in one school year if that helps. We didn’t feel rushed, and it was very manageable. We probably could’ve gone through at least half of Caesar’s English I too, but we set it aside to lighten our load at one point. I hope that helps. I think breezing through Island is an excellent plan and makes the Town level much more easy to grasp! Good luck, and have fun!
What level would an almost 11 year old start with if they have *some grammar/writing but not in MCT? Does every level benefit from the teachers manual or the student book? This was so helpful!
I would say there teachers manual is more necessary than the student book, especially for these earlier levels. My own 11 year old probably would have been okay starting with Town level. I’m glad we did Island first for a gentle start, but Grammar Town reviews the concepts from Island very well. Hope that helps!
How much time roughly in your day, and week do you spend on MCT ? I'm thinking we will put this off till June 2023 - the price with currency exchange and then shipping to Australia at the moment is beyond ridiculous. I've been emailing with Pandia Press for our History and Science and even they were shocked at the current postage costs and told me to wait for their sales in March so I can at least save a bit on the curriculum costs.
As for the time it takes: It really depends on the lesson. I’d say with my daughter we spend a good half an hour or so each day. This is not a writing-intensive program (yet! We’ll see in Paragraph Town!) so it depends on how well she’s learning new concepts. We’ve gotten into a good rhythm with Caesar’s English I, and she’s able to do a lot of it independently 🙌🏻🙌🏻
For my son, we spend maybe 10-15 minutes at most per day. Sometimes we’ll also do the practice sentence together on the white board instead of independently in the book; I leave that up to him.
It looks like such a visually beautiful curriculum too, which is also why i really want to use it - he loves art. I was illiterate when I was kicked out of school at 15, so my grammar is all guesswork from when I taught myself how to read - I'm interested in learning the rules of grammar myself. I've already spent a fortune on extra books etc for our History focus this year or I might have backed out of purchasing History Quest too. .. $170 just in postage is... Well = insert expletives here. Is America behind Australia with grades ?
Oh my gosh, that’s a crazy amount! I’m so sorry! I have heard that MCT offers kindle versions of the books, if you have a kindle. I think the Fire is color and would show the beautiful art? I have no experience with Kindle Fires or MCT kindle books, though. We only use Kindle Paperwhites. But that might be something to look into so you don’t have such outrageous shipping fees. ETA: Here’s a link to the first kindle book on Amazon - www.amazon.com/dp/B09B2L7CPP/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_39ZB9QQ6V2JNHBAR0PJH
www.rfwp.com/bookstore/grammar-island/ Here is a link to the ebook version of Grammar Island, as an example. Keep in mind the books are full of color, so they may look best on a color-compatible e-reader. Also, I have no personal experience using the e-versions so I can’t say whether I would recommend them or not. It’s good to have options though ☺️
I’d love to hear from you if you have questions or found this helpful! 😄
My youngest two will be in 2nd & 3rd next year do you think I can use the same level for both? I’m looking at the Island grammar and sentence for my 3rd grader but maybe I should get the level before for both, if there is one?
There is a new level under Island. I believe the book is called Poodle Knows Grammar? I have no experience with that, but it might be a good fit of you want to start even more gently than Island. That said, I don’t think it was at all a stretch for my 8yo son. He did very well going at our own pace and retained a ton of info. Whichever you decide, you could certainly start together read-aloud-style. If one seems to be ready for more, you could just work with them individually from then on.
I really liked this video - the way you laid out the sequence you used. Your video on paragraph town that actually explained what's in the teacher section was so helpful. I haven't been able to find that kind of information, like what it actually looks like to teach the program with practice and writing assignments and things scheduled out. I'd love to have a similar video for each of the components you use, like how each session goes with the vocab book. Surely it's not just reading and discussing the book when your daughter is making flashcards. You're a wonderful wealth of knowledge. Thank you!
