As committed parents, if we could find one subject that wouldhelpouryoungchildren synthesizemanyothersubjects
when they are older, we wouldn’t hesitate
to make sure our children have access to
it every day. Because I’m a musician, I
naturally find all kinds of ways to make
music with my daughters, ages two and
five, throughout the day. You’ll often find
us playing musical games, singing har-monies together, or composing melodies.
I have always trusted that the benefits of
music education are sinking in slowly but
surely as I observe my girls’ musical devel-
opment. Two months ago, however, I had
a watershed moment when a Harvard-ed-
ucated medical doctor and mom of three
children under five asked me how I got
my two year old to speak in full, articulate
sentences. The only answer I could give
was music education and the power of us-
ing it in the home.
Amazingly, neuroscientists have identified music education as the one subject that
makes both hemispheres of the brain light
up at the same time.
1 Studies reveal that
strengthened neural pathways through music education enhance intellectual achievement in many subject areas.
2 Consistent
music education in early childhood has
been found to raise the average child’s IQ
in adulthood.
3, 4
Considering what neuroscience tells us,
music and movement are essential for a
young child’s holistic, cognitive development.
Take a look at the following tips to find
out how valuable it is for music to permeate
life in a homeschool environment.
Five Things to Know
Musical development – Your child’s aptitude for learning music is at its strongest
from birth to eighteen months. Children
learn more in this critical eighteen-month
period than in any other eighteen-month
period in their life. The second most important time for musical development in
one’s entire life is from eighteen months to
five years old.
5
Intellectual development – As I mentioned earlier, music has been found to
be the only activity or subject matter that
actively engages both hemispheres of the
brain at the same time.
6 Those who begin
studying music before the age of seven and
continue through the teenage years will
have an average IQ score of seven and a half
points higher than those who don’t study
music.
7
www.TheOldSchoolhouse.com
by Kathryn Brunner
Consistent music education in early childhood has
been found to raise the average child’s IQ in adulthood.
Raise Your Child’s
Intellectual
Capacity with
Music Education!
