One of my favorite songs lately. Enjoy!
Music
Happy Kids Songs {Crew Review}
For this review we were sent a copy of Happy Kids Songs Workbook: Hands-on Activities to Build Character, Social and Emotional Skills along with downloads of three of Happy Kids Songs downloadable song sets: Friends and Sharing, Happiness and Attitude, and Manners and Character.
I was really excited to see this vendor come up this year. Music is a huge part of our day and lately I have been looking for some new songs to keep things interesting. Lets face it, you can only listen to the same repetitive songs before you become bored as a parent and having four children home 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, I’ve heard them all.
Happy Kids Songs gave us new, fresh music to listen to and learn with. These songs are a lot of fun both in sound and with the activities that accompany them. The activities are very easy to do with even young children. Specifically, Happy Kids Songs is designed to be used with children who are ages 3-8 but even my 11 and 13 year old enjoyed listening and helping me with the younger kids.
As some of you know, we are eclectic and unschoolish in Homeschooling style so Happy Kids Songs really went along with our idea of school. I was easily able to put these songs on my phone or iPad and plug it into our radio so that we could listen, learn and dance. The kids, of course, LOVED dancing to the songs and really learned great things just by listening.
We listened to these songs repeatedly and talked about the things they heard and learned through listening to them. The kids never got bored of listening and every time they did they learned something new. They truly enjoy these songs.
The workbook is a great addition as well. It contains over 122 pages of fun. The lyrics for each song and an activity sheet are included in the workbook. In the back of the workbook, parents and teachers can find great activities to do to help build the skills and lessons being taught through the songs. We did not do all of these but we did enjoy quite a few and even built upon the ideas on our own.
The workbook is reproducible for Homeschool use so copies can easily be printed for use with multiple children. I was thankful that this was an option. You can also download these same worksheets for free and print from the computer through the company when you purchase the CD’s.
The song set titles are pretty self explanatory. There are 8 titles in the series, all adding up to a huge amount of fun. For our review, as I mentioned above, we received the following:
Friends and Sharing – this song set focuses on building friendships and learning to share with others.
Happiness and Attitude – this song set focuses on being happy, making others happy and having a great attitude as well.
Manners and Character – this song set focuses on learning good manners and having a great personal character with others.
Each of these song sets are available for purchase through Happy Kids Songs website either on Amazon or iTunes for $4.95 per album of all five songs or songs can be purchased separate for $0.99. The pages within the workbook are available for free through the website but you can purchase the pre-printed Happy Kids Songs Workbook from Amazon for $12.56 at the time of this review.
You can find Happy Kids Songs in the following places online:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/happykidssongs
Twitter: @howsyourfam
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/4DrMacMusic
Please click the banner below to read more reviews of Happy Kids Songs!
KinderBach {Crew Review}
KinderBach is a program designed to allow music via piano lessons into the a simple home setting. Designed for younger children around ages 3-7, KinderBach makes learning music fun. This simple, low cost program is easy to use by everyone.
The KinderBach Online Piano Lesson Membership with Teacher Corner is a complete piano music curriculum. Parental involvement in the program depends on your child’s ability to learn. Children who are able to view the videos on their own will need less involvement from a parent than those who are younger and less skilled in learning.
Since this is a full curriculum, it includes video instruction to show children how to use the piano through online lessons. It also includes worksheets to be completed which bring the lessons offline and into their daily life for practice and learning without a computer. A piano is also needed to provide correct instruction on playing this wonderful instrument.
The KinderBach curriculum contains 7 complete levels, each covering different aspects of Piano lessons. Reading, Writing and Arithmetic are also covered as children work through their lessons while using this program. Learning to read symbols, decoding, learning to identify right and left, coordination, control, as well as rhythm and sequencing are all learned throughout the lessons provided through using KinderBach for music lessons.
The video lessons used in KinderBach are short but fun. They capture the child’s attention while teaching them important skills. They also help to build fine motor function as children follow along and practice what they are learning in the program.
