Encouraging Music Education In Your Homeschool

There are many different ways that you can encourage music education in your homeschool. Many people think that you need to spend lots of money on professional lessons at a young age but the fact is that just allowing kids the freedom to tinker with an instrument, to expose them to different types of music can influence them to become interested and decide to focus on learning an instrument, or even becoming a music major later in life. 

As soon as you walk through the door to our home you will know that musicians live here. Piano in the front room, guitars on the wall, a well worn drum kit down the stairs. With all of these amazing instruments at our fingertips you would assume that our kids would be fluent in at least one instrument, however, that is not the case. 

We all know that music exploration is such an important aspect of brain development, Music exposure at a young age has been shown to foster creativity and allows them to have more confidence to express themselves. Also, studies have shown that starting a musical instrument at a young age can also lead to better memory and recall in all aspects of learning as we age. I decided when the kids were really young that I would fill our house with instruments and all types of music and just let them be immersed in it. 

Our kids like to explore music as they do with all learning, independently with inquiry and passion. They like to tinker on the piano, grab the guitars, and bang on the drums. We have made many of the different “homemade” instruments with combs and wax paper or kleenex boxes and elastic bands. Music is all around us, and I am constantly pointing out where they can hear the sounds or experiment with a different frequency. I am absolutely fine with them learning this way, however, recently I asked them if they wanted to learn with a bit more structure, routine, and information to help them make the connections of the sounds that they were making to the notes on a page. To my delight they did! 

My husband does know how to play all of the instruments in this house, so he has always been able to give a lesson here or there, but I started looking for something that would help to teach ME as well. When my friend Amanda at Raising da Vinci debuted her FREE 7 Day Music Education E-Course I thought, why not? I like supporting other homeschool mom bloggers so I signed up for the course with little expectation. 

I thought it was great. It was a perfect introduction to music for my kids. My kids are intimidated by many different programs, but Amanda’s course is really straightforward and easy to understand. So when she released her Ukulele E-Course, I think I was one of the first people to sign up. 

Knowing nothing about the ukulele before signing up I was really pleased to find that a ukulele is a really easy instrument. They only have 4 strings. It’s super small and easy for little fingers to manipulate. Once the kids learned where C was they were able to play a few basic songs in under an hour of practice. This is important for kids with learning challenges and ADHD as having that instant gratification can encourage them to stick with something as it gets harder. 

I also like how inexpensive the instrument itself is. That way, if my kids decided that ukulele is not for them, it wasn’t a real loss, and I can re-sell it at my next coop meeting. 

I can’t wait to take the time to dig in and learn more with my kids this summer. Who knows, by the end of Raising da Vinci’s E-Course my kids and I just may be the new travelling homeschool band! 

If you would like to sign up for the ukulele E-Course I have an affiliate link right here. Please, let me know how you like it, and if the ukulele is something that you would have tried on your own. 

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Disclosure – Raising da Vinci supplied me with a Ukulele Course to review. As always, all opinions are my own. You can read my full Disclosure Policy HERE.