The Curriculum Choice

After two year of homeschooling, I heard an idea I quickly embraced. In fact, I don’t know why it hadn’t been implemented already.

Start each day with worship.

We read the Bible. Math lessons were completed. Spelling done. But what about ideas wrapped in melody? I wanted words from the saints echoing in our soul.

Our worship time varies greatly from new music to old. We use CDs, YouTube videos, or simply our voices. It can be one song or many. And it usually includes at least one little person dancing. When I hear humming throughout the day, I know the effort of gathering everyone is worth it.

One resource we’ve enjoyed is the series by Bobbie Wolgemuth and Joni Eareckson Tada entitled, Hymns for a Kid’s Heart.

48986: Hymns For A Kids Heart, Volumes 1 and 2

Before the words and music for each hymn, there is a beautiful illustration, an introduction to the hymn writer, and a personal story from Joni Eareckson Tada.

There are twelve hymns per book. I read the short biography one day and “From My Heart to You” the next, spending one week on each hymn. The accompanying CD includes children singing with both of the authors. The arrangements are engaging and pleasant.

There is also a version for Christmas Carols and Passion Hymns. They don’t include the biography section, but instead have a Scripture verse and Bible story to introduce the music.

These books are not just for kid’s hearts. My heart needs the inspiration, too. We pulled out the Christmas one this morning to sing, O Come All Ye Faithful. Yes, I need to come. I need to rest a moment and lift my thoughts heavenward before the day’s work begins.

Written by Renae Deckard, Biblical Principled mother of 3. Find Renae’s reflections about homeschool and family life at Life Nurturing Education.

The composer biographies written by Opal Wheeler are a great complement to a Charlotte Mason style composer study. I say complement because studying the biography of a composer is not essential to enjoying his music which is the core of a composer study.

Composer biographies by Opal Wheeler

Composers in the series include

Bach
Beethoven
Handel
Haydn
Mozart
Schumann
Chopin
Brahms
Foster
MacDowell
Schubert

The biographies cover both the childhood and adulthood of each composer. In fact, they generally span all the way from birth to death. These books are not a dry list of dates and accomplishments but an entertaining narrative written especially for children. The books were written 1930s and 40s, so the style is a wholesome and quaint. You’ll be relieved to know that there is nothing questionable to edit from the content. However the author sometimes talks to the reader such as, “Aren’t you glad that Father Mozart wrote it all down for all the world to play?” It feels a bit condescending, but not all of the books have this same tone.

companion CDs

You can buy companion discs to go along with the books. (One disc covers two of the composers, so plan your purchases accordingly.) Those are wonderful for two reasons. First, as the book references various pieces or snippets of music, the CD will have an audio file to listen to. No more skipping over the music, wishing you had a way to locate the tune or play it yourself. (Note, these music selections are generally very short. They are usually parts of larger pieces. These CDs will not suffice for all the music you’ll need for a composer study.)

Secondly, the illustrations from the book are in PDF format on the disc so that you can print them as coloring pages or as notebooking graphics. I thought the CDs added a lot of life to the reading of the books and kept the focus on the music which is the goal of a Charlotte Mason styled composer study.

We have used Opal Wheeler biographies and companion discs in our composer studies of Bach, Mozart, and Haydn.

Of the four titles we have, each book has four to five chapters, so it’s easy to read the book in a week’s time. Competent readers could use the books are independent readers too. I estimate them to be written on a fourth grade reading level.

The biographies are published by Zeezok Publishers and can also be found at Rainbow Resource and at Christian Book Distributors.

Art and music appreciation are subjects that if not given priority, fail to be done in our home. (It’s probably safe to assume that is true for many homes.) It seems like every year I plan on adding art appreciation to our long list of subjects and at the end of the year I realize that once again I haven’t done it. One of the problems is that I know next to nothing about art. It should be simple enough to add in picture study to accompany history. But that would require me to actually know which artists and paintings are most significant. Sure, I could probably research, learn and figure some things out. But thankfully I’ve discovered that someone else, much more knowledgeable than I, has already done the work for me.

Harmony Fine Arts is an art and music appreciation program written by Harmony Art Mom – Barbara McCoy. If you’re thinking that name sounds familiar, it should, because she’s one of the contributing writers here at The Curriculum Choice. Barb has put together an art and music program with 12 yearly plans that are linked to a chronological 4-year history cycle, and are divided into the stages of learning of the classical trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric). That is exactly what I would do! (If I knew how, that is.)

Beach Scene - Guernsey, Renoir, 1883

I received the plan for Grade One to review. Grade One is different from the other plans in that it does not cover art from its time period in history. Since the study of ancient art is not a study particularly well suited to the early grammar stage, she chose to make Grade One an overview of a variety of artists. Among the included artists are Renoir, van Gogh, Manet, and Cassatt. The study includes 8 artists with 4 works by each artist. The plan contains 3 different options for art study. Option 1 is picture study only. (Don’t worry, instructions on HOW to do picture study are included.) Option 2 takes picture study a step further combining the study of art in art appreciation books with a short related activity. Option 3 combines picture study with coloring books. (The student will be able to color a picture of the work studied.) In addition to the various options for art appreciation, there is also a section for composer study that includes suggested resources for listening and reading.

What do I like about this program?

Coordinates with history studies.
(It’s not like adding “another” subject.)
Simple to use.
(The plan is clearly laid out. The additional resources are clearly listed.)
Variety of options
(I love that the plan includes different options with different time committments.)
Flexible for multiple ages.
(It is written with a “grade” assigned, but it is not necessary to use only with the specified grade.)
Low cost.
(The grammar and logic levels are $19.95 for each year plan. Rhetoric levels are $9.95.)

