4 More Easy Ways to Add Music Appreciation to Your Homeschool

If you’ve been following me this week, you know that I’ve been sharing lots of neat ways to add music appreciation to your homeschool. There has been so much excitement around here. I’m amazed at how many people have downloaded my freebies. It must mean that you really need more music appreciation materials. Well, I’m here to serve, and I have ideas in the works!

I’m a homeschool mom of 8 and have 21 years of music teaching experience. Music is a crucial subject in our homeschool. And my goal is to help you find some easy ways to add more music to your home! 

Check out Monday’s post: 3 Free Ways to Add Music Appreciation to an Already Busy Homeschool Day, with a FREE download of a fun, short lesson called “20th Century Music Overview in 20 Minutes.”

And Wednesday’s post: 5 Free Music Lessons to Make American History Studies Richer, with a FREE 17-page long lesson plan with 5 lessons from “21 Lessons for 20th Century American Music Appreciation”

Today I have 4 more easy ways to add music appreciation to your homeschool.  Even if you aren’t musically inclined or trained, you can do these!  They are super easy to implement into your day, don’t take too much time, and don’t take much (or any) money!

1. Coloring Sheets:

You can find loads on the internet, and it’s a really easy way to help your younger kids start to learn about the different kinds of instruments.

I have 3 coloring sheets to share for you. They’re free (and they can be used with my new curriculum. See #4 below!)

• American Folk Singers coloring sheet free download
• Jazz Musician coloring sheet free download
• Early Rock and Roll coloring sheet free download

2. Listen to the Classical Station in the car:

How easy is this? Just listen to one piece every time you’re driving around with your kids in the car.  It’s best if you can catch the beginning or the end so that you’ll hear the name and composer. If you don’t have a good classical station in your area, just check out some CDs from the library.

3. Get books from the library:

As with all subjects, there are some awesome books that you can check out at the library. I have included an extensive bibliography in my curriculum. (Again, see #4!) But here are a few to get you started: (These are Amazon affiliate links.)

Lives of the Musicians,

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Music History,

The Gift of Music, and

The Story of the Orchestra. This one comes with a CD!

4. Get my curriculum 21 Lessons for 20th Century American Music Appreciation:

You will get 21 lessons, 31 pages long, with all links to the music are included! You can simply download the curriculum to your computer or tablet and click through to the YouTube links to listen and watch with your kids.  And, your high schoolers can get high school credit with this course!

What composers are included?  John Phillip Sousa, Scott Joplin, Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Gian Carlo Menotti, Charles Ives, Aaron Copland, Ferde Grofe, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Woody Guthrie, Leonard Bernstein, Elvis Presley, John Williams, John Cage, Philip Glass, Stephen Sondheim, Stephen Schwartz, and more!

What styles are included? marches, ragtime, stride piano, Dixieland jazz, big band/swing, orchestral, opera, songs, symphonies, ballet music, musicals, folk music, cool jazz, rock and roll, film scores, aleatory/chance music, minimalism, and more!

To learn more, just download the sample called “5 Lessons from 21 Lessons for 20th Century American Music Appreciation.”  It’s 17 pages long and includes 5 full lessons, the table of contents, the 2 printable notebooking pages, and the bibliography.

Here are what homeschool moms are saying:

“This. is. AWESOME! I’m so excited! I just scrapped what I had planned for music appreciation this year to do this. I love it!”      ~Chelli, homeschool mom & blogger at The Planted Trees

“[Gena has] created a curriculum that is creative, informative, and designed for you to be able to accomplish in just a few minutes each day. If you have a group teaching time in your homeschool day, 21 Lessons in 20th Century American Music Appreciation is a perfect fit!”       ~Kendra Fletcher, homeschool mom, owner of homeschoolingIRL.com and preschoolersandpeace.com

“I wasn’t planning on teaching music appreciation this year, but when I saw the lesson plan for 21 Lessons in 20th Century Music Appreciation, I changed my mind. Truth is, I’m teaching it because I want to learn it!”       ~Melanie Wilson, homeschooling mom & blogger at Psychowith6.com