Making Music Praying Twice

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.