This comment made my day! This was exactly why I started this channel. I couldn’t find what I wanted on the curricula we were looking to switch to. I’m so glad this was helpful! I’ll definitely plan to go through more MCT books in detail ☺️
This is an excellent review of MCT. Thank you so much. It's very helpful. 😊
You are very welcome, I’m glad you found it useful
This is so incredibly helpful. I love your videos so much! Although, the inflation on this package is nuts-it’s now $350 for the non-color package, instead of $280 two years ago. Yikes!
Oh wow!! That’s a huge jump
This is THE best review I have seen on MCT so far! I watched it a couple times because the information was so good. We own the Poodle and Island packs. We plan on getting the Town pack in the near future. Thank you!
I loved hearing that! Thank you! 💕
The fact that you said rewind and take notes and I thought the same thing 😂 I am so thankful for how well you explained this curriculum. I was so confused by it. Thanks ☺️
I’m glad it helped! 🤗
Amazing Video 👏🏼
This video was verrrrrry helpful and I actually watched it twice...lol! You answered most of my questions about MCT.
That’s amazing! It was definitely a much needed video. It’s just what I wished I could find before we started MCT.
So helpful. Great job. Thanks for going into the details.
You're very welcome, thanks for watching!
Thank you 😊
You are very welcome! 🤗
Has anyone tried both MCT and AOPS Language Arts? Which did you like better and why?
I knew about AOPS for math, but I had no idea they also had language arts. I can’t find anything on it though. Do you happen to have a a link I could check out?
I'm so happy you made these videos. Someone suggested MCT to me and I'm very interested in it, but the cost! Did you feel you needed the teacher and student book for Sentence Island? I'm looking to save where I can like you did.
For a lot of what I used, I don’t feel the teachers manual was necessary especially for the Island level. So no, my opinion is that you don’t need the teacher’s manual for Sentence Island ☺️
I can’t seem to find the FB group for some reason…would you mind linking it here?😃
It is linked in the video description, but here it is again for you: m.facebook.com/groups/1450459091890540/
Hope that helps! Thanks for watching 😄
Thank you for doing this review! I’ve been considering MCT for next year and haven’t been able to find ANYTHING about the books, with the exception of a video about grammar island. This looks perfect for my upcoming 6th grader.
I’m so glad it was helpful!
This is the best MCT video yet! I am so happy that you made this. So thorough! We hit a wall early on with MCT. It's possible my daughter just isn't ready. Also possible that it won't be a good fit for her at all. Regardless, I really appreciated your detailed view!
You are too sweet, friend 😄 I'm glad you liked it!
I use highlighters made by crayola. I bullet point then number them when writing . Gel pens 🖊 for vocabulary words. Then pencil ✏️ for writing. Regular words .
Best MCT explanation! It was so confusing until I found this video!
I'm so glad you found it helpful! This is the video I NEEDED before buying this curriculum 😆
You did so well explaining this! I am wanting to start this with my son next year and as you know there is not much info on here so I really appreciate this. Thank you for being thorough
You’re welcome!
I appreciate this video. Contemplating on this with my 9/10yr old. He would be a 4th 5th grader. Do you think that starting on the town level is possible if he has a solid grammar background?
Yes, I think so. It covers everything in Grammar Island and then some. The verbal phrases get a little tricky, so I recommend pre reading and maybe pulling in some additional worksheets on that part.
I have a question, how did you start practice island before you did parts of a sentence, phrases, and clauses? We are into phrases but I don’t see how to start practice island yet since you are suppose to do 4 level analysis on each sentence in the book.
That’s an excellent question! I’m sorry if I didn’t address that. The practice book includes sentences that change in difficulty as you go through the book. It’s not perfect, but generally the earlier practice sentences don’t have as many different phrases, clauses, etc as the later sentences do. You can try (and I think MCT even recommends) starting the practice book after completing all of Grammar Island.
In this video, I only shared how we did it. I went ahead and started Practice Island after getting comfortable with parts of speech because I knew my daughter wouldn’t spend all that much time in Grammar Island.
If I remember correctly, I had them only evaluate sentences with the pieces that they had already covered. For example, they started out analyzing sentences with only the first level, parts of speech. Then after we learned parts of a sentence, they analyzed each sentence with both the first and second levels.
