The Importance of Homeschool Music Lessons

Music is more than just a fun elective

I think most parents and educators view music curriculum as just an "extra" something fun for their students to do to express themselves. While this may be true, art plays a much more important role in a child’s development than previously thought. The humanities go back as far as time has been recorded. Mankind has always expressed his inner thoughts and emotions through music, storytelling and dance. That fact alone, should tell us something about the importance of music in the development of a well-rounded human being.

What the experts say about art curriculum

• Maria Montessori  : . Artistic activity is a form of reasoning, in which perceiving and thinking are indivisibly intertwined. A person who paints, writes, composes, dances…  thinks with his sense…Genuine art work requires organization which involves many and perhaps all of the cognitive operations known from theoretical thinking.
• Secondary students who participated in band or orchestra reported the lowest lifetime and current use of all substances (alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs). Texas Commission on Drug and Alcohol Abuse Report. Reported in Houston Chronicle, January 1998 
• Students who participate in arts learning experiences often improve their achievement in other realms of learning and life. In a well-documented national study using a federal database of over 25,000 middle and high school students, researchers from the University of California at Los Angeles found students with high arts involvemDr  ent performed better on standardized achievement tests than students with low arts involvement. Moreover, the arts-involved students also watched fewer hours of TV, participated in more community service and reported less boredom in school. 

As a homeschooler, what are my options?

One of the easiest thing that you can do is to start listening to classical music with your child. when she is young. You don’t have to like classical music yourself, maybe you like rock or country and don’t own a single classical cd. That is okay, it will grow on you. Borrow a Mozart or Beethoven cd from the library and just start listening. Regardless of the type of music you prefer, there is not a single type of music that can compare to the beauty, complexity and sheer brilliance manifested in these classic works

Of course, this is just a starting point, but I guarantee it will pay off. My older teenage sons both have a wide range of musical taste. They listen to rock of course, but also Beethoven, musicals and Vivaldi on a regular basis as well! Here is a simple classical music curriculum I have used with my older kids and will start using again this year with my younger ones. It is simple to use and the cds are easily found used on e-bay. Happy listening!