*I was given access to Fifteen Minute Music Lessons in exchange for an honest review. I was also given another copy to give away on my blog. Although I was given this book, all opinions are my own. I promise to always be truthful to you, my readers. I want to provide you with only the best resources.
The Importance of Music
I don’t know about you, but sometimes we get so caught up in the “3 Rs” (reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic), that other important things get pushed to the side. Notice that I said “important,” not just fun. Students who study music have shown to be better at mathematical reasoning, foreign language, and score higher on achievement tests. Music has a way of almost magically helping us memorize, as well as teaching about various cultures and specific times in history. Music touches us in our very souls. It helps us get in touch with our feelings and emotions.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Colossians 3:16 ESV
So this school year I have vowed to do things differently. Music will be a priority. My resolution doesn’t change that fact that I still only have 24 hours in a day. I still have other subjects to cover. But what if I could allow myself just fifteen minutes? It might be fifteen minutes a day. It might be fifteen minutes a week. But fifteen minutes could make a difference.
Fifteen Minute Music Lessons
Enter Fifteen Minute Music Lessons for elementary students. You can find it on Gena Mayo’s fantastic website–Music In Our Homeschool. You can find her growing list of online courses as well.
Fifteen Minute Music Lessons is an online course for elementary students that covers a variety of musical topics. For example, we studied the Star Spangled Banner and Patriotic Songs in conjunction with Independence Day. My little girl was thrilled to see that one of the fifteen lessons is about Frozen! (The videos that went with that lesson were AMAZING!!! We will be watching them again very soon.) Music of the Olympics, Handel’s Messiah, and A Capella music are other topics you can look forward to. You could call this a crash course in music appreciation. This course causes you to take a second look at songs you may already know, as well as some new ones, and really dig into them.
Just as indicated by the title, each lesson runs about 15 minutes. You are guided through the lesson with simple text and well-selected videos. They not only show the songs, but the history and behind the scenes information as well. You can choose to go more in depth and spend more time on a particular topic if you are interested. Sometimes outside resources are included to help with this. There are also printables and quizzes for each lesson. If it sounds pretty simple to use, that’s because it is. But it’s also a lot of fun. My kids are asking to do it every night even though we aren’t officially doing school right now!
Now for Your Chance to Win
You have a chance to win a lifetime membership to Fifteen Minute Music Lessons. All you have to do is enter below. Good luck!
More Great News
Now through July 31, Minivan Ministries readers can get $5 off Fifteen Minute Music Lessons. Just go to Music in Our Homeschool and use the code MINIVAN.
Our family is super excited about using Fifteen Minute Music Lessons this year–kids included! I hope your family gets the opportunity to experience it too!
*This post may contain affiliate links. By making a purchase, it supports the mission of Minivan Ministries without any extra cost to you. It’s a win-win situation! Thanks a million!
*If you would like to find other inspiring Christian posts, come see where I link-up!
JoJo Tabares says
I love music. My dd and I would sing together.
Jennifer Lavallee says
Right now the way we incorporate music is by taking piano. Not all of them do take piano but we do some singing throughout the week with Bible.
admin says
I think all kids should take piano lessons for at least a little while. We like to sing with our Bible lessons too. This is more of a music appreciation type course. It’s quick enough that we plan to do our ukulele lessons too.
Mary says
I love listening to music- and I probably have a child’s beginner mind when it comes to learning about it. Maybe I should use these for myself!
admin says
I learned when I was listening to it to. I actually teared up doing the Star Spangled Banner lesson!
Tiffani says
I love Gena Mayo! I am going to share this with my mom, she is a teacher.
Andrea says
“…..in just 15 minutes”….’minds me of that Geico commercial 🙂
Andrea recently posted…How Can I Pray For You This Week?
Kristi says
WE love music! We listen to it, dance to it, and have piano & ukulele lessons.
This sounds like such a cool program!
Kristi recently posted…The Voice of the Martyrs
Lo says
How cool!! My kids would love this!
Lo recently posted…Keeping Your Marriage Out Of The Dead Zone (+ A Link Up)
Ellen says
Many of us play piano and we sing.
admin says
A musical family! We are working towards that…
Grace Treherne says
Awesome! I am planning on homeschooling and will probably check this out as my kids get older.
admin says
Great! This curriculum has a lifetime membership, so make sure you enter!
Jacqui Odell says
My daughter would love these! She’s big into music.
Michele Morin says
I love the idea that fifteen really productive minutes is better than an hour of unfocused time.
admin says
Very true. It’s quality, not quantity.
Mindy Sims says
My husband leads the congregation in singing during worship every Sunday, so we sing a lot in our home and in the car. I would love to learn the background of some of the songs we sing. Thank you so much for offering a giveaway on this neat curriculum!
Melinda VanRy says
My three children take piano lessons. This past school year our homeschool group started a chorus, which is great! We enjoyed their first concert and look forward to more this upcoming school year, when our volunteer director will add boomwhackers and other fun things to the puppets the kids got to work with this past year.
Fifteen Minute Music Lessons sounds like a wonderful resource! Glad to find this post and opportunity to win via Grace & Truth!
Melinda VanRy recently posted…Blogging is Hard
admin says
That sounds amazing! I would love for my kids to have the opportunity to be in a chorus.
katrina gehman says
such a great thing. music is fantastic for everyone. i gook lessons as a kid and my daughter takes piano lessons as well.
Devina says
Awesome giveaway!
Jessica Kirk says
We listen to a variety of music and practice finding the beat
admin says
That’s a great way to start with little ones. I didn’t even know that there was any kind of music other than country until I was about 5 years old! There is so much good stuff out there. Variety is the spice of life!
Terri says
This is great. My daughter has been in piano lessons since 3 and we all love it
Caroline @ In Due Time says
Entered! Thanks for hosting the giveaway!
De Bolton says
These are great suggestions. Our family loves music and I find it is very important in curriculum. Thanks for some cool ideas.
Jed says
What a neat resources. Jenny and I have been wanting to get our kiddos back in piano lessons, but have been too busy. This might be a great way for us to encourage our girls love of music during this extra busy season of life. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Andrea says
“…15 minutes can save you….” – I wish I had this years ago 🙂
Andrea recently posted…Peace Is What Truly Does Matter!
Carissa says
This is so great! I want to start early with teaching my daughter an appreciation for music.
Carissa recently posted…Family Camp Week + Clean Up with Tide Purclean
Leslie says
We didn’t find much time for music last year, which is why I would love to win this! In the past, we’ve picked songs out of the hymnal that go along with what we are learning in religion classes and used those to learn about music.
admin says
Good luck. I hope you find some time for music this year!
Karen Waide says
We sing songs, we are learning patriotic songs with our My Father’s World Adventures curriculum this year. We listen to songs in the van. We have used Zeezok to learn about Mozart and plan to do one or two studies of a composer each year using the same curriculum.
admin says
We love My Father’s World! We did Adventures in US History a couple years ago. I have never heard od Zeezok, but I will have to check it out. Thanks for mentioning it!
Heather Hart says
I love this idea! My kids love music, I might have to look into it.
Heather Hart recently posted…The Beautiful Chaos of Summer
Boyd says
I am planning to take piano lessons. I would love to comprehend if it will help me develop my hand-eye coordination works with other relative benefits I may get while doing the lesson, looking forward to it!
admin says
Good luck with the lessons. I hope you enjoy them!
Zach VanderGraaff says
As a music teacher, I really appreciate this. 15 minutes every day can go a long way to teaching the important music skills. Carry on!
Lana says
Hello!
I really like your idea that 15 really productive minutes is better than an hour of unfocused time.