I hope that makes sense. Thanks for asking! I definitely didn’t explain that bit well enough.
That 100% makes sense... I'm also trying to get through the level with my 5th grader so we can move on to Paragraph Town. Thank you!
You’re welcome! Hope you enjoy it! 😊
I have an upcoming 5th grader. For this year, 4th grade, he did Fix it grammar (the first book) and Essentials in Writing level 3. I’m not a huge fan and looking for other options. My question is, do you think starting from the very beginning is necessary or would you start in Town???
Great question! My daughter also did Fix It Grammar for a little while (around the same age too), and I think it was helpful to start with Grammar Island. We probably would have been fine with Town, but Island was a gentle intro and gave us time to get used to MCT’s approach. Town also introduces quite a few new things with phrases and clauses, so unless your kiddo is very comfortable with grammar I would go with Island.
ETA: The structure if the books makes it easy to go at whatever pace makes sense for you too. If I remember right, we only spent maybe 4-6 weeks in Grammar Town. Hope that helps!
OMG - so helpful and thorough. Thank you so much! I have struggled to understand MCT and how to use it for awhile now. Thank you for being so detailed!
You are so welcome! 🥰
That was a fantastic review! We be never even heard of this program. Thank you for sharing. It seems like a great option
Thank you! 🤗
Thank you! So helpful for someone looking into this program.
You’re very welcome! 😊
Can you show us a day in the life (DITL) of how you use with daughter? or at least what an entire in each book look like concurrently? Does that make sense?
I think I see what you’re looking for, but it does look quite different depending on what books we’re in. If you haven’t seen it, I do have a general DITL video that includes a bit of MCT work (ua-cam.com/video/iiHZU0w7pBk/v-deo.html). But now we are working through Paragraph Town, so those lessons are a bit different. Is there a specific book/lesson you’re wanting to get a visual of?
You should get the Mud Trilogy! My boys love it, and its excellent for vocabulary. Two thumbs up for the Mud Trilogy here:)
Thank you for letting me know! I'm definitely eyeing it for when I need to order the next set of books 😄
Thank you! This was so helpful
I’m so glad to hear it helped!
Excellent video, thank you so much 😊 it was funny I had just said in my head, I need to rewind and take notes and then you said it 😅 off to grab a pencil and printout the packages from the website to lay out my plan!
I realize it’s a lot, but I hope it’s helpful! And I hope you love it! 😄
Great video. Another way to save some money is buying the kindle books.
True! We don’t have kindle fires or good iPads though. But that’s a great option for those that do!
Thank you so much for this video! I've been interested in this curriculum and haven't seen much in the way of reviews. I'm in the UK so shipping prices are ridiculous. There's no one that really sells homeschool curriculum in the UK. After seeing your review I think I'll be okay to go with the e-book option even though I prefer a copy in my hands 🙃 Thanks again!
You’re welcome! 😄
I was rewatching this video again trying to take notes and was wondering, do you supplement with any other language arts? I know you use BYL for literature, but do you do any additional writing or spelling? (Thank you)
Great question! I shared all the curriculum I chose for this year in an earlier video, if you’re interested, but I do also use: Evan-Moor Spelling (not every day, it’s on a supplement loop) and copywork/dictation passages from our literature read-aloud. We JUST (as in, right when this video aired) started Lightning Literature to see if we like it. We’re still doing MCT, just a little lighter/slower paced, and we dropped copywork simply to save some time. I have a feeling we’ll just kind of bounce back and forth when we feel like it, but we’ll see how LL goes. I hope that answers your question 😊
@@RegularSecularMama We are currently using Lightning Literature and thinking about possibly switching to MCT next year due to the writing and literature component. I'd like to get my literature from elsewhere and want the writing more detailed. Do you plan to do an update or comparison of the two?
