These days, we and our children do not need to go to the bookstores and libraries. We can easily find the book we are looking for on the Internet. Moreover, if we have no time to sit and read, we can record the audio version of the book and listen to it while driving, walking, or doing any other activity that doesn’t require much reflection. There are also video books. Certainly, these adaptable gadgets are very convenient and we should be grateful to people who invent things to make our lives easier and help us save precious time.

Our children, looking at us, try to copy the things we do. Receiving news in the “easier” version, for example from the TV, the new generation began to read less. On one hand it is normal. But if you want your child to play music without losing interest, he has to read a lot. While reading, a child increases his vocabulary and intelligence. Your imagination automatically “turns on” when you read something exciting.

Have you ever read books in which the author describes what his protagonists see around them? For example, dark-blue skies; dewdrops on a blade of grass; dense, white fog the colour of milk above the river in the early morning, etc. Some people omit such descriptive passages in books so as not to miss a string of events, action, adventure, and learn what happens next.

Every single small detail is important for our children during reading. Just after birth, a child is like a white, blank, pure sheet of paper. The person he grows up to be will depend on the information, knowledge, skills, and abilities that we, as adults, will teach and give him. Even the child’s personality and habits are literary copied from the behaviour of other people. And again, books play the huge role in this. The contents of the books are imperceptibly recorded and stored somewhere deep in human subconscious.

You might agree, but you might also wonder what this has to do with music education. I will ask you another question. Have you ever heard a piece of music that has deeply touched you? This piece can amuse you, make you pensive and even make you cry…

It happens because two very important moments coincided. First, the composer, who wrote the music, managed to convey with absolute precision not only his mood during the creation of this piece, but also a picture that he had in his mind. And second, the person, who played the piece, had these images available in a databank in his brain.

A child, who doesn’t read much, can not open and express the beauty of a musical piece only because he memorizes the notes. There is a unique, direct connection between reading and the expression of feelings.

If you pay attention to people who read a lot, you will notice that their speech is more beautiful and rich in comparison with those who don’t read much. The same is true for a child. The more he reads, the better his understanding of social surroundings and the easier it is for him to understand emotions and feelings and to express them in a musical piece.

Many parents objected when prayer was excluded from morning devotions at public schools. Private schools are usually based on Christian teaching principles or Catholicism. In these religious surroundings, children gain private school education that is rated higher on the national teaching scale and children seem to be more at peace and secure while on school property. Parents learned that the private school’s educational focus was based on excellence and personal growth for every student that attended private school.

First of all, you will want to set aside certain hours that are designated for school hours. Not that these school hours need to be inflexible, but the times when changes are made should be only the exception, not the rule.

Have a certain area at home which you set aside as the classroom. This does not mean that you have to have a special room that is set aside with desks and chairs etc., but it does mean having one spot, such as the dining room table that is used consistently for this purpose during the school hours. This will help both you and your child to develop a mind set of thinking of this as a time for learning as separate from a time for play or other distracting activities.

Try to make sure that there are as few distractions as possible during the school hours. Engage the help of your family and friends to make this happen. Making them feel a part of this can go a long ways towards avoiding hurt feelings if you have to cut short a telephone call to get back to your work or if they come to visit and find that you really are not available when school is session in progress.

If you are used to having a regular telephone ‘gabfest’ with a friend or family member at a certain time each day, maybe you can arrange your child’s recess time to coincide with this. Most important, be sure to communicate to others the importance of your new enterprise of home schooling.

Perhaps someone likes to stop in and get you to go on spur of the moment shopping trips with them in some afternoon. Explain beforehand that you will not be able to do this as regularly as before but you might also engage their help in planning educational trips and letting them be a part of those education trips.

Do not think of yourself as ‘playing teacher’. You are not playing! This is your job. One of the most important jobs you will ever have in your life, in fact. Treat it that way. You are most likely homeschooling in order to see to it that your kid has the best education possible. See to it that you do not short change them.

Try to plan ahead. Talk with other parents who are or who have home schooled experience. Have a curriculum planned. Do not just sit down at the table with your child and open a book to see what you will be teaching for that first class of the school day. You must study beforehand. Know what you will be teaching and have a plan as to how you will present each subject to your children. Respect the homeschool hours the same as you would if you were working outside of your home. You can accomplish much and your child’s successful education can be one of your greatest accomplishments you ever have.