You are in for a treat at the end. Don’t miss the giveaway!

Dear homeschool parent,

Are you like me? Do you long to enrich your homeschool with studies of composers and artists? Do you wish that someone would just do it all for you? You know, invest the time in research, find the online links, point you to the resources you need? All I really wanted to be able to do was open something up and teach. Have it all right there and not have to pull it all together myself.

It’s done. Yes, really. It’s all done for you. Barb-Harmony Art Mom has created just what you need. She, too, was like us. Here is what Barb has to say about the Harmony Fine Arts (HFA) plans she created:

The idea behind this program came from my own home schooling experience. I was always searching for a plan for picture study and composer study. It seemed simple enough to do myself but I just never did it. I also wanted to use the classical style and Charlotte Mason’s ideas for our art and music. I wanted all the great resources organized in the four-year cycle of history. I wanted it to be flexible and easy to use. I never found what I was searching for so I decided to do it myself!

This is the art and music appreciation program for busy people. We have done all the research and organizing. You are able to open our plan and offer a great program for your children.

As mentioned above, the plans are organized by the four-year cycle of history. They are presented as follows but plans for individual grades are available:

• Grammar – Grades 1-4
• Logic – Grades 5-8
• Rhetoric – Grades 9-12

(First grade plans are a general overview and gentle introduction to composers and artists. Starting with grade 2, the plans work chronologically through the four year history cycle.)

Art Plans:

Offer three options so you can choose what is best for your homeschool.

• You can simply choose picture study with links to view all the art online for easy viewing.
• You can add in an art appreciation study with short activities.
• You can even follow along in certain grades with the formal art program Artistic Pursuits or Drawing with Children or Mark Kistler’s Draw Squad – depending on the grade level.
• Depending on which option you choose within the art plans – you can allow for one or two 45-minute art periods per week.

Composer Study:

• Choose to study the composers and listen to their music or
• Enhance your music study with suggested books

Included: artist and composer notebooking pages, coloring pages of famous art.

How we use Harmony Fine Arts Plans in our home: we adopted Angie and her boys at Petra School’s Wednesday habit of artist and composer study. All this means is that we push back the dishes from lunch. I open up the Harmony Fine Art Plans on my computer. I turn on the music of the composer we are studying. Or I click over to the optional online listening of Classics for Kids. We might work on a notebook page while listening.

Next, depending on the day, I might click over to view artwork of the artist we are studying. We may follow with an artist notebook page or a Draw Squad lesson. This takes 15 to 30 minutes once a week. But building a weekly habit has tuned us all in and made us want more the rest of the week.

• “Can we play that again? I really like it.” 14-year-old
• Six-year-old whistling along to Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony when I turn on the classical music just for listening fun.

The Many Benefits of Art and Music Study:

• Made by a homeschool mom to meet a need.
• Affordable Plans for Busy Moms
• Practical Homeschooling Reader Award 2011
• How to Get Started with Harmony Fine Arts
• Download Sample pages – try it out!
• Enjoy free downloads
• Listen to a podcast to see if the Harmony Fine Arts plans are right for your family
• Browse Harmony Fine Arts Pinterest boards for direct links to sample plans

Cost: All costs are listed on the order page of the Harmony Fine Arts website. Bundles are available as well as individual year plans. I purchased the Middle School Medieval/Renaissance Plans at the start of this school year for $17.44. A whole year of study for the whole family for less than $20 – one that brings that much learning and enjoyment? What a bargain!

Print or ebook? Harmony Fine Arts Plans are available in both print or ebook format.

In Summary: What I originally intended for my middle-schoolers to study has extended to full blown appreciation for the whole family – all five children.

• The artist and composer studies compliment our Tapestry of Grace studies beautifully.
• For this mama, using HFA plans is easy. I just click to open the plans, click to print what we might like to compliment our studies, click to print a coloring page for the younger ones.
• Not to mention, this type of enrichment is pure delight. It might just be what your homeschool needs too.

“All my music I wrote for God.” ~ J. S. Bach

I shared about our studies on my Hodgepodge site and my friend Kimberly, a pianist and life-long musician, had this to say…

“It warms my heart when I hear children learning about classical music! So many of those composers had such a love for God and were certainly gifted. When you mention Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Debussy, etc. to most children, they have no idea who they are. It’s so sad because these musicians have had such an impact on our world. It’s wonderful that you’re sharing this education with your children!” ~Kimberly

I agree – there is so much history and part of HIS story we can learn from those gifted and Godly. With thanks to Harmony Fine Arts for creating a wonderful tool for just such an education.

