A glockenspiel is like a xylophone but with metal bars (as opposed to wood in the case of a xylophone). You can use any series meant for xylophones with a glockenspiel. By the way, Kindermusic sells a very good glockenspiel, and you can buy it from their website, even without going to their classes. If your son has ever used boomwhackers in school or elsewhere, Sonor, the manufacturer of the Kindermusik glockenspiel also makes a (pricy) glockenspiel in Boomwhacker colors (called "Chroma-Notes Colored Music System"). kesmom, can your son read sheet music? If not, there's a series by Nancy Poffenberger for xylophone that assumes one cannot read notes. I think that Rainbow Resource sells these titles, but they may be available from Amazon: NURSERY RHYMES WITH BELLS AND XYLOPHONE by Nancy Poffenberger includes these songs: The Muffin Man; The Bear Went Over the Mountain; Ring a Ring of Roses; Eensie Weensie Spider; I'm a Little Teapot; Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush; Lazy Mary; Oh, Dear, What Can the Matter Be; This Old Man; Down by the Station; Ten in the Bed; A Tisket, A Tasket. INSTANT FUN WITH BELLS AND XYLOPHONES by Nancy Poffenberger includes these songs: Mary Had a Little Lamb; Jingle Bells; London Bridge; Farmer in the Dell; For He's a Jolly Good Fellow; Hickory Dickory Dock; Pop Goes the Weasel; Row, Row, Row Your Boat; Ten Little Indians; Baa Baa Black Sheep; Twinkle Twinkle Little Star; Brother John; Hot Cross Buns Nancy Poffenberger also wrote a book called Xylo-Fun, but I don't own this one, so I can't tell you what songs are in this book, but it is also assumed that you cannot read music (from what I see of the book on Amazon). If your son can read music, he may want to try 8 Note Bell Songs and More 8 Note Bell Songs which have very simple songs to play.

I think that Scott Foresman Art is as good or better than using Artistic Pursuits (despite the fact that I really like Artisitic Pursuits too). It's just that Artisitic Pursuits is so expensive, and you can usually find used copies of Scott Foresman Art for much cheaper on the internet. Scott Foresman Art has the textbook addressed to the student, including the project pages, so it is not as teacher intensive in the earlier grades.

I lived in Texas for 19 years, and the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth had an excellent collection of Western art, including pictures and scupltures by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell. You can view them online.

I am not a follower of the Duggars (I don't own a TV), nor am I Christian; however, I am a relatively religious Orthodox Jew, who did not touch my husband (or any unrelated male) until we married so I lived through similar rules as an adolescent. That said, the Orthodox Jewish world has had its share of people who have molested other (of either the opposite sex or of the same sex), and I have been told that people who appear to be so religious that people think they could not possibly have molested someone are actually the most likely to have done so. In other words, if someone is saying that I could not possibly believe that Josh Duggar acted in a sexually inappropriate way because he is so religious, it is actually a sign that he may very likely have acted that way.

Why don't you start with easy books like Getting to Know Italy and Italian and Find Out About Italy: Learn Italian Words and Phrases and About Life in Italy? They have beginning Italian phrases, some culture and some history. It would be a good starting point, I believe.

My daughter started guitar at the end of first grade (she was 7 years old). She did classical guitar using the Childbloom method, which at the begining stages is similar to Suzuki guitar (we didn't have Suzuki guitar in Dallas, where we were living at the time). I agree that if a child that young is taking guitar, they need to be taking it using a classical method, as their hands are not long enough to play more than one note at a time. By the way, we bought a 3/4 size guitar for my daughter, a Yamaha JR1, which has since been replaced by the Yamaha JR2 3/4 size guitar. Yamaha is not the best guitars available, but they are consistently of good quality at a reasonable price.

For the ages of children you have, you may want to look into A Trip Around the World and Another Trip Around the World, both by Leland Graham and Traci Brandon. They were both published in the 1990's, so they may be a little bit dated, but they are very good programs.

