Homeschool music
Music appreciation
Music can be a challenging subject for homeschoolers, as most of us lack the instruments, facilities and expertise available in traditional schools. At the same time, a homeschooling environment offers unique opportunities for incorporating music appreciation and instruction.
Including music in your homeschool can be as simple as playing classical and other quality music in the background while driving, during family meals, playtime or art periods. For more focused composer study, our curriculum includes the Classical Kids series of audio productions. Each Classical Kids production focuses on a major classical composer, including iconic pieces within the framework of an entertaining story about the composer's life. These are so much fun to listen to that our children asked to hear them over and over, and ended up becoming intimately familiar with the major composers and their works as a result.
Playing an instrument
We recommend introductory lessons in a musical instrument for all students. The piano is a good choice for children, as it facilitates the learning of notes and requires less skill to produce decent-sounding music. Our family uses a digital piano, which is relatively affordable, takes up less space and can be played at low volume or on headphones. The recorder is an even more budget-friendly option which is also easy to learn. A variety of options exist for obtaining lessons, from formal music schools (expensive) to freelance music instructors and online lessons (more affordable).
If your child enjoys practicing a musical instrument, that's great! Continue lessons and allocate time for practice as long as he or she wishes. If not, we suggest continuing lessons long enough to learn the fundamentals (perhaps three months of weekly lessons) and then stop. Continue music appreciation activities in either case.