@@liljdw1 I can definitely do an update/comparison after we’ve been using it a while. I will say that MCT takes its time with the writing component (a whole year on the sentence, then paragraph, then essay). Neither one seems to give a ton of really structured guidance, like you would see in IEW. I’ll be sure to post a video on it sometime in the future though!
@@RegularSecularMama Awesome! That will be so helpful!
This was so helpful!
I’m glad you enjoyed it! 🤗
I have the entire island set arriving on Wednesday and then 2 additional student sets arriving on Friday and I intend on doing this with 3 kiddos total as a group. I have a fourth grader in the autism spectrum, and 2 second graders- one that is gifted and the other insanely academic and works grade levels ahead. I’m hopeful that this will target everybody’s placement 🙌
This video helped me make sense of how we are going to implement it and was hands down the most helpful MCT video on UA-cam. Also your skin is glowing- 🥰
That’s exciting! I kind of wish we could go back and do Sentence Island all over again, it’s so cute!
Well you just made my day! Stay tuned: I’m planning an MCT update video soon, but I am not sure about the glowing skin anymore 😂
Hı, great information here thankyou so much. l am New to MCT series, can l ask you - what's next after these book - early SATs and graduation or another series to lead them there? Also would you say these books can be used to teach a group of 15 kids together?
I think teaching a group would work as long as they get enough individual attention and are maybe close to the same skill level?
My eldest is 11-almost-12, so I really can’t speak to high school levels. We are moving into the Voyage level this year, and then I was going to reevaluate after that.
So helpful! I got Island for my almost 11 year old to build the foundation. Would love to hear how this year is going if you are still using it!
Absolutely, I’ll have to do an update after we get a few more weeks in! I think starting with Island is a great idea, and it goes quickly for this age.
Great review! It's hard to find information about MCT.
I'm contemplating the Poodle books for my 6yo twins (and 5yo twins since they like stories too) since it sounds like Island is a bit more than they'll want to handle as young second graders.
You're right that one of the biggest disincentives with this program is the cost. I'm trying to decide if it's worth the investment right now since I could use it with all seven kids (assuming it goes well with the first set). My alternative is Harvey's Elementary Grammar & Composition.
Everyone is different, of course, but I have found it well worth it to use with my two kids. They also seem to hold their value well for resale. Another option, if you have a kindle fire or a good iPad, is their new kindle book version! I have not tried these yet, but if I had a device that could show the color well I would definitely try it. Nothing beats a good book in the hands, but it's definitely a more affordable option.
Thank you for this. I'm wondering if you add a spelling curriculum? Also do you add anything else such as extra writing or anything? Thanks
I do add spelling, but not as a daily core subject. We had it on a loop for a while. My son likes All About Spelling, and my daughter used Evan-Moor. She is trying out 180 Days of Spelling instead in the coming year.
I didn’t add much extra writing except for the occasional history assignment. For example, we researched a few notable figures from the Revolutionary War.
This sounds great. Very good review. However I’m not seeing the ebook version being available for all products. This is necessary as we run a paper minimum homeschool.
I don’t have experience with the ebooks. I believe they are fairly new (or this version of them is), so perhaps they are still working out the kinks on all their products?
I have the ebooks for Island. I believe they have ebooks for all the levels. You just have to select the homeschool package and then they will ask you to select the format.
One thing to note, they are very strict on their copy-write rules. They only allow you to download something 1 time. So once you download it I would save it several places in case you have an issue with your PC. Good luck!
That’s really good to know, thank you for sharing!
There are Kindle versions for many of the books that are about $10 each. If you get just the teacher's editions, it is about $60 for the entire level.
I checked on Amazon and can't find them. Could you share a link?
It looks like you have to purchase through the Royal Fireworks Press website. Here’s a link to the ebook version of Grammar Island as an example. I hope that helps! P.S. This is not an affiliate link, so I don’t get any sort of compensation if you use it.
www.rfwp.com/bookstore/grammar-island/
@@RegularSecularMama They just redid the digital and the Amazon versions are no longer available.
