Music comes from God. It is one of the things that make us human, and He has put it there, deep inside us, for
a reason. Music develops the heart of the
child. I love how Kevin Clark and Ravi
Scott Jain explain it in their book The Liberal Arts Tradition, “Musical education is
soul-craft: carried out properly it tunes the
soul, and makes one receptive to truth and
goodness.” Let us embrace this aspect of
our children’s education. Here are five steps,
and three reasons to teach music yourself.
Five Steps
Step one: Get ready to learn. As with any
other subject, you cannot teach what you
don’t know, but you can be ready to learn
with your kids.
Step two: Sing.
Step three: Put an instrument in your
home.
Step four: Read about famous composers, and listen to their music.
Step five: Keep developmental stages in
mind, and know when to pass on the work
to a professional.
Three Reasons for Teaching Music
Yourself
1. Money: Lessons for any instrument are
expensive.
2. Time: Maybe you don’t have room in
your schedule for driving to and from lessons.
3. Adventure: Perhaps you just love pushing the limits of what you can teach.
For our family, it was all of the above.
We had no extra money for music lessons,
no time to add another activity outside
the home to our schedule, and perhaps a
mother who just likes proving that something can be done. I want to make it clear
that I have nothing against music teachers.
If you have the money and the time in your
schedule to get your kids lessons from a
professional, go for it. After all, they have
been trained to teach music.
However, even if your child is taking professional lessons for an instrument, there is
still so much you can do at home to complement and enhance those lessons.
Singing to Babies
One of the most natural instincts a mother
has when comforting a baby is to sing. It is
a precious moment when a mother or fa-
ther sings to comfort their babies. It often
works, and no, your babies do not care if
you are singing in the right key or forget
half the words. They love your voice and
are entranced by the melody and rhythm of
the song.
When your babies are young, sing to
them. If you don’t know a lot of lullabies,
look some of the classics up, and listen to
them. Sing along until you know the songs
well enough to sing on your own. If you
practice singing to them when they are little
babies, you will be ready to sing in key with
them when they are toddlers. Fitting songs
into your day with babies is as easy as singing while you nurse, or while rocking your
baby to sleep.
Motion Songs
When you are blessed with the intense energy of toddlers, it’s time to bring out the motion songs. This age group thrives off movement, and they really need a lot of physical
movement. Songs with motion can challenge
them to move their body in certain ways, in
certain sequences, and at a certain time. All
www.TheOldSchoolhouse.com
Fine Arts: Music
by Marla Szwast
Don’t be intimidated by the idea
of incorporating music into your
homeschooling lifestyle.
Do-It-Yourself
Music Education