Here's something similar to what Donna suggested that may help your child hear herself sing: http://www.musicmotion.com/Practice-Aids/whisperphone-small.asp

I remember a few people suggesting doing school in McDonalds with a playland.

I cannot talk much about which academic curriculum you might want to use, but do you have The Klutz Book of Animation? That might be a good place to start if your son is talking of becoming an animator. I haven't used these, but Glencoe/McGraw Hill has a book for grades 6-8 called Introduction to Technology, which may have about the use of computers in the graphics/media world. For slightly older students there's Technology Interactions that includes chapters on industrial design and CAD (computer aided design). Rainbow Resource has a series of books from Insight Technical Education that you may want to look into. If he want to go into industrial design, he could try his hand at a kit like SmartLab Car Design Studio. A lot of graphic design is designing unique alphabet letters: Lettering in Crazy Cool Quirky Style from Klutz may be nice for a boy who wants graphic design. If you continue homeschooling into high school, on a forum on this bulletin board someone recommended Art in Focus as a way of integrating studio art, art history and world history into one year long course. Exploring Art, the middle school textbook in this series, has a bit of art history but it is mostly focused on studio art (producing artworks) and art appreciation. There is a bit in Exploring Art about graphic art and film, video and digital art.

I was re-reading this forum today, and when I read this quote, I thought of this book, The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer,which pretty much expressed this opinion. Did you possibly hear a tape of her husband or one of her children?

www.MichaelOlaf.com/store/index sells "Great Art Picture Set" [DA280--"a set of ten 11" x 11" art pictures printed on heavy cardstock in full color. Included are examples, one each, of the great art of: Van Gogh, Hogarth, Picasso, Cezanne, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Holbein, Durer, Rubens, and Leonardo da Vinci. On the back of each picture is a list of information of interest to children (and adults!)"]and "Large Van Gogh Picture Set" [DL352--a set of 10 11"x11" laminated cards of Van Gogh's most famous works]. These can be displayed with a picture frame that Michael Olaf also sells. These pictures would serve the parent who wants to do Charlotte Mason picture study well, particularly if there is a toddler in the house, as the pictures are laminated. I am under the impression that these picture sets are from www.gentlerevolution.com, a store that sells products of Glenn Doman.

I saw Find Out About France: Learn French Words and Phrases and About Life in France by Duncan Crosbie. It may be what you are looking for: it includes French words and phrases, about daily life in France and historical information.

I understand that it is not until about ages 6 or 7 that some children can sing in tune, so if your daughter is not singing in tune at age 2, it is probably that she is still too young. By continuing to sing, your daughter will get better at singing and eventually sing on tune. "Tone Deafness" is extremely rare (like one out of every 10,000 people or so). Most people who were labeled as tone deaf were not given the chance for their singing ability to mature and were labeled too early, thus causing a "self-fulfilling prophecy" and self-consciousness about their singing ability (or so-called lack thereof).

I also own My First Classical Music Book, and I think it is great. Since your children are so yound, if you want to integrate music into your other studies, such as reading, you could try Early Childhood Units for Music by Ruth Bergad (I recently picked it up secondhand). It is based on the "Whole Language Approach" so there are reproducible books to copy and read. Plus there are other activities to do.

Here are some ideas. First of all, do not underestimate the importance of singing! Most of these programs like Kindermusik or Music Together just emphasize learning how to sing in tune and keeping a steady beat (albeit in a group setting to encourage Moms). I recently made a list of familiar children's songs that you could sing with your children. While you sing these, you could use the rhythm instruments that you bought for accompaniment to teach your children about the beat and rhythm of the songs. If you don't know the words or tune to these songs, most of these songs are in the public domain and you could find the words/sheet music/tune online legally. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star/Baa Baa Black Sheep/Alphabet Song (same tune, different words) Mary Had a Little Lamb Frere Jacques/Brother John Humpty Dumpty The Muffin Man This Old Man Ten Little Indians Old McDonald Had a