Oh no! I wonder what the ebooks work on then. Maybe iPads or tablets? I wasn’t aware since we use the physical books, thank you for letting me know.
Wonderful video! Thank you for your time. With the Building Language book, did you use just the instructor manual, or the student book as well?
I used just the instructor manual. Building Language does not have any pages where you might need to hide the answers, and there are a couple of quizzes included at the end that you are allowed to make copies of.
Hi- you've got me intrigued and looking seriously into this curriculum for next school year. I've got a gifted 9-year-old daughter, a 14-year-old daughter with learning disabilities, and if I can convince him to homeschool next year, a 15-year-old son with dyslexia/minor struggles. I just sent off an email to the company with placement questions. I had looked at this program 2 or 3 years ago, when my youngest was showing signs of giftedness but not reading yet, and it looked overwhelming. Wondering if there is sufficient guidance for the parent as to how to implement all the different books- is there some type of lesson plan anywhere? Do you do all/more than one book at a time, or just one? Do you have any experience with IEW's various programs? Wondering how they compare? How much time does a typical lesson take each day? I should probably do as you suggest, and go back and rewatch your video and take notes, lol...
Also, forgot to ask- I had been planning to use Write Shop next year before I watched your video (lol)- if I did both would that be overkill? I just heard back from RFP and they recommended both girls start in level 1 of MCT. At what point do they start the writing component?
Okay- last question--- if I am doing the same level with both girls, which books will I need 2 of?
Hi! If you have the time, I highly recommend rewatching this video to get a better idea of when books are used concurrently. RFWP does include a detailed “implementation guide” if (and only if…) you purchase a complete package. It is a common complaint on the Facebook group actually. There is a link in my description to a very general implementation guide, however. That is helpful to get a broad overview.
The “writing” component begins with Sentence Island. However, the focus is solely on quality sentences, so there is not as much actual composition work being completed as opposed to, say, IEW. We are just getting into level 2’s writing component, Paragraph Town, so I can’t say for sure how much actual composition work is involved. It doesn’t look like much. I give a pretty detailed flip-through of that particular book in another video, which I have linked in this description as well.
I do have a good amount of experience with IEW (my daughter has been through the older Student Writing Intensive A, and I taught the units myself the following year using their TWSS teaching guide/DVDs). The two programs are very different! I’ll add a comparison video to my list of videos to make in the future, so stick around 😉
I do not have experience with Write Shop, but I have heard great things about that one!
I will say that I’m not upset at all that I started my kids with the Island level, even my 11 year old. She is pretty average in language arts, and the first level was a fun, gentle introduction to the program.
Whether or not you get multiple books will depend on your family and your teaching style. Some things to ask yourself might be: What does my budget look like? Do I mind sitting side by side reading to everyone? Am I teaching this one-on-one or as a group? Will the kids mind sharing books?
I taught my kids one-on-one, mostly side by side on the couch unless we used the white board to analyze a sentence. For me, just the teacher book was sufficient for all the books I showed in this video. But of course, you’ll want to look at how they will be used in your homeschool.
I hope that was helpful! I would absolutely stay in touch with the publisher, too. From what I hear, their customer service is wonderful.
Thank you for the video. Surprisingly there aren’t enough review on this curriculum. We are using it for the first time this year and love it but I wish I knew a little better when I decided on it. I have a question for Town. How do you teach poetry with the book? How do you do the writing part of the Town? Thank you for sharing!,
You would think there’d be more reviews with as many people who claim to love using it!
I have not used any of the poetics portions of MCT. We simply choose one poem at a time to memorize and practice a couple of times a week. I decided not to get too deep into poetic devices unless they showed a particular interest or wanted to improve their writing with it later on.
We are in the middle of Paragraph Town right now actually. There is a nice teacher guide in the back of that book that breaks down lessons into reading, sentence analysis, and a “paragraph lab.” Around lesson 8 or 9, another piece is added: a sheet of exercises to help with things like mechanics and some punctuation. Around this same point, the paragraph labs also get longer and ask for more actual written work. We simply spread a lesson over a week, and that has worked very well.