The worksheets that are used to bring the program off the computer and into real life for the child are also fun, while at the same time they provide a solid learning foundation to help the child further the skills learned online while watching the lesson videos. These worksheets give the child concrete evidence of learning and help encourage building their musical skills, helping them to gain confidence in their lessons as they learn.
KinderBach offers a free trial of their award winning program for the first few lessons which can be located directly on their website. There is also a NO RISK 30 day Money Back Guarantee for this program.
Though we used the KinderBach Online Piano Lesson Membership with Teacher Corner for home, there is also a Classroom version perfect for co-ops and schools to use. KinderBach is for use with children who are ages 3-7 as I mentioned above. My Laycie was the perfect age for using it at 5 years old.
We have been using KinderBach in our home for about 2 years now and we still love it. Laycie began using it when she just turned 4 – she turns 6 in April and has been using it off and on. Emma has also used the program and helped Laycie with some of the lessons. Both girls enjoy the adorable characters and the simple instructions provided through the program very much. This is something we use several times a week, allowing them to work at their own pace during lessons but it’s not something that we push for learning. It’s just a really fun program that we keep coming back to as an extracurricular activity for all of us.
I’m kind of anxious for Jackson to become old enough to use it. At 17 months, he enjoys watching the videos as well but he’s a little too young yet to gain anything from the other parts of the program. He isn’t old enough to know how to use the piano or remember key placement or count timing. Laycie on the other hand loves doing all of those things and has really enjoyed learning them.
A membership to the KinderBach Online Piano Lesson Membership with Teacher Corner is available for one year for a special limited time price of $95.88. It’s normally priced at $130 per year for the program.
A membership to the KinderBach Online Piano Lesson Membership with Teacher Corner gives you access to over 240 sessions in lessons by computer, iPad, and more. You will also receive access to the lesson PDF’s to print and use at home. Teacher’s Corner is included with this membership, allowing you access to the Audio MP3’s for each lesson and all materials for Levels 1-6 of the KinderBach program. Downloads for the lesson story books, song books and coloring pages are also included with your one year membership to KinderBach. This complete curriculum package provides you with everything needed for one year of learning Piano and Music from KinderBach.
You can find and follow KinderBach in the following places online:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/kinderbach
Facebook for Teachers: www.facebook.com/classroomkinderbach
Twitter: @KinderBach
Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/KinderBach/
YouTube: KinderBach Preschool Piano
For more reviews of KinderBach, please click the banner below.
What’s Up! {Epilepsy Awareness}
I guess this pretty well fits how I’ve been feeling lately…
Adventus MusIQ Homeschool {Crew Review}
Adventus is the number one, complete learn to play piano system. This program teaches the child to play piano in a simplistic but fun manner all using the computer. It is simply amazing to see.
Available on disk or by download, this program is worth the price. It thoroughly takes the child through music lessons, not just teaching them piano but also the history of music in the process. Lessons are lead by some of the greatest musical talents of all time: Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Chopin, and so very many more.
For this particular review, we worked through Volume 1 of Children’s Music Journey. Children’s Music Journey Volumes 1, 2, and 3 have been created to be used with ages 4-10. For children over 10, Piano Suite is recommended. A Midi Keyboard with a USB connection is also required for this product to work, as well as a computer with a USB connection or adapter.
My children have been amazed by the Adventus Children’s Music Journey program. They beg to use this product and have learned so much from it. Being simple and fun to use, even my four year old has truly enjoyed using this one and since my oldest, age 12, enjoys computer games and animation, he’s also enjoyed working through this program.
The program is fully animated. It includes fun games that allow the child to work at their own pace and level, to thoroughly gain knowledge in their music lessons. There are extra games for practicing lessons learned that can be repeated at will or as needed while working through the program. The program is multi-leveled and can be used with multiple children.
