Click to send Gena a message!
Welcome to the Music in Our Homeschool Podcast, where we make music education easy and enjoyable for homeschool families! I'm Gena Mayo, your host, a homeschooling mom of eight and a seasoned music teacher with over 30 years of experience. In today's episode, we'll delve into the essential factors to consider when choosing the best homeschool music curriculum for your family. Find everything mentioned in the episode here: https://MusicinOurHomeschool.com/Best
Finding the right music curriculum can be overwhelming, but fear not! I'll guide you through the process, drawing on my extensive background in music education and homeschooling. From understanding your teaching style and homeschool philosophy to accommodating your child's learning preferences and interests, we'll explore how to tailor your curriculum choice to fit your unique needs.
As an experienced music educator, I've developed a keen eye for what makes a top-notch curriculum. I'll share valuable insights into the qualities [find specifics here: https://MusicinOurHomeschool.com/Best] the best music education curricula possess, including structured lesson plans, comprehensive coverage of music theory and history, and customizable learning experiences.
Discover the importance of incorporating diverse teaching methods, utilizing technology effectively, and fostering creativity and self-expression in musical exploration. Plus, learn about the significance of performance opportunities and peer interaction in enhancing your child's musical journey.
I provide practical tips and strategies to help you navigate the vast landscape of homeschool music curricula, ensuring a rewarding and enriching educational homeschooling experience for your family.
For additional resources and links mentioned in this episode, visit https://MusicinOurHomeschool.com/Best. And don't forget to subscribe to the Music in Our Homeschool Podcast for more valuable insights into music education for homeschoolers.
Find the website at https://MusicinOurHomeschool.com and the online course site at https://Learn.MusicinOurHomeschool.com. Join me as we embark on this exciting musical adventure together! Thanks for tuning in, and happy homeschooling! 🎵🏠
Please follow/subscribe to the podcast and leave a 5-star review and comment if you liked this episode! Find all courses at https://Learn.MusicinOurHomeschool.com and free music lessons here: https://MusicinOurHomeschool.com/FreeMusicLessons
Podcast E2: How to Choose the Best Homeschool Music Curriculum for Your Kids and for You, the Homeschooling Parent
[00:00:00]
If you're a homeschooler looking for ways to easily and affordably include a quality music education in your homeschool, you've come to the right place. I'm Gena Mayo homeschool, mom of eight and music teacher for over 30 years. And this is the Music in Our Homeschool Podcast.
Today, we're going to be talking about how to choose the best homeschool music curriculum for your home, for your family,
for you personally, as the homeschooler. If you are a homeschooler, you may be wondering how to choose the best music curriculum for your child. As many of you know, before I was a homeschooling mom of eight, which I have been since the year 2000, I was a public school music teacher. I got my undergraduate degree in music education certified for K through 12th grade from Baylor University, and then went on to get my master's degree in vocal pedagogy, which is teaching voice lessons. I taught junior high choir for three [00:01:00] years and elementary general music for two years before having my first child and choosing to stay at home. I immediately began teaching early childhood music and movement classes for babies through preschoolers
those are mommy and me classes, out of my home and I continue to teach those both at home and my homeschool co-ops until 2021. In addition to running the website Music in Our Homeschool and the online course site, which you can find Learn.MusicinOurHomeschool.com, I've also been a musical director for community musical theater and taught a number of other in-person music classes, voice choir, music, appreciation music history. This to tell you that I know what it takes to make a good music curriculum and having homeschooled all eight of my kids since the first was born. I know what makes a good homeschool music curriculum [00:02:00] too.
So that's what we are going to be talking about. First of all, I would love to commend you because just by being here, listening to this video, that means that you don't think of music education as an extra. You recognize that it is an essential part of your child's quality homeschool education. Yay, you! Now just as with all homeschool curriculum choices, it's best if you've made a few decisions about your own personal teaching style first, maybe your homeschool philosophy, your kids' learning styles, the amount of time, energy, and money that you have to put toward this part of your homeschool curriculum. Are you an unschooler?
Are you a Charlotte Mason mama? Are you a classical educator? Is your child a kinesthetic or auditory or visual learner? Do you have babies and toddlers at home? Do you need to work from home or outside the home and you don't [00:03:00] have as much time or energy to commit to this area of your child's education? These and other questions that you will ask and the answers that you receive will make a difference in which homeschool music curriculum you will choose. There's some other questions to ask too.
You'll want to make sure that you ask when you're researching a particular curriculum. You want to know what level it's written for? Is this particular curriculum going to possibly be too easy or too difficult for your child? What interests does your child have? Maybe he or
she has a huge desire to play a musical instrument, or maybe he or she has a huge desire not to play a musical instrument. Does your child love to sing? So there's so many different types of music curricula out there. It doesn't just mean piano lessons or guitar lessons, or violin lessons. There are so many different types of music curriculum.
