Music in Our Homeschool (MIOH) offers individual, online courses with printable support material, and they also offer a yearly "MIOH Plus" membership with access to most of the recorded courses as well as live monthly classes. The yearly membership is open for enrollment three times each year: January, May, and August.
MIOH serves as a hub for music instruction from which to choose rather than a series of purposely designed courses that are all used in sequence. However, a few series present several courses in a sequence.
The courses include some designed for different age/grade levels from preschool through high school. They teach music appreciation, vocal lessons, instrument lessons, and music theory. Many courses were created by Gena Mayo, but some courses and series of courses are taught by other instructors.
Courses are delivered on the Teachable platform which is very simple to use. The lesson design varies depending on the nature of the course, and most courses include some videos and downloadable PDFs.
Music Appreciation Courses
The majority of the MIOH courses teach music appreciation to various age groups. For example, Intro to Musicals for Elementary Students, 15-Minute Music Lessons, and Fall Music Lessons for Holidays and Special Days will work well with younger students, while Music Appreciation: Middle Ages through Classical Era for High School, 20th Century Music Appreciation for High School, and Music Appreciation of the Romantic Era for High School are clearly for an older audience.
Many of the music appreciation courses have a similar design with text, videos or other content from the internet, and downloadable PDFs. Occasionally, there are recommendations of related resources you might purchase, but they are optional.
The number of lessons in each course varies as does the time required to complete them. For example, 15-Minute Music Lessons is an eclectic series of 20 brief lessons on topics such as “music of the Olympics,” “Casey at the Bat” (recitation of the poem in various versions including against orchestral backgrounds), “Pachelbel’s Canon in D,” “The Harp,” and “Patriotic Music.” As the course title indicates, lessons should take about 15 minutes. In contrast, Music Appreciation of the Romantic Era for High School has 36 lessons, and students will spend from 2.5 to 5 hours a week to earn either one-half or one full credit. For the high school courses, students will complete “Music Listening Sheets” and “Composer Sheets,” compiling them in a three-ring binder. While many of the courses have one question to answer (online), the high school courses have online quizzes.
Singing Courses
There are a few courses that teach singing, such as A Folk Song a Week, 10 Songs All Preschoolers Should Know, and the Singing Made Easy series. I’ll focus on the latter since it is more comprehensive.
Singing Made Easy courses, Level 1 through Level 5, and Christmas Carols Made Easy, are taught by Marcia McCarry, a professional voice teacher.
Singing Made Easy is a thoroughly developed series of courses, and the first few levels can be used to teach young children to sing. Other levels gradually become more difficult and can be used as children get older, even into the teen years. In Level 1, simple sheet music is included for 11 songs, including “Hot Cross Buns;” “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star;” and “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow.” Children will learn a new song each week. By the end of Level 5, students learn to sing songs in rounds and in two-part harmonies, including songs such as “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hand,” “Comin’ Through the Rye,” and “Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean.”
A large, downloadable file for each course has instructions for parents, brief information about teaching each song, the music for singing each song, accompaniment sheet music for the piano, and coloring pages. Note that very helpful instructions for each lesson are also included at the end of the file for each course.
In the first few levels, songs are usually presented twice, with one version using a higher range and the other a lower range. You can choose one version or try both. As the songs become more complex, the courses begin to provide accompaniment tracks for students to sing with.
The lessons include vocal warm-up exercises plus exercises for posture, breathing, and relaxation. The first three levels also have printable coloring sheets that illustrate each song.
Toward the end of Level 1, students learn a song that teaches about both treble and bass staffs and the names of notes, but these courses are not designed to teach students how to read music.
Christmas Carols Made Easy is a challenging course that includes songs in other languages. Many of the 11 songs include harmonies. This course seems best for those working at Levels 4 or 5 of Singing Made Easy. Christmas Carols Made Easy should be great for a family or group that wants to learn how to sing carols for audiences.
Learn to Play Instruments
There are a limited number of courses that teach how to play instruments. Recorder Time with Mr. Jerry, Recorder Instrument & Music Activity Pack, and Guitar Time with Ben are individual courses, while the KInderBach series for ages two to seven includes six courses that teach beginning piano to young children. The KinderBach series is a multi-sensory, activity-based approach that also teaches music theory, singing, and rhythm (with simple rhythm instruments).
Theory
Dynamics Flashcards and Picture Cards is a printable resource to help teach music theory. Beginning Music Theory for Teens is a full course for older students, and the KinderBach series includes theory instruction for young students.
And More
MIOH also has other resources, some of which have little or nothing to do with music. Just a few examples are printable sets for holidays (with lapbooking pages), Music Alphabet Handwriting Practice Sheets (primarily for handwriting practice), Morning Time Teens™: A Year with Lewis and Tolkien (a one-credit high school course), and the Instrument Families Printable Set for learning about instruments of the orchestra.
Free previews—often a complete lesson—are available for many of the MIOH courses. There are other freebies such as the Sampler Music Appreciation Mini-Course and the 5-Day “I Can Do Music in My Homeschool” Challenge.
Group classes can purchase a license for each course.
Summary
Music in Our Homeschool is a great resource for parents who have little musical background or who don’t have the time to teach music themselves.