• Full descriptions of individual plans at the Harmony Fine Arts site.
• Plus Barb-Harmony Art Mom shares many more examples and samples on her Harmony Art Mom site.
• Barb is a review author here at Curriculum Choice. You can find all of her reviews here.

Now for the giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Homeschooling for over a decade now, Tricia faces a daily dose of chaos with five children. She shares a mixture of free art lessons, recipes and the practical at Hodgepodge. Her husband, Steve, also shares reviews here at Curriculum Choice.

This past year our family was introduced to a study from Bright Ideas Press called A Young Scholar’s Guide to Composers. You might already be familiar with Bright Ideas Press if you use their history curriculum, The Mystery of History.

A Young Scholars Guide to Composers is a One-Year Curriculum for Grades 4-8. It is Christian based and Chronological. It is broken down into 32 weekly lessons that cover 26 famous composers and 6 eras of music.

The study begins with an introduction into Ancient Music and Music in the Middle Ages. You then cover music in the Renaissance and then move into the Baroque Period. At that point you begin covering individual composers and their lives. The rest of the book is broken down into periods of history covering The Baroque period, The Classical Period, The Romantic Period, and The Contemporary Period. You learn about famous composers within each of the above periods of history.

The study offers a suggested schedule for your studies which they have broken down into three days a week, but the study is very flexible and can be used easily in any manner that you desire to use it. In fact, we have on a couple of occasions done the study two days in one week and then picked it back up the following week.

If you follow the suggested study in the book it is recommended that on Day 1 you listen to the recommended selections, read the lesson from the book (each lesson runs approximately 1200 words and takes about 15 minutes to read aloud), and fill in the note- taking pages or answer the Student Review Questions. On Day 2 it suggests that you listen to the selections again, fill in the Composer Info Cards (which are included in the back of the book as reproducibles), and color in the timeline. Day 3 suggests that you listen to the selection(s) again and match the composer to his place of birth on a world map. Again, reproducibles are available in the back of the book.

Above is a sample of the reproducible Composer Info Cards that the book offers.

This is the back of the Info Card which your student/child fills out.

This is a sample of the composers faces that you cut out and glue to the front of the Info Cards. These faces are also used on the included timeline in the book. We have used the faces on our own timeline that we already had set up for our schooling.

Our family has very much enjoyed using this study. One of the things that I love about it is that it can easily be geared towards various ages. While it is written for grades 4-8th, even my  younger children have been able to get a lot out of just listening to the various composers. The back of the book includes coloring pages and my younger children have really enjoyed coloring them as they listen to various pieces of music by each composer. One of our very first composers to study was George Frideric Handel.

This is the coloring page that my daughter Ally (7), and Camden (5) worked on while we listened to his works of music and my older kids filled out their composer cards.

As far as the music itself is concerned, towards the back of the book are suggested web addresses where you can listen to selections from the various artists that you will be studying. Most of the addresses are You Tube videos. While some of the website addresses may change over time and some may therefore not be in use anymore, it has been our experience that most have still been active. When I have come across an address that is no longer active it has been easy to simply type in the name of the piece that is suggested in the book and find selections on You Tube to listen too. I have appreciated having recommended selections to pull up and listen to as we have gone through our studies rather than having to do my own search on what to listen too.

Also included in this book are note-taking pages, quizzes, and answer keys.

Just to give you a sample of how our study began, we started out reading about Ancient Music and Music during the Middle Ages on our first week. Our listening suggestions during this week was, the Gregorian Chant, The Salve Regina, and Dies Irae. As we listened to the suggestions we replayed them several times discussing things such as whether we heard harmony or only melody in the music? Is the tune catchy? What type of feelings does it convey? We tried turning the music off and singing the melody back to see if we could. We also tried tapping our feet to the music. On our second week we learned about music during the Renaissance time period. Our suggestions of music for this week were Piffaro and “Summer Is Icumen In”. We discussed the same questions regarding this music that we did on week one. On week three we read about the Baroque Period and began our study of composers with Antonio Vivaldi. From that point on, each week contained a new composer to study.

This Composer Study is 298 pages long and is available in paperback book form for $34.95 or as a CD-Rom book for $29.95. You can download sample pages of the study from the Bright Ideas Website. To do so or to purchase the book visit, HERE.