So I want you to think about [00:04:00] what your child's desires are so that you can hopefully match that up, too. Also what challenges does your child have? For example, I have a child with dyslexia who found it very difficult to read music. So her piano teacher found a way to teach her by ear. And then she switched to doing mostly voice lessons and dance, and that was a wonderful way for her to experience some music education. So I know that homeschooling can be very expensive.
Yes. I have been doing this a long time. And I've purchased expensive curriculum and I've used things for free. I've done both. And we do know that it is possible to homeschool completely for free because the internet just has everything on it. But we also know that that takes a lot of time to wade through everything and find out what works would work best for your family. So you're trading off [00:05:00] spending time for spending money. So probably you have recognized as I have, by this point in my homeschooling career, that sometimes spending a little bit of money is worth it to save yourself some time and to find the best things. Not only have I created different types of music courses for homeschoolers, but I've hired other teachers to teach certain music subjects that I was not qualified to teach. Such as Mr.
Jerry, who did Recorder Time with Mr. Jerry and my son, Ben, who taught Guitar Time with Ben. I also wooed Karri Gregor from KinderBach to join us so that she could provide KinderBach for this new generation. I have also taken time to review others' music curricula so that you can make a qualified decision about what's best for your family.
I am not just trying to push you to buy [00:06:00] something from Music in Our Homeschool because I don't provide everything and I would love to let you know some other options out there, too. So here, I'd love to get into the qualities of a great music education curriculum. So let's talk about that now. Number one find something that was created by an experienced music educator, but that also has easy to use and follow teaching instructions for you as the homeschool educator. Something that a non-musical homeschooler can use to teach their kids and you will probably be learning alongside them. Number two.
If singing is included in this curriculum, this is a big one for me, make sure that curriculum focuses on a good tone quality and a child's natural singing range, which is from about middle C up an octave. I see way too many music curricula, stuff all over YouTube, that is [00:07:00] encouraging children to sing way too low for their voices. They have a singing range
that's higher than a lot of us as moms or even dads would tend to find comfortable. We tend to want to sing lower than that, but children need to sing in a higher range. Three, this needs to be a well-defined structured curriculum that will cover fundamental music theory, music history, music appreciation, along with practical skills, such as playing instruments, singing, and composition. Now it's possible that you will pick a curriculum that doesn't have all of those, but if you are looking for something that is wide reaching, look for those particular topics to be included. Number four. The ability to customize a curriculum to suit each student's interests, abilities and learning pace. This I find very important in my homeschool.
You want your [00:08:00] children to have a personalized learning experience and something that will foster their individual growth. Also if you're looking for something that is self paced or for independent learning. Does this curriculum provide that. Number five. The best curricula of all types, incorporate a variety of teaching methods, including auditory, visual, kinesthetic, and interactive techniques to accommodate different learning styles. In other words, don't just use a book and read about it.
Don't just use something audio that doesn't have you doing anything physical. Make sure it's including all of these areas. Auditory, visual, kinesthetic, interactive. That will help your child learn the most. I think we're up to number six now. Today it's essential that music education utilizes technology effectively to enhance the learning experiences. This could [00:09:00] be through virtual music lessons or digital tools for composition and/or recording or interactive learning platforms.
You could find this with online games or apps or a variety of other methods. It might require purchasing additional equipment, or it could be just that you're using your phone ,tablet, or laptop. Number seven, the music curriculum needs to foster creativity and self-expression through musical exploration, improvisation, and composition exercises. And then these last two are a little bit of an extra, but they're so important if you can find them. Creating performance opportunities for students to showcase their musical skills and talents through recitals, concerts, competitions, or even online platforms. Huge benefit, not always possible, but if it's there take advantage [00:10:00] of it because performance experience is invaluable. And the last one that you also might find difficult is ways to encourage, collaboration, and peer interaction through group projects, ensemble playing or singing, or online forums or communities dedicated to homeschool music education. It will require extra effort, but these opportunities will make your homeschool music education even better if you can find them. Now, let me stop a second and say, what would you add? Are there any qualities of the best homeschool music curriculum that I missed that you would add? Be sure to leave a comment or send me an email Gena with an e. Gena@MusicinOurHomeschool.com. Now as I look at through that list that I just mentioned, I know that many of the items listed are part of the music courses that I offer at Music in Our Homeschool, but we are missing a couple of things. [00:11:00] Specifically creating performance opportunities and ways to encourage collaboration and peer interaction.
But I am thrilled to tell you that I have some new things planned, which will be announced later this spring. So stay tuned. If you are not part of my email list, check the description and get on the email list so you'll be the first to learn what exciting things I have planned. So those are the best benefits, best things to look for if you're researching a homeschool music education curriculum. And I would love to hear from you. Talk to you next time.