We're on a new adventure here at our house... one I hadn't anticipated taking at this time, but we couldn't be more excited! My husband is a musician (an awesome drummer...
and I'm not just saying that!), but the rest of us don't play anything at all. I've wanted to learn to play the piano my entire adult life, but as a busy mom (without a piano), my prospects weren't looking so good. Sometimes the answers to life's little hick-ups are simpler to solve than we might ever imagine.
Such has been the case with our latest piece of learning technology! On Saturday... that is, just yesterday, we started experimenting with an awesome new computer program and lesson plan developed to teach ANYONE how to play the piano... simply by playing a game. This means that not only can I
finally learn to play the piano, but I can assist my children in learning to play too! We don't have to seek out an instructor and squeeze additional running around time into an already packed schedule. Furthermore, we're part of a training process that allows you to play the piano before you learn to read the music.
That might sound a little different, but when you think about language,
and you'll likely agree that music is just that... a language, don't we all learn to speak before we learn to read, write, or spell? We're taught grammatical rules for our native tongue only after we learn to speak it. This same premise has been applied to learning to read music. The Piano Wizard's computer-based program allows you to enjoy the excitement of playing real music the moment you being your lessons.
What I'd like to do over the course of the next few months is share our piano learning journey here on The Homeschooling Blog. Since music is so essential (according to scientific study) for healthy brain development...
including among other things better academic performance, I may even dedicate a full page to this program here on this blog.
I can't tell you how excited I am to be learning right along side my children. Homeschoolers do that all the time, but this is bigger than relearning a piece of forgotten history, this is like opening an entire new world!
Be sure to bookmark this site... that is, if you're interested in following our journey, and perhaps learning more about the product we've acquired. I'll be taking videos of my kiddos in action over the next few days! Remember too, one of my precious lambs has Asperger's Syndrome (meaning he's under the autism umbrella)... I'm especially anxious to see how he does with the
Piano Wizard Academy, especially given his struggles in math. There's strong statistical evidence to support the theory that students who play a musical instrument do better in math... among other things. :)
I
want to start this post by stating that I love music. I started piano
by age 4. At age 10 I started flute. I can play most woodwinds, write
music, and compose. I have played in concert bands, orchestras,
symphonies, jazz bands, and even a rock band. I love music.