Jennifer is mom to 6 children, 2 boys and 4 girls, ages 14 down to 5. The Unsell family is in their 10th year of homeschooling and are a bit eclectic in their approach to schooling. You can find their family blog at Adventures in Unsell Land.

What immediately drew me to My Father’s World is that the curriculum is the fact that it is fairly stand alone. You purchase either the basic set or their deluxe set, and you are ready to go!  I adore this as our little library in this rural community really doesn’t have the variety or selection of books that we were used to in San Diego. This means filling in blanks or filling out a curriculum is a challenge now so a curriculum with most of the absolutely necessary books included was a huge plus to us.

However, like the true bibliophiles that we are, I wanted the option of having more, should we be able to find them. True to the Charlotte Mason element, the curriculum is surrounded by the “living books” concept so the usage of books is completely up to you.  I love that they include this in every year.

About My Father’s World 

My Father’s World isn’t just a Charlotte Mason style offering but rather a unique fusion of sorts, merging both “the best of Charlotte Mason, classical education, and unit studies with a Biblical worldview and international focus.”

My Father’s World offers grades K-2nd grade as a more independent, semi-stand alone element and then moves into a family 5 year cycle that works around a central theme. The 5 year cycle is specifically geared for multiple ages, for grades 2nd-8th so there is savings to be found as families with more than one child use the same program to teach all children in 2nd – 8th grade.

They also offer a bridge year called Adventures in My Father’s World, which is geared for families 2nd or 3rd graders who have no siblings in 4th – 8th grade.(We will be doing this program next year as I have a 4year old and a 7 year old.)

Our Adventure

Currently we are working our way though My Father’s World, 1st grade.  I adore this program as it is laid out in an easy to follow, daily workbook fashion.  It’s easy for me to combine the integrated social studies, science, art and Bible elements with both kids, while focusing independently on the phonics and math.  My boys love that they are learning together, doing the same things, despite their age and grade differences.

The curriculum does include a 1st grade phonics-based reading program that focuses on the Bible and more fun, hands-on math activities.  We include our own K4 phonics and and additional math program (Math U See) for both boys as I found their math not as intensive as I think it needs to be for the grade.

One major element we always seemed to miss with our previous years curriculum was the arts; we simply didn’t always make time for them.

With My Father’s World, art, music, crafts,hands-on learning is a major part of the curriculum. Everything is planned out and outlined for you to see the day before so you can prep easily, using common household items most of the time.  My boys have enjoyed this more consistent addition to our learning and I have found they have better attitudes and have better lesson retention.

The only cons that I have experience thus far is that the 1st grade teachers book is only formatted with a daily lesson plan. It lacks the easy, one glace, weekly grid that their latter versions offer.  I also felt the math that is included is a bit weak for the age group so we needed to supplement an additional math program. Ultimately, minor things that we easily rectified.

For a full curriculum, It’s fairly affordable, especially when you compare it to larger, more known companies. For the 1st grade curriculum, you can elect to get their basic package for only $136.oo or their deluxe package for $239.00.  As the years grow in complexity, so does the number of books included which will contribute to a steady raise in the overall costs. However, remaining competitive and within reach for most families.

Overall, My Father’s World, or MFW, has been a blessing to our household. It’s affordable, fun, engaging and the children really do learn.

I had the pleasure of reviewing the entire Madonna Woods Piano Course for Christians from the Preparatory Level all the way through Level 5. The first question everyone always seems to ask is, “Will I really be able to teach piano to my children using this course?” My quick answer is, “Yes, I believe many people will.”

If you have any sort of musical training at all, you should be able to use this piano course without any problems, taking your children from the very beginning levels of piano and music theory all the way to being able to play medium difficulty hymns. Even if you have no musical background, Mrs. Woods has done a wonderful job of walking you through the lessons step-by-step.

She has included with each piano book:

1. an audio CD with her speaking directly to the student that leads him or her through the lessons.  On the CD Mrs. Woods explains new concepts such as time signatures, note and rest values and hand placement.
2. a pull-out sheet of notes for each lesson that you might use to reinforce the concepts.

The pages in the piano book are all very clear with pictures when necessary to show hand positions or the names of particular notes on the keyboard.  Notes can also be found at the top of each lesson page for the student to better understand the concept being introduced. Even though this sounds a bit overwhelming, it really isn’t at all. The CD and teacher notes are very easy to use, and the pictures and notes to the student are placed very neatly on the pages so the student isn’t overwhelmed.

