Now Taking Your Music Questions!

March is officially Music In Our Schools Month, so I thought it would be fitting to do a series of posts entitled "Music in our Homeschool" this month. Do you use music in your homeschool? Is it a separate subject? Do you use a specific curriculum? Does your child play a musical instrument?

My undergraduate degree is in Music Education, with an emphasis on piano performance, and I taught for ten years in the public schools before I had children. I also have been teaching piano privately on and off for the past twenty years. In short, I love music, and I feel like I've gotten a lot of great ideas in my bag of tricks.

We use music daily in our homeschool, from listening to music, to singing and dancing, to learning to play the piano. It's just a part of our everyday lives. Is there anything specific you'd like to know? As I plan out my posts, I'll try to answer any questions you may have, so ASK AWAY!

Want to See a Great Musical?

Several months ago I wrote about post about introducing musicals to your children. I am SO excited about going to see Beauty and The Beast in just a couple of weeks at the fabulous Fox Theatre in Atlanta. We participate in an ambassador program through the Theater of the Stars.... we promote the musicals via blog, Facebook, Twitter, email - then we receive four free tickets to the musical! We are going with another homeschool mom and her seven year old daughter - who LOVES princesses. I cannot wait to see the look of wonder in her eyes when she sees this musical.

I saw the musical in 1997, before I had children, then again in 2004 when Miss B was just three. She sat on my lap the entire time and LOVED it! (She STILL remembers the dancing cutlery!) Now I will see it again and I can't wait! So, if you are in the Atlanta area, Beauty and The Beast is coming January 12-16, and you can get 1/2 price tickets at any Publix for the Wednesday and Thursday shows! And, if you live elsewhere, check the link for more tour dates and cities. It looks like the show is going to be all over the place in the next several months!

Christmas Piano Recital

Miss B's Christmas Piano Recital was this afternoon. Here is a clip of her playing... I had to splice the videos from my iPhone. In this video, she and I have just finished playing a duet together. I love being able to do this with her! She will be playing "Angels We Have Heard of High". She is unflappable in a performance situation. If she is nervous you would never know, and she always shows a lot of poise for someone her age. I was really a proud mom today.

Here is "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" - a duet with Miss B and I!

She was so blessed to have her granddaddy there - he never misses a recital! The new interim pastor from our church and his lovely wife also were in attendance.... they hardly know us and took the time out of their schedule to support Miss B. I was very grateful. Miss B's special friend, Noah (in the picture below) was also in attendance with his mother. I thought Miss B played very well - and when the recital was over we all went to Steak 'N Shake to have a celebratory milkshake! Life is very good.