How to Use

How to use:

Welcome to A Year of Charlotte Mason Music Lessons online course!

For each month of the school year (nine months), there are two sets of lessons. Each month has Composer Study and either a Folk Song or a Hymn to learn.

You will study the same composer for three months, with a different piece or song to listen to each week (total of twelve different ones). The purpose of this intensive focus on one composer is to "let young people study as far as possible under one master until they have received some of this teaching and know its style." (from Charlotte Mason)

Focus on the same hymn or folk song for the full month.

As you work on the course, it automatically keeps track of where you are. When finished with a lesson, click "Complete and Continue" to move on. You can always come back to past lessons, though.

The lessons include links to PDF lyrics, sheet music, and/or copywork. These are optional, but you might find them useful to print out for your kids to use for a lesson.

Finally, since every family is different in what you deem appropriate for your kids to watch or read, you may want to preview all videos and websites ahead of time.

Year 2

After you finish the first year of Charlotte Mason music lessons, another full school-year (9 months) is included! You'll have 3 more composers to listen to, 5 more folk songs, and 4 more hymns.

What do I do if a link is broken or a video is no longer available?

Simply leave a comment right there at the lesson or email Gena at [email protected], and I'll get it fixed ASAP! Thank you for your help and for taking the extra time to let me know about them.

What to do if you are seeing inappropriate ads with the YouTube videos:

We are thankful for the "free" resource of YouTube, but we do occasionally have to let their ads run. If you are noticing that you are seeing some inappropriate ads, see this link which will give you ways to block advertisers. You might also need to clear your cookies/history. And be sure YouTube is set to restricted mode.

What is the Copyright information?

© 2016-2023 Gena Mayo | I Choose Joy! Publishing | ichoosejoy.org and MusicinOurHomeschool.com

All rights reserved. No portion of this course may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted outside the immediate household in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

How many copies can I make?

Photocopies of PDFs included in the course itself may be made for only one household or classroom of children.

(A great company to get inexpensive printing is The Homeschool Printing Company.)

Can I use the course to teach at a school or co-op?

Purchase of the course is only for one classroom at a school or one family in a household. To obtain a license to use in multiple classes at school or a homeschool co-op, contact Gena Mayo at [email protected].

Refer a Friend Program:

I'm excited to share that Music in Our Homeschool now has a referral program! If you successfully refer a friend to make a purchase at Music in Our Homeschool, both you and your friend will earn a 10% discount on your next purchase! See a separate section labeled "Refer a Friend Program" below for all the details and your unique link to share.

How to contact me:

I welcome any comments of suggestions you may have to improve this course or ideas for future courses. Just "comment" on any lesson and I'll get it. Please take a moment to leave a comment any time you find a broken link. I would like to fix those immediately!

Thank you and enjoy your Charlotte Mason Music Lessons!

Affiliate Disclosure:

Learn.MusicinOurHomeschool contains links from a number of affiliate programs. If you click on these links and make a purchase, I may receive a commission. This does not cost you any more, and it helps cover costs associated with running the website. I am honest in my review of the products and only recommend products I would actually find useful myself.

To Use This Course for High School Credit

To earn a full credit in Fine Arts:

1. Spend about 5 hours a week working on the course for a full 9-month school year.

To earn 1/2 credit in Fine Arts, there are 2 options:

1. Spend about 5 hours a week working on the course for a full 18-week semester.

2. Spend about 2 1/2 hours a week working on the course for a full 9-month school year.

What exactly will the student be doing for those 5 (or 2 1/2) hours a week?

Read the lessons, watch the videos, and work on the notebooking pages. Keep all your notebooking pages in a 3-ring Fine Arts Binder.

For music appreciation, fill out a Composer Sheet with information about the composer. Then, as you listen to each piece of music, fill out a Listening Sheet.

You have some freedom to pick and choose what to listen to. Students are encouraged to listen to each selection for at least a minute, but for some of the hour-long symphonies, etc., you can just listen to a portion if you choose. Also, on subsequent days during the month, you may listen to new selections or repeat those already heard. Both are beneficial for a music appreciation course, because repeated hearings of a piece of music will allow you to hear new things and maybe truly learn to appreciate and love it!

Keep track of how much time is spent on the lesson with the Log of Hours sheet. An example sheet is included with the printables.

Additional activities that are optional, but encouraged:

  • Read a music appreciation book along with the course to learn even more about the styles and composers. My favorites are listed in the Further Study section.
  • Teach or narrate what you have learned to a parent, sibling, or friend.
  • Write a 5-paragraph essay, compare/contrast essay, or descriptive essay every week based on the lessons studied.
  • Write a research paper based on a topic studied in the course
  • Give a speech, using one of the essays or the research paper as a basis. Include a multi-media presentation, such as with Google Slides, if desired.
  • Go to a concert, recital, opera, or musical to hear one of the composers or pieces studied in the course.
  • Learn to play or sing something from the course.
  • Compose a musical piece based on a style you studied in the course.

What prep work should be done before beginning the course?

All that is needed is to print Composer Sheets, Music Listening Sheets (different versions depending on the musical era studying), and one Music Appreciation Log of Hours sheet.

Put those in a 3-ring binder with some loose-leaf paper (for taking notes to be used in essays), and you're ready to begin. This will be your Portfolio to show that you have completed the course.

How many of each sheet? It really depends on how much you do each week or even each day. Look through the course and count up to get an estimate.

Complete and Continue  
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