From the very first preparatory lesson, the student will be learning notes and playing simple songs. He or she will also be learning bits and pieces of music theory from the beginning levels. It’s all introduced in a gentle and encouraging way so that the student should feel successful and capable after each lesson.

Review tests are found at the end of each level to test the music theory knowledge learned throughout the book. Also found at the end of some of the books are different glossaries or helps depending on the skills introduced in that level. For example, in level 1, you will find a dictionary of musical terms in which to refer. Piano recital pieces and a completion certificate are included at the end of the books as well. Mrs. Woods has placed a great amount of emphasis on the religious use of music and has included Christian hymns as much as possible in the lessons.

Depending on how much you know about music, this paragraph may mean a lot or a little to you. But, if the student completes the preparatory book and all five levels, they will understand such musical concepts as major and minor keys, triads, chords, and unusual time signatures like 6/4 and 4/2. They will have progressed to playing 16th notes and understand the difference between melodies and chords. Will they be able to sit down at church and play a hymn from the hymn book? I doubt it just yet, but that skill would be just around the corner.

When to start with your children? That I cannot answer. I couldn’t find a recommended age level, but I’ve always been told that piano shouldn’t start until your child’s hands are big enough to span the keys comfortably. The entire course from beginning to end can be used either on a regular piano or a keyboard.

I found this to be a thorough program from start to finish. Mrs. Woods has put together a very encouraging, easy to follow piano curriculum that will see results if you and your child put forth the effort required. Just as with any piano lessons, learning to play well from this curriculum will take regular practice. I think what I like most is the fact that Mrs. Woods has painstakingly created a course that revolves around the Lord and how music should glorify Him.

-Written by Cindy, an eclectically Charlotte Mason mom of 3 from Central KY.  You can find her blogging at Our Journey Westward and find her nature study curricula at Shining Dawn Books.  This product was given to Cindy for the purpose of her honest review.

Making Music Praying Twice is a Catholic music curriculum that focuses on children from birth through 8 years old, although many older children may enjoy the curriculum (or maybe even just being helpers).  It is a 95 song journey through the Liturgical year of the church.  Making Music Praying Twice (which comes from a quote by St. Augustine of Caterbury who said, “He who sings, prays twice.”) is available as both a regular edition (for parishes and preschools), as well as a homeschool edition.  My family has been thrilled this year to have been able to receive the homeschool edition of this wonderful and faithful music curriculum.

Making Music Praying Twice is one of those pieces of curriculum that makes me feel even better to use, as it was developed (and is sold) by a homeschooling family.  I love the thought of supporting other homeschoolers!

What is included in the set?

The homeschool version of Making Music Praying Twice (which sells for $96.00) includes:

• A 273 page Homeschool Edition guidebook which contains a wealth of information including lesson plans for using this program either daily or weekly (so that each day or week looks different), as well as all of the music with suggested activities for each song.
• Five CDs each containing between 17 – 25 songs.  Each CD represents a certain part of the liturgical year – Ordinary Time – Fall, Advent-Christmas-Epiphany, Ordinary Time – Winter, Easter-Pentecost, and Lent.
• Five Children’s Songbooks, each corresponding to one of the CDs.  They contain pictures, words to the songs, as well as the actual written music.  (My older boys feel a sense of accomplishment to look at the music in some of them and say, “Hey – I could play that on the piano!”)
• Online Music Education Activities are not specifically included in the set, but they are available on Making Music Praying Twice’s website.

Making Music Praying Twice uses everything from traditional children’s songs to finger plays to Gregorian chants to favorite hymns, plus so much more!  There is a fabulous variety of types of songs and some spoken word recordings (even some in foreign languages) in order to teach and promote all types of musical brain development such as different types of tones, beats, meters, and tonal and rhythm patterns.  The best part about all of that is that children just feel like they’re having fun!

Although my children all take piano lessons, one of their favorite things is getting to play with some of the instruments and equipment that Making Music Praying Twice suggests that you use with their program.  These aren’t included with the program, and we only bought shaky eggs and rhythm sticks, as well as being able to use some of the items on the list that we already have at home.

My only regret with Making Music Praying Twice is that I didn’t start it when all of my children were young.  Although the older children still enjoy it, I know that it is definitely more geared toward my younger child (although my nine year old that loves music is also a big fan, but it really helps that he loves music so much).

