Sing for your School: Set Your Morning Time to Music!

You may have read about our Digital Morning Time.  Before that phase (and before we even knew that “Morning Time” or “Your Morning Basket” was a thing) we had daily “Singing Time”.  I definitely won’t be the next American Idol, but I do love to sing with my children.  Before most of them were even old enough for school, we started singing together every morning!

Tips and Tricks

In a minute, I’ll tell you about a few of our favorite songs and CDs.  But first, let me share a few tips for super-simple implementation in your homeschool.

1. Don’t over do it.  I’m going to list many subjects that you can cover through singing.  I know it will be tempting to pick things from every category.  Don’t.  You don’t want to suck all the joy out of a good thing by overdoing it!  Start with two or three.
2. Everyone has their own taste.  My husband can’t stand “kids’ songs”.  They don’t really bother me.  You’ll have to decide for yourself how you feel about each suggested resource.  You can usually listen to samples before you purchase.
3. Personally, I hate being trapped into a “week” format.  You don’t have to sing everything for five days and start with all new songs every Monday.  In fact, it’s easier and more fun to sing things you know, so you might want to stagger the introduction of new songs.  How do you know when to start a new one?  Whenever you want to be done with the old one!
4. Find a simple way to make a playlist.  You’ll probably want to pick one song from each “topic” to focus on at a time.  The easier it is to switch out songs the better.  Download the MP3s or rip all of the CDs to your hard drive.  You could set up a playlist on your phone or iPod and grab a great portable speaker (we have this one).  We’ve also used this CD player which has inputs for an SD card or  USB drive so that I can easily manage the playlist on my laptop.
5. Depending on the audio system in your car, you’ll likely be able to take your music with you easily!  Got a morning doctor’s appointment?  No problem.  Do your Singing Time on the way there and back!

Scripture, Hymns, and Catechism

• Steve Green’s “Hide ‘Em In Your Heart” (Vol. 1 | Vol. 2 | Vol. 1 & 2 | Praise) – Songs for Memorizing Scripture
• Judy Rogers “Go to the Ant” (MP3) – Songs about the Proverbs
• “Sing the Word from A to Z” (MP3 | CD) – One verse/song for each letter of the alphabet
• “Hymns” by Cedarmont Kids (MP3 | CD) – Traditional hymns, plus split-tracks for when you want to sing without recorded voices.
• We also sing plenty of hymns from a traditional hymnal.  If we pick hymns with a chorus, it is easier for the pre-readers to join in.  Here’s a site with some great resources, including lyrics and tunes for many traditional hymns.
• Judy Rogers “Why Can’t I See God?” (CD) – Songs to learn the Children’s Catechism
• Holly Dutton’s “The Westminster Shorter Catechism” (Vol. 1 | Vol. 2 | Vol. 3 | Vol. 4) – Every question and answer (word for word) set to music.

Language Arts

• Grammar Songs by Kathy Troxel (MP3 | CD and Booklet) – We’ve loved many of the books from the Audio Memory series.  This one covers parts of speech, a few items of punctuation and even includes a song about Greek- and Latin-derived prefixes and suffixes!
• Kidzup Grammar and Punctuation Songs  (CD and Booklet) – Hard to find now, but we’ve loved these.
• Kidzup Spelling Songs (CD and Booklet) – Some of these are now household staples to remind us of spelling patterns!  You can occasionally hear one of us singing “T-I-O-N always says ‘shun'”.
• The Phonics Road “Rule Tunes & Grammar Tunes” (Level 1 | Level 2) – Little jingles to go along with The Phonics Road curriculum, but could also work well with any phonics-based Orton-Gillingham reading/spelling curriculum, like The Writing Road to Reading, All About Reading & All About Spelling.

Math

• The Skip Count Kid (MP3s | iTunes | Free Booklet Download) – Instead of learning “multiplication facts,” learn to “skip count”.  Kids who know how to count by 7s, for example, better understand the concept of groups of seven.  Counting by 5s and 10s is great preparation for counting coins, as well!  (There is also a Bible Heros version if you are interested.)
• Math Concepts I&II “Intelli-Tunes” (CD | MP3) – I admit, a couple of these are even too cheesy for me.  But if you want help, say, remembering how many teaspoons in a tablespoon or ounces in a cup, the Measuring song will do just fine.  Other songs cover topics like fractions and geometric shapes!

Science

Lyrical Life Science – These sets have been, hands-down, our favorite way to learn by singing.  The lyrics and performances are excellent.  The vocabulary and concepts covered are far beyond many “cutesy” kid-style learning songs.  Your pre-schoolers won’t grasp it all, but they’ll learn some bigger words and ideas they can expand on later.  And your older kids will get a great handle on many life science concepts!  You can also purchase optional textbooks and workbooks to supplement the music, especially if you want to add extra challenge for upper elementary or  middle school students.

• • Vol. 1: Bacteria to Birds (MP3 | CD | Other Resources) – includes intro songs about the scientific method and what makes an organism “living”
  • Vol. 2: Mammals, Ecology and Biomes (MP3 | CD | Other Resources) – fantastic introduction to all kinds of biology terms and aspects of classification
  • Vol. 3: The Human Body (MP3 | CD | Other Resources) – intro song summarizes all of the major systems and then each song teaches about a specific system
  • Lyrical Earth Science: Geography (MP3 | CD | Other Resources)

History & Geography

• Veritas Press History Songs – Veritas Press has created a history curriculum divided into five eras of time.  Each era covers 32 events.  For each era, you can purchase a CD.   Optionally, you can also purchase a set including 32 cards that give a summary of each event, as well as some suggestions for further reading, and a teacher manual that provides suggested activities (see Veritas Press site for more resources).
  • Old Testament and Ancient Egypt (MP3 | CD)
  • New Testament, Greece, and Rome (MP3 | CD)
  • Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Reformation (MP3 | CD)
  • Explorers to 1815 (MP3 | CD)
  • 1815 to Present (MP3 | CD)
• Geography Songs (MP3 | CD and Booklet) – We loved this set of songs.  It includes the songs for memorizing the states (see the title below) as well as songs about every geographical region in the world.  I now know more about world geography than I ever learned when I was in school!
• States and Capitals (MP3 | CD and Booklet) – This album includes my very favorite songs for learning the US States.  Rather than just memorizing the states in alphabetical order, for example, states are learned in order along the northern, southern, eastern, and Pacific borders.  My children can now work their way across or up the side of a US map, naming the states in order!

You can stream some of these MP3s for free with Prime Music!

Latin

• Song School Latin ( and Song School Latin 2) – Songs are primarily vocabulary- and theme-based, rather than grammar based.  Learn the Latin words for family members, types of weather, animals, and foods!  You can use the CDs all by themselves or get them along with workbooks full of fun activities!  Complete bundles are available with a teacher book and a vocabulary card game.
• Mater Anserena – Mother Goose in Latin!  Comes with a companion CD so that you can learn to sing familiar children’s rhymes in Latin!

Now it’s your turn!  What learning songs or CDs your family has enjoyed?