With everything already planned for me, I’ll have no one to blame but myself if we don’t finally begin our art and music appreciation studies this year! To learn more about the Harmony Fine Arts Program, visit HarmonyFineArts.com.

Written by Kristen, A Relaxed Classical Mom of 4

medals Years ago, after writing a paper for a college history class about Norwegian Americans, I became familiar with a fraternal organization called Sons of Norway. I joined and though I wasn’t an active member, I enjoyed reading the Viking magazine that arrived in my mailbox each month and I dreamed of someday traveling to my ancestral homeland.

As a parent, I want the best for my children. As a homeschooling mom, I look for every opportunity to provide educational experiences for them. I had known there was an active Sons of Norway lodge here in Central Oregon since we first moved here in 2003 – all things Norwegian tend to grab my attention – but I didn’t join the lodge until I started homeschooling two years ago.

Since then, I have been delighted with the educational benefits of membership. One of the greatest is being able to take advantage of the many cultural opportunities. A partial sampling of activities in which members can partake and thereby earn heritage pins includes:

Architecture

Cooking

Handcrafts (Hardanger embroidery, Wood carving, Rosemaling, Weaving)

Folk dance

Folk costume

Genealogy

History

Language

Literature

Music

Stamp collecting

Travel

bunads Additionally, the organization has an extensive Sports Medal Program, whereby members achieve recognition of healthful activities. The program is great because you don’t need to be a natural athlete – the only one you are really competing with is yourself. Participants are assigned point or mileage requirements for medal qualifications. As participants reach each objective, they are awarded different grades of sports medals. They begin in pursuit of the Bronze, then work up to Silver, Gold, and eventually Enamel.

As a family, we were already actively participating in a variety of endeavors (swimming, cycling, hiking, running, Taekwondo, etc.), we simply began to keep a tally of the time we spent doing these activities. Earlier this year, during the lodge’s monthly social dinner, the kiddos and I were presented with the Idrettsmerke sports medals that we had earned. I was very impressed with the quality of the medals.

The best part is that the medals are free to members! Both of the kiddos are enthusiastic about earning the other medals. Sweetie says she would like to learn to cross-country ski and earn Skimerke medals. We have also begun to learn more about the crafts of Rosemaling and wood carving.

Collaboration with other members is another fabulous part of lodge members. Many of the crafts that we want to learn are unfamiliar to us and we thereby rely upon others members to share and tutor us in their craft. It has been a great way to connect with another generation.

Written by Makita, an eclectic homeschool mother of two.

I have been listening to classical music for quite some time. Many of my friends say classical music is not their cup of tea so they don’t expose themselves or their children to the variety and sound of classical music. In my experience, it takes a few times listening through a particular composer to get the feel for his music. Lumping all classical music into one category is a big mistake since the sounds and styles of each composer are so different.

Starting when the children are young is the best way to develop an ear for classical music but don’t despair if your children are older and you still want to give them the opportunity. It is never too late. My husband never listened to classical music until we started composer study in the Charlotte Mason style. He now can recognize and appreciate many different composers.

cm-start-up-two-disks I found the perfect CD sets to introduce your family to the general overview of classical music. The series is called The Classical Music Start-Up Kit, volumes one and two. The first CD covers the years 1500-1825 and the second volume covers 1825-1945.

They call it a kit but really it is a CD with a booklet “instruction manual”. You can listen and enjoy the selections or you can listen, enjoy, and then pull out the booklet and read about the composer, the time period, and the music itself. I had my boys listen to the CD several times and then we went back and read a bit about what we were listening to after they had some exposure to the music.

I have learned to fit in our listening as we go about our daily routine. We listen to the music in the car while we are driving to our appointments or errands. I put the music on when they are working on art projects. I listen to the music during the day while I work on the computer. You would be surprised at how many times you can find to listen to one or two of the selections each day.

You can click the link to Amazon.com below and there you can actually listen to samples of the music from each CD.

Classical Music Start-Up Kit Volume One

Classical Music Start-Up Kit Volume Two

Each one of these volumes could be the basis of a term’s music appreciation. Here is what the introduction says for these kits.

“Each volume requires two to three hours of listening and reading. If you’re new to classical music, this CD and instruction manual may be easier to absorb if you plan several shorter sittings…..It is not essential for you to have read Volume One before beginning Volume Two, but if you go through these CDs in order, you’ll have a better overall understanding of classical music.”

These CDs are a great starting point for a study of classical music. You can use the selections to pick composers you want to listen to in more depth in the future. If you find a composer you like and want to stop and dwell on his music, you can be flexible and do that as well.

There is no right or wrong way to get started with music appreciation. The most important thing is that you start!

cm-start-up-disk-and-manual

I love to keep things simple and the Classical Music Start-Up CDs with the accompanying instruction manual are an inexpensive and painless way to expose your children to great music. These CDs are appropriate for all ages of students. In fact, I use them in my high school music appreciation plans on Harmony Fine Arts. These plans are free and you can download the PDFs to use with your children.

You can also listen to both of these Classical Music Start-Up Kits on Naxos.com if you are a subscriber. You can also listen to samples on Naxos.com for free.

Volume One: Catalogue Number 8.550779

Volume Two: Catalogue Number 8.550835

Enjoy!

Written by Barb-Harmony Art mom. She also blogs at http://www.harmonyartmom.blogspot.com