122: Charlotte Mason Music Education for Homeschoolers: Simple Ideas for Every Age

Charlotte Mason believed that children deserve an education filled with beauty, truth, and goodness—and music is an important part of that vision.

In this episode of the Music in Our Homeschool Podcast, we're exploring what music education looks like through the lens of a Charlotte Mason-inspired homeschool. If you've ever wondered how to include composer study, hymns, folk songs, music appreciation, and fine arts without adding stress to your homeschool day, this episode is for you.

We'll discuss practical ideas for every age, from preschool through high school, and talk about how music can become a natural part of your family's atmosphere rather than another subject to check off a list. You'll discover why Charlotte Mason viewed music as essential rather than optional and how simple habits of listening, singing, and appreciation can have a lasting impact on your children's education.

In this episode, you'll learn:

•  What Charlotte Mason believed about music education 
•  How to incorporate music in the preschool and elementary years 
•  Ways to connect music with history, geography, and literature 
•  Why fine arts still matter in high school 
•  How the 15-Minute Music Method™ fits beautifully into a Charlotte Mason homeschool 
•  Resources to help you get started today 

Whether you're brand new to Charlotte Mason homeschooling or you've been following her methods for years, you'll find encouragement and practical ideas to help make music a joyful part of your homeschool culture.

Visit the accompanying blog post for links to all the resources mentioned in this episode, including composer studies, music appreciation lessons, hymn studies, and Charlotte Mason-inspired music courses.

Find links to all resources mentioned in this episode here: https://musicinourhomeschool.com/charlotte-mason-music-lessons/

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Transcript

Charlotte Mason Music Education for Homeschools

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Music in Our Homeschool podcast. I'm Gena Mayo, homeschooling mom of eight and music teacher for over 30 years. Here at Music in Our Homeschool, I help busy homeschool parents confidently include music and fine arts in their homeschool without stress, overwhelm, or needing to be an expert themselves.

Today, we're talking about something very close to my heart: how to use Charlotte Mason-inspired music lessons and fine arts study with children of all ages, from preschoolers all the way through high school. If you've ever thought, "I love Charlotte Mason ideas, but I'm not sure what music should actually look like," or,

or, "I have music..." Or, "I have multiple ages. How am I supposed to do a composer study, folk songs, hymns, music appreciation, and fine arts for everyone?" Or maybe, "I know music matters, but honestly, I can't fit one more thing into our homeschool." Today's episode is for you because I want to [00:01:00] show you how music education the Charlotte Mason way can actually be one of the simplest and most enjoyable parts of your homeschool day.

If you are a homeschooler looking for ways to easily and affordably include a quality music education in your homeschool, you've come to the right place. This is the Music in Our Homeschool podcast. I'm Gena Mayo, homeschooling mom of eight and music teacher for over 30 years.

Years ago, when I was holding my first baby and trying to figure out how to homeschool, I read For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay. That book changed everything for me. I had already earned a music education degree and taught for five years in public schools, but Charlotte Mason introduced me to something different. Children are whole persons deserving beauty, truth, goodness, and living ideas, not simply worksheets and [00:02:00] information.

Then I discovered The Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola, and I started to see education very differently. Living books, nature study, habit training, short lessons, art, music, copywork, rich ideas, and over time, I realized something important. Music doesn't need to be another heavy subject added to your burden. Music can become nourishment.

Charlotte Mason believed music was essential, not optional, kind of like me. She encouraged exposure to beautiful music, composer study, hymn singing, folk songs, and cultivating delight before technical skill.

That perspective completely shaped the way I taught my children in our own homeschool and the way that I teach the music lessons I create for Music in Our Homeschool.

Charlotte Mason education already [00:03:00] embraces many things that music naturally provides: listening carefully, attention, habit formation, beauty, memorization, emotion, story, culture, history, worship.

Music reaches the heart before it reaches the intellect. Think about how often your children remember a song long after they forget a textbook paragraph. That's why composer study works, and hymns stick, and folk songs become family memories.

Music forms affections, and Charlotte Mason deeply cared about affections. 

Now let's make this practical. For your preschool and early elementary years, keep it joyful and sing folk songs. Listen to beautiful music while the children are coloring or building with their blocks. Read living books about composers.

Learn nursery rhymes and chants. Move to music with [00:04:00] scarves. Enjoy seasonal hymns. This age doesn't need anything rigid or rigorous. The goal is exposure, delight, make it a part of your atmosphere. Think, "Music is a part of our family culture," not, "I must cover all historical periods of music this year."