Looking into MCT- So did you finish all of the grammar island book before starting sentence island or just through the parts of speech section? I have been watching lots of videos on this lately. This is a great walkthrough!
Hi! Yes I did. After the section on parts of speech, I added in the Practice Town book. She did 3-4 practice sentences per week as part of her independent work while we continued to work through the rest of Grammar Town. After G.T. was complete, we started Sentence Island (and continued practice sentences all the way through the year). We added in Building Language about halfway through S.I. because she was finding it easy to follow and could handle both books concurrently. For my son, I kept them separate and started B.L. after completing S.I. because his attention span is much shorter and I didn't want to overload him. I hope that helps!
This year, we used classical composition from Memoria Press for my 4th grader. It is very structured, but he didn't enjoy it. Do you feel that the Town level would be a sufficient writing program for a 5th grader without using an additional writing program? Do you feel the writing activities in the Island level might help with the writing activities in Town? And did you come across any punctuation instruction? I have read that punctuation rules are missing from this curriculum. Thanks!
Great questions! My 11yo is about halfway through Paragraph Town now. The writing activities in Sentence Island are very loose and open ended, lacking the structure found in a lot of writing curricula. In Paragraph Town, though, the length increases. The assignments still feel open ended, but it’s clear what the focus is for each activity. I hope that makes sense.
There is some punctuation in Paragraph Town as it pertains to grammar. For example, students are taught around lesson 8 or 9 some rules for using commas with certain phrases. I also had heard that punctuation is missing, which makes no sense because it is definitely covered from what I can see.
I hope that helps!
I have heard good things about MCT but I am very intimidated because the website mentions it is a gifted program and English is my second language so I have trouble with grammar and pronunciation. Not sure if I would be able to teach my kid properly and other side I think I would benefit from MCT curriculum. What advice could you give me? TIA.
Honestly? I have learned or relearned so much from using MCT. I really think it's written in such an accessible way that you could get a lot out of the books right alongside your kids. I can't speak for the company, but I think perhaps a language-arts-gifted child may enjoy it more or be more inclined to branch out with discussions or writing prompts? Like I mentioned, one of my kids is definitely not what I would consider gifted in LA and he has done exceptionally well with this program!
If you are thinking about it but aren't sure, I would highly recommend just purchasing ONE book (Grammar Island would likely be the first one you want) and simply cuddle together reading it out loud a few pages at a time. That should give you a good idea of whether or not the format is one that will work well for you and your kid. If it doesn't work, you can always resell it. Or try the kindle book version they have now that is inexpensive (but only if you have a color screen, like a kindle fire or iPad).
I hope that helps!
I am very curious about the other grammar program you eluded to but did not name in this video. I am wanting to add grammar but not sure which program to pick.
I guess it’s not a secret, it’s IEW’s Fix It Grammar. I really liked it, honestly. It was just irritating that they called things “who-which clauses” and “clause starters.” It makes it simpler for kids to understand and use them in their writing, but it’s not correct terminology. I plan to compare the two in a video at some point.
@@RegularSecularMama I was afraid that was the one you were talking about. That was one I was considering. I look forward to a comparison video.
@@ashleyr8765 I didn’t name it because… I really do like Fix It! I’ll move that video up my priority list 👍🏻
I bought Fix It before I learned of MCT, but am leaning toward MCT now. We have not started either. I didn’t realize the naming thing in F.I.G. Interesting. Great video and one that definitely needed to be made since there is so little on MCT, but so many people are talking about it!!! Thanks for making this content!
I’m so glad it was helpful! I agree, there’s hardly anything on MCT. Thanks for watching ☺️
I'm just watching this now. Trying to decide if I want to use MCT this year. I have a question about the student guides. Did your daughter finish all of Practice Island before starting Practice Town? Or you just did some of them until you felt she she had grasped it well enough?