The program coloring is vivid, the artists speak clearly and are easily understood. Not only that, the program is truly captivating and the information provided keeps the child wanting to learn more. The presentation keeps the child from becoming bored with learning about music.
During our review of this program, we allowed all three of our children to work through the program on their own with minimal input from outside sources. My older children were able to work through on their own with no issues. My younger daughter was able to work through with minimal help from myself or a sibling, and her siblings were able to help her as she worked through with no problems leading her.
We used this several times a week and it became more of a fun reward, than a lesson in music. The kids really love the program and ask to use it again and again. I, too, am amazed with the ease of use and quality of this product and I personally found it fun to use myself for piano lessons at home.
Adventus MusIQ Homschool programs can be purchased online through the Adventus website. Pricing for the program varies and can be purchased as a monthly program subscription, as a product download per book or per set or as a full bundled set of all products.
Year one quick start bundle is priced at $199.95 and includes:
-Children’s Music Journey Volume 1
– Beginner Level 1 Lesson Plans
– M-Audio KeyRig 49 MIDI piano keyboard
Children’s Music Journey Volumes 1,2 and 3 lesson plans can be bought separately for $89.95 each or you can bundle all three with the year one lesson plans and a Midi keyboard for $309.95.
Piano Suite is also available through Adventus for various pricing per unit or bundle.
For more reviews of Adventus, please visit the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog!
Music Together {Crew Review}
Music Together is an award winning music program created to be used with children in any setting from homeschool to public school. Internationally used, this product has provided a structured music program throughout the world. They have worked to bring music to children everywhere.
For this review, I was asked to try out Music Together: Family Favorites with my children at home. When my package arrived, I found the Teacher’s Songbook, a full CD of music to use along with the program and a folder of information for completing my review. The covers for this particular program are green with black font that is simple yet professional in type.
The Music Together: Family Favorites Songbook for Teachers begins with a short preface explaining the purpose of the program, then provides a section of how to use the book for the program. Next is the Introduction which goes into further detail explaining the programs usefulness and purpose. The beginning of the book is a guide that tells the teacher how to use the program, what props to use along with the songs, and differing activities that are used as well as how to use them for each part of the program. This section also covers how to use this program with special needs students.
The next section of the Songbook for Teachers begins the lessons for the program. This section, called Songs, shares a different lesson for each song provided on the CD for the program. How to teach the song, activities, as well as lyrics for each song are covered within this section. The songs are further broken down to explain how to use them with children of differing ages from infant through school-age and also for special needs children.
The last section of the Teacher’s Songbook is a reference section, providing information on other books in the Music Together program. Also included is a guide for guitar playing to use with the songs for the program and a dictionary explaining the terms used throughout the program.
We used this program over a period of several weeks, while working with adjustments to having a new baby in the home, and we enjoyed what we were able to complete during that time. Music is a favorite of mine so I enjoyed teaching my children with this particular program. I also enjoyed sharing several of my own childhood favorites that we hadn’t already covered with other programming in the past. Songs like Biddy Biddy, She Sells Sea Shells, John the Rabbit, and I’ve Been Working on the Railroad allowed me to share a part of my own childhood with my children that we may have otherwise missed out on. And I found my children enjoyed those songs and others just as much as I did. Integrating activities like clapping along, using home-made drums and rhythm sticks, and singing together was a lot of fun to share as a family activity. Overall we give this program two-thumbs-up as far as lessons go.
Music Together: Family Favorites is available online as a combo package for the special price of $39.95 (a $5 discount from the regular price). Use the code “Schoolhouse” at checkout to receive an additional $2 off the program. The Songbook for Teachers is available to purchase separately for $29.95. The Family Favorites CD is available for $14.95. Individual tracks can be downloaded as needed for $.99 each or for $9.99 for the entire album.
For more reviews of Music Together: Family Favorites please visit the Schoolhouse Review Crew Blog!
*Disclaimer – This program was provided by Music Together and the Schoolhouse Review Crew free in exchange for my honest opinion in a blog post.