And for this age, I have a course called 10 Songs All Preschoolers Should Know, which is great for teaching kids these 10 songs that maybe you knew when you were growing up, or maybe you didn't. 

And then if you want them to learn a little bit more about musical concepts such as the piano keyboard, keeping a steady beat, or singing on pitch, you would love KinderBach.

In the older elementary years, your children can begin with composer studies and learning about instrument families, learning to sing hymns, more folk songs, including those in foreign languages, [00:05:00] simple narration after listening, talking about different musical styles, musical terms such as dynamics, the loudness and softness, and tempo, the speed of the music.

You might ask them, "What did you hear here? Was that a drum or a violin? How did the music make you feel? Was it very loud or soft?" These little conversations are Charlotte Mason education.

And then in middle school, your children can start connecting music more to history and geography and literature and culture in general.

For example, are you studying the American Revolution? Well, then listen to early American songs. By the way, you'll love MusicinOurHomeschool.com/freeamerica250. I give you five lessons that have picture study and music for early American [00:06:00] history. Are you studying Europe? Then learn about folk songs from different countries.

I have a course called World Music for Elementary, which is really great for all ages, and that will really help you to hear the different folk songs and types of music from different countries.

Are you reading Shakespeare? Then explore music from Elizabethan England. Charlotte Mason loved integrated learning. Music becomes richer when it's connected.

Now let's talk about high school. Many homeschool parents stop formal music and fine arts in high school because academics feel more urgent. Ironically, this may be when ch- students need this beauty the most. High schoolers can continue to study composer biographies, art history, music appreciation and music history, musicals, opera, ballet, sacred music, historical periods, film [00:07:00] music, architecture, painting.

So many connections between history and the fine arts. And all of those develop critical thinking, observation, communication skills, and cultural literacy. Fine arts belong in high school, not because children may become musicians, but because we want them to become whole adults.

You will love my Charlotte Mason-Inspired Fine arts course for high schoolers, but I also have three music history courses that they can study from music of the Middle Ages all the way through the present day.

Now let me say something I learned while homeschooling my own eight children. Complicated systems usually fail. I loved beautiful homeschool plans and ambitious schedules, even color-coded ideas, but reality looked more like babies Less babies, outside activities, meal prep, [00:08:00] homeschool co-op, church, lots of doctor's appointments, laundry, trying to remember where everyone left their shoes. What finally worked for us? Charlotte Mason ideas, short lessons, consistency, simplicity, lots of reading aloud, and simply turning the music on and listening.

That's really where my 15-Minute Music Method came from. I discovered that doing a little regularly beats doing a lot occasionally. Fifteen minutes a few times a week, year after year, really adds up, and that changes children.

One more course I'd love to mention to you today is A Year of Charlotte Mason Music Lessons. This is great for all ages, and it's so simple to use. You simply open it up and use it immediately. No prep is needed, and you definitely don't need a music degree or have to do a lot of planning [00:09:00] ahead in order to use it.

It includes Charlotte Mason-inspired elements like composer study, hymns, and folk songs. So you are listening, you are narrating, you're being exposed to beauty, and it's so simple for multi-ages. The younger children can learn with the older children.

And if you do have a high schooler who needs a fine arts credit, then definitely check out Charlotte Mason Inspired High School Fine Arts. It's the easiest way to get your fine arts credit. It combines composer study with great works of music to listen to, with paintings and poetry.

So maybe you're listening today and you're thinking, "My children are already older and we never did music." You're not behind. Start now. It's never too late. Just pick out a composer, sing one hymn, read a living book, do one lesson. The beauty of a Charlotte Mason [00:10:00] education is beginning with living ideas, not perfection. And just remember, small, consistent exposure makes a big difference over time.

Charlotte Mason believed education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life. Music contributes to all three: atmosphere: the beauty filling your home; discipline: learning, attention, and listening; life: developing lifelong appreciation.

You don't need to be a musician as the homeschool parent. You don't need a music degree or hours a week to devote to this, just a willingness to begin. So head over to the accompanying blog post, and you'll find links to everything I've mentioned today. Just remember, consistency matters more than perfection. A few beautiful minutes of music can shape a lifetime.

Thank you so much for joining me today, and until next time, keep the music alive.

Find links to all resources mentioned in this episode here: https://musicinourhomeschool.com/charlotte-mason-music-lessons/