We started Practice Island and continued doing about one sentence per day until we finished Sentence Island and moved onto Grammar Town. We put the practice book aside and then started Practice Town after finishing the grammar book. I feel like the practice books are more to give exposure to concepts as they are used in a variety of sentences. She really understood the grammar concepts, but I had her keep doing them just to keep the practice fresh. Hope that helps!
This was super helpful - I’m wanting to go through the Island level quickly with my upcoming fifth grader. Did you just follow your daughters pace or did you aim to have a certain amount done each week?
I mostly followed her pace, although I did have an idea in my mind of where I thought it would make sense to be. We made it through all of Grammar Island, Sentence Island, Building Language, Grammar Town, and half of Paragraph Town in one school year if that helps. We didn’t feel rushed, and it was very manageable. We probably could’ve gone through at least half of Caesar’s English I too, but we set it aside to lighten our load at one point.
I hope that helps. I think breezing through Island is an excellent plan and makes the Town level much more easy to grasp! Good luck, and have fun!
What level would an almost 11 year old start with if they have *some grammar/writing but not in MCT? Does every level benefit from the teachers manual or the student book? This was so helpful!
I would say there teachers manual is more necessary than the student book, especially for these earlier levels. My own 11 year old probably would have been okay starting with Town level. I’m glad we did Island first for a gentle start, but Grammar Town reviews the concepts from Island very well. Hope that helps!
@@RegularSecularMama Yes! Thank you!!
How much time roughly in your day, and week do you spend on MCT ?
I'm thinking we will put this off till June 2023 - the price with currency exchange and then shipping to Australia at the moment is beyond ridiculous. I've been emailing with Pandia Press for our History and Science and even they were shocked at the current postage costs and told me to wait for their sales in March so I can at least save a bit on the curriculum costs.
I thought about that with your other comment! I can’t even imagine adding that on top of an already expensive curriculum 😬
As for the time it takes: It really depends on the lesson. I’d say with my daughter we spend a good half an hour or so each day. This is not a writing-intensive program (yet! We’ll see in Paragraph Town!) so it depends on how well she’s learning new concepts. We’ve gotten into a good rhythm with Caesar’s English I, and she’s able to do a lot of it independently 🙌🏻🙌🏻
For my son, we spend maybe 10-15 minutes at most per day. Sometimes we’ll also do the practice sentence together on the white board instead of independently in the book; I leave that up to him.
It looks like such a visually beautiful curriculum too, which is also why i really want to use it - he loves art.
I was illiterate when I was kicked out of school at 15, so my grammar is all guesswork from when I taught myself how to read - I'm interested in learning the rules of grammar myself.
I've already spent a fortune on extra books etc for our History focus this year or I might have backed out of purchasing History Quest too. .. $170 just in postage is... Well = insert expletives here.
Is America behind Australia with grades ?
Oh my gosh, that’s a crazy amount! I’m so sorry! I have heard that MCT offers kindle versions of the books, if you have a kindle. I think the Fire is color and would show the beautiful art? I have no experience with Kindle Fires or MCT kindle books, though. We only use Kindle Paperwhites. But that might be something to look into so you don’t have such outrageous shipping fees.
ETA: Here’s a link to the first kindle book on Amazon - www.amazon.com/dp/B09B2L7CPP/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_39ZB9QQ6V2JNHBAR0PJH
How did you get a catalog?
They sent one to me with my order (I didn’t order it). I’m guessing you could order or request it somewhere, perhaps by calling customer service?
Where do I find the kindle version?
www.rfwp.com/bookstore/grammar-island/
Here is a link to the ebook version of Grammar Island, as an example. Keep in mind the books are full of color, so they may look best on a color-compatible e-reader. Also, I have no personal experience using the e-versions so I can’t say whether I would recommend them or not. It’s good to have options though ☺️
@@RegularSecularMama Thank you! And thank you for your honesty and review of these books! My son thrives on story form learning.
You’re very welcome!
Have you tried fixit grammar?
We have in the past. I liked the easy format, but there are a few things I didn’t care for. I’m hoping to do a video on it soon 😉
@@RegularSecularMama thank you :)