NOTE: A free placement tool is available on the Torchlight website to help families determine which level might work best for their children. The themes of the Torchlight levels and the suggested age range are as follows: Pre-K: Curiosity & Character (ages 4-5) K: Worldly Wisdom (ages 5-7) 1: Myth & Magic (ages 6-8) 2: Logic & Legend (ages 7-9) Read more
Mapping the World With Art (which was written as an alternative curriculum to Mapping the World By Heart) is one of the most popular homeschool geography curriculums on the market. The concept is simple and easy to implement: Read a 2-page mini-history lesson on mapmaking and then draw a map about the historical and geographical region. For the less artistic, Read more
Back in the 1990s, a group of 3 college friends who had met during the Math Olympiad Summer Program, created a new math contest which they called the Mandelbrot. The first year of the competition didn’t go so well, so the trio decided to write their own math book to help students think deeper in math. That book is what Read more
Target Grade Level: 3rd – 5th Grammar Island, Grammar Town and Grammar Voyage by Michael Clay Thompson provide a comprehensible yet sophisticated introduction to grammar for the elementary grades. They ignore the low limits traditional at this level and include content often withheld until middle school or even high school. Grammar Island introduces, in very simple fashion, the full four-level Read more
Target Grade Level: 6th – 8th Advanced Academic Writing, Volume 1 (AAW 1) is the first of the Michael Clay Thompson writing Middle/Secondary writing series. It’s a serious tome designed to teach a learner how to write an MLA-style academic essay or research paper. It’s designed to be used with MCT’s Magic Lens 1 (grammar) and Word Within a Word Read more
Target Grade Level: 3rd – 5th Michael Clay Thompson breathes life into language arts instruction. With six levels of materials covering grammar, vocabulary, composition, poetics, and literature, he seamlessly integrates those elements of the English language in a manner that assumes his readers are intelligent, active learners. These are not workbooks for self-study — they are texts best explored with Read more
Target Grade Level: 5th – 8th Not often will you get the advice to start reading a book on page 322, but that’s exactly what I’m going to tell you to do with A Pirate’s Guide t’ th’ Grammar of Story. There, you will find a Note from the Publisher, where parents get the straightforward scoop about this curriculum. I’m Read more
