A fellow home schooling mom showed me her family’s latest project the other day. She proudly took me to her hall and showed me a piece of paper as long as the hallway, taped to the wall. As I got closer I could see that it was a timeline. I asked her to tell me about it.
She explained that the way most history curricula are set up, you get a specific period in a specific area, for example Columbus’ exploration of the New World. Her complaint was that while her children were learning what happened in the New World in 1492, it might be years before they learned what was happening in Asia during that same period. Truth be known, she continued, that they might never come across what was happening in Asia during that time period.
She decided that the timeline would allow her children to get a picture of what was happening in different parts of the world during the same time period. Consider this, in a 20 year period, around the world, the following events occurred. The East India Tea Company was formed, Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, Cervantes wrote Don Quixote, Jamestown was founded, slave ships arrived in the New World from Africa, Galileo saw the moons of Jupiter through his telescope, and the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock, and the King James version of the Bible was created.
What an incredible number of events in such a short period of time! And those events do not include what was going on in Asia, Australia, or most of Africa during that time period. I will tell you, I am very tempted to add this idea to out regular homeschool curriculum lessons. I am thinking, let's put one of these timelines up in my hallway too!
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Music, a subject witih many benefits
Many public schools today are having to cut their music and arts programs due to budgetary restraints. That is a terrible trend considering how important music and art are to children’s development. Fortunately, for homeschoolers, we do not face the loss of these programs.
There are so many benefits to music and art curriculum, that it is difficult to pick just a few to mention here. Studies indicate that children who study music score higher on the SAT in math and language by about 50 points each. Children who study music and art score higher grades in math and science on a consistent basis. But grades and college admission are not the only benefits of music and art study. Music education improves your child’s spatial and temporal reasoning abilities.
Children who studied music in school show greater self-esteem than students who did not. Music helps children with their organizational skills, and attention issues. Musicians are better at functional multitasking because their brains are already trained to adjust such things as tempo, pitch, volume, and tone all at the same time as they play. Practicing and studying music encourages children to be disciplined, and that discipline does extend to academics and study habits.
Your child does not have to be a musician to benefit from music either. Students who took music appreciation also showed benefits and improved scores in math. All in all, there are few disadvantages and many advantages to including music in your child’s homeschool curriculum.
There are so many benefits to music and art curriculum, that it is difficult to pick just a few to mention here. Studies indicate that children who study music score higher on the SAT in math and language by about 50 points each. Children who study music and art score higher grades in math and science on a consistent basis. But grades and college admission are not the only benefits of music and art study. Music education improves your child’s spatial and temporal reasoning abilities.
Children who studied music in school show greater self-esteem than students who did not. Music helps children with their organizational skills, and attention issues. Musicians are better at functional multitasking because their brains are already trained to adjust such things as tempo, pitch, volume, and tone all at the same time as they play. Practicing and studying music encourages children to be disciplined, and that discipline does extend to academics and study habits.
Your child does not have to be a musician to benefit from music either. Students who took music appreciation also showed benefits and improved scores in math. All in all, there are few disadvantages and many advantages to including music in your child’s homeschool curriculum.
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