I would definitely recommend Making Music Praying Twice as a music curriculum for Catholic families with children in the 0 – 8 age range.

Angie writes about faith, family, and household management at her blog, Many Little Blessings.  She is also the founder of The Homeschool Classroom and Catholic Mothers Online.  She dreams of being an artist.

Disclosure: I received the homeschool edition of Making Music Praying Twice in exchange for blog advertising space, as well as for reviewing this product.  All opinions are my own.

Last school year, I had a strong desire to start my boys in music lessons.  And, while this led to a quest for a free piano, which my husband spent many hours refinishing for us, it has also brought much joy into our home.  At the time, our daughter was in preschool, and we decided to focus only on starting our boys with the piano, since they were eight and ten at the time.

This year, since our daughter started kindergarten, we decided to start her in piano lessons as well (since all of our children had to change teachers).  Our new piano teacher started our daughter (who was reading only very small words) in Music for Little Mozarts from Alfred Music Publishing, which touts itself as “a piano course to bring out the music in every young child.”  The deluxe starter kit is available from Alfred Music Publishing for $69.95.  (In interest of saving money, it appears to also be available on other sites for under $50.)

Although we are using these books and materials in conjunction with formal music lessons, I feel confident that at the first level, I would have been able to do them at home with my daughter with my limited musical abilities.  As a matter of fact, if you have an older child who has taken piano lessons, they could probably do it with a younger sibling as well.  Although you would eventually need to go with more formal piano lessons (from a teacher), this can be a great introduction in your own home.

My daughter really enjoys that there are characters that go along with the different concepts, as well as that lessons consist not only of time to play, but also of some coloring activities as well.  I like that this helps to cement some of the musical concepts by approaching them in a variety of ways.

All of the books for this program can be purchased individually, not only in the starter kit.  Using the books in weekly lessons (with daily practice on what was covered during those weekly lessons), she has moved through the first level in just a couple of months.  However, at least some of the books and materials can be reused for other children.  (There is a workbook that would need to be replaced after each child was done with it to use the program with another child.)

Music for Little Mozarts has been a great way to introduce a young child to the beauty of playing the piano, and it’s one that we’ve all been enjoying.

Angie writes about faith, family, and household management at her blog, Many Little Blessings.  She is also the founder of The Homeschool Classroom and Catholic Mothers Online.  She dreams of being an artist.

In big church, I find myself humming the tune of Happy Birthday to You when we read, “Marvel not that I said… marvel not that I said… marvel not that I said unto thee ye must be born again” John 3 verse 7.
All because the CDs by the Harrow family have tucked the Lord’s Word into our hearts.

Memorization is so very important but often a difficult skill to set aside time to practice. For us, singing has been the simplest way of memorizing.

I found this resource early in our homeschool journey through Sonlight curriculum. We started with Sing the Word A to Z and A New Commandment.

How our family uses this resource:

• For individual learning – for the littlest ones – adding a scripture song to a room time CD. Older ones pick a CD to listen to during afternoon quiet time.
• Popping in a CD in the car. Everyone learning all at once – even parents. It just has to be practical for us to get it done!
• Last Christmas, each of the children received a Sing the Word title for their ‘spiritual’ gift. There was a bundle of four CDs offered with a free download of a Quiet Time CD – perfect for our five. (This special is still available!)

Sing the Word is produced by His Own Hand Music. Their collection includes over 100 songs plus two books of the Bible songs for Old and New Testament.

Titles include:

• Credo new!
• Quiet Time Collection
• All Nations Shall Worship
• The Heavens Declare
• Great in Counsel and Mighty in Deed
• God Our Provider
• A New Commandment
• Sing the Word A to Z

Additional Resources:

• an accompanying Bible Copywork book for God Our Provider.
• songbooks
• lyrics

Listen to samples of all songs and CDs on their site. Eight sets of scripture are available for purchase or immediate download. Individual CDs are $14.95 with bundle package specials often available.

-Tricia homeschools five children from preschool to middle school, mixing up a classical and Charlotte Mason style. You can find her facing that daily dose of chaos at Hodgepodge and sharing habits at Habits for a Happy Home.

Not everything has to become a formal lesson at our house, but I love being able to sneak in some learning with a helping of fun.  I have seen in my own life that songs I have learned as a child I can still remember to this day.  While this has many applications to homeschooling I only want to talk about one today, called Schoolhouse Rock.

Schoolhouse Rock is series of short musical cartoons that aired originally before I was born during the Saturday morning cartoons beginning in 1973.  Topics covered in the original series include songs for multiplication, grammar, science, American history and lawmaking, and computers.  Later offerings from the makers of Schoolhouse Rock include songs about money and taking care of our earth.

In August of 2002 Disney released a 30^th Anniversary DVD set of over 40 Schoolhouse Rock songs.  A few years later we bought the set for our family.  I said it was for homeschool and my husband said it was just for fun.  We were both right! Our children enjoy watching different sections of the DVD.  Each has a favorite song or two.  My 8 year old daughter’s current favorites are:

1. No More Kings – A song about the beginnings of our country and the Revolutionary War.
2. I’m Just a Bill – A song that boils the legislative process down so that even a child can understand how our countries laws are made.  Here it is on You Tube to watch.  (Like everything else on YouTube, the comments below the video may not be appropriate.  We like to click the handy arrow beside the comment section to close it, or watch the video in full screen.)

I love that my children are easily learning many educational topics without a formal lesson.  The DVDs spark my childrens’ interest in topics like conjunctions, multiplcation facts, money and debt, and the branches of the US Government.  We may watch a few songs while waiting for dinner to finish cooking, or have a sing-along as a family for fun.  There are many ways to use the Schoolhouse Rock DVDs.  I am sure we will just happen to pull it out when a child has trouble learning those pesky times tables for another way to reinforce math facts.

The internet abounds with free resources.  Here are a few related to Schoolhouse Rock:

• The lyrics to many of the songs.
• Ideas from educators of lessons that use Schoolhouse Rock songs.
• Many of the songs are available on YouTube with a simple search.  (Remember to close the comments section or watch the videos on full screen to avoid inappropriate material.)

I would love to hear if you have a favorite Schoolhouse Rock song, or any fun ways you can see incorporating Schoolhouse Rock into homeschooling, so please leave a comment!  If you want to learn about some other things we have used in our homeschool read my other Curriculum Choice reviews HERE or visit my blog.

Written by Tristan, mom to 5, homeschooling through unit studies with a side of lapbooks.  You can visit her at her blog, Our Busy Homeschool.

The History of Classical Music is published by Beautiful Feet Books, a long-respected homeschool curriculum provider.

The 75 lessons in this curriculum move through classical music starting with Corelli in the Baroque Period and going all the way to Stravinsky in the Modern Era. Here is a list of the many composers studied:

• Corelli
• Vivaldi
• Bach
• Handel
• Haydn
• Mozart
• Beethoven
• Schubert
• Berlioz
• Mendelssohn
• Chopin
• Schumann
• Grieg
• Tchaikovsky
• Wagner
• Verdi
• Brahms
• Dvorak
• Strauss
• Mahler
• Foster
• Sousa
• Debussy
• Stravinsky

A study of the instruments and structure of the orchestra is also interspersed throughout the curriculum.

Features of this curriculum:

Included in the set are a composers card game, five living books, 18 Audio CDs, 2 coloring books, a timeline, and a schedule/teacher’s guide.

Don’t be fooled by the term “coloring book.” They are full of text and information, complemented by black and white drawings.

The VOX Music Masters audio CDs are narratives of composer’s lives sprinkled with relevant musical selections throughout. A single narrator tells the story. There is no dramatic dialogue or sound effects. These are more straightforward than say a Jim Weiss or Your Story Hour audio. That is, they are not as entertaining in a humorous or exciting way. But they are well made and full of facts about the composers.  We do enjoy them; my daughter has never complained that they are boring. For younger students, you may want to use the Classical Kids CDs instead.

A timeline with beautiful images is part of the complete package. Besides the line drawings, there are even  two strips of cardstock for making the actual timeline. (Or the figures could be but onto your own pre-existing timeline.)
The composers card game is basically a matching game like Go Fish with composers on the cards. It’s a fun way to reinforce the names and works of the music masters you study.

About the Guide

In the guide, all reading assignments are scheduled clearly, lesson by lesson so that you could hand the guide over to your middle schooler (or high schooler) and let him do the study basically on his own.

Notebooking suggestions and tasks are included in the lessons. These are varied and open-ended. Examples include mapping, sketching diagrams and labeling them, writing definitions, taking notes on a certain historical topic, coloring and pasting in an image from the coloring book. (There are no printable notebooking pages, just tasks to complete in your blank notebook.)

Occasionally websites are listed for additional study. And there are short research projects integrated into the curriculum.

Most lessons include a culminating or key question that is answered in the reading assignments. You can choose how to handle it, either discussing it orally with your child or having him write the answer in his notebook.

Materials needed in addition to the set:

• An atlas
• A composition book (or other format for notebooking)

How to use History of Classical Music

BF History of Classical Music is truly a history of music and not of history in general. Thus I consider it insufficient for a year’s history curriculum. Instead I suggest BF History of Classical Music could be used in a Charlotte Mason homeschool in two ways:

1.  As an in-depth unit study covering the span of a few months.

BF History of Classical Music  has only 75 lessons. So if you completed two lessons each day (very doable if this is your base curriculum) you could finish it in less than forty school days (9 weeks on a five day school week; 10 weeks with school four days a week). Because of the heavy emphasis on reading and writing, BF History of Classical Music would make a good language arts curriculum.

2.  As a guide for composer studies.

The BF History of Classical Music could supply almost all you need for several years of composer study if you spent a term on each composer in the materials. Instead of doing two lessons each week as the publisher suggests, you could stretch out all the Bach assignments, for example, over the course of a 6-12 week term. By adding daily music listening to the routine, you would have a very rich composer study.

Although the curriculum states it is for 5th – 8th graders, I see no reason why high schoolers couldn’t benefit from these lessons and living books. Fifth and sixth graders may need to have some of the more challenging reading assignments read aloud to them.

It’s that “most wonderful time of the year” again! Many homeschool families take the entire month of December off while others continue on with their regular school routine. In years past we have taken a break from our regular studies – even the 3R’s – to focus on some type of Christmas unit. This year, however, because of some unexpected changes in our schedule, we will be sticking with our regular schooling until the week before Christmas.

Whatever route you choose for your homeschool, there are many enjoyable opportunities for learning through the Christmas season. The following are some simple activities that have become cherished holiday traditions in our home.

• Read a different Christmas story each day to countdown the days until December 25th. You can see a list of some of our favorite books here. (You don’t have to start this on December 1st. Just jump right in whenever you want.)
• Make a simple Christmas ornament. Have your child sign and date it, and it will become a treasured keepsake on your tree for years to come. (I have some ornament ideas on my blog – here and here – that I paired up with the reading of particular Christmas books. You can also Google up an abundance of ornament ideas – as simple or as complicated as you’d like – in the blogosphere right now.)
• As you decorate your tree together, you can simply point out the meaning of various Christmas symbols to your children. The evergreen tree itself reminds us that Jesus came to give us eternal life. The lights remind us that Jesus is the “Light of the World”. The ornaments remind us of the beauty of God’s love for us. Candy canes remind us of the staff carried by the shepherds. Bells remind us to “ring out the good news” of Jesus’ birth and His sacrifice for us.
• Sing, sing, sing! Even if you don’t think you have a great voice, your children will not care. Christmas carols are a treasure trove of great poetry set to music that you and your family don’t want to miss out on. And you don’t need an instrument to enjoy singing Christmas songs together. A cappella will do just fine. If you really feel the need for some instrumental accompaniment, turn on your local radio station or break out some Christmas cd’s. Let your children choose a favorite carol and research the history behind it. There are some wonderful stories behind the writing of these beloved songs.
• Bring out the nativity set. Some families enjoy the tradition of setting out one piece of the nativity each day until Christmas, with baby Jesus being laid in the manger on Christmas day. You could research the history of the nativity scene, or creche, to fit in a bit of history. We have a plastic set that we put out all at once because we have little hands in our home that enjoy playing with it so much.
• Although it’s a lesson that can be learned year round, Christmas provides us with numerous opportunities to give to and serve people in need. Community and church groups often collect toys, food, and clothes for families in need during the holiday season. Local soup kitchens often encourage families to volunteer to serve meals on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. International ministries such as Samaritan’s Purse, Compassion International, and many others provide food, gifts, and other types of relief for families around the world. Involving your children in this type of giving is a lesson that can become a special family tradition.

No matter what activities and traditions you enjoy with your family, may you and your family have a blessed season of celebrating together the birth of Jesus.

Written by Shannon, who is enjoying simple Christmas traditions with her children this year, and can be found blogging at Song of My Heart.

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.

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

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:

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.

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!

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