Delighting in Language Arts
At Lotus Learning we use teaching materials that bring the classical liberal arts and humanities into the modern world in a way that engages the hearts and minds of learner and teacher alike. One, perhaps our favorite, source of such materials is Royal Fireworks Press. We make extensive use of the Michael Clay Thompson Language Arts Curriculum once students are transitioning from learning to read to reading to learn. Thompson has recently begun releasing the Poodle Level for children still in the learning to read stage, and we hope to begin using this level in the near future. RFP describes the MCT language arts curriculum as “a comprehensive, multilevel curriculum designed to provide children with a thorough understanding of the English language. Michael is a master at welcoming children into the beauty of the language and of introducing them to its simplicity, its clarity, and its usefulness.” We could not agree more with this description.
Our younger learners have been learning grammar and writing alongside Mud the fish and Fishmeal the duck at the Island and Town levels. In addition to learning the parts of speech and the various ways they function in a sentence, learners have been introduced to classic literary vocabulary and sentence structures in The Mud Trilogy, which they then encounter in classics such as Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and The Wind in the Willows. In Building Language and Caesar’s English, learners begin studying Latin stems and learning how they are used in both English and Spanish. These books also introduce learners to various aspects of ancient history, architecture, and engineering. MCT is a master at infusing the whole curriculum with poetry, but learners study poetics in The Music of the Hemispheres and Building Poetry. These books introduce rhyme, alliteration, meter, stanza, and similes and metaphors with examples from famous poets such as Emily Dickinson, Robert Burns, William Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, and William Blake.
As we work through these books together, our learners understand that effective communication consists of knowing what they want to say, choosing the best words to express those ideas, placing them in the best order, and creating the best sounds for a given situation, beginning with two-word sentences and building up to compound-complex sentences. The MCT curriculum is challenging and demanding, yet at the same time it is delightful, gentle, and engaging. Learners may not always want to learn the nuts and bolts of grammar, but they always want to know what Mud, Fishmeal, and their friends will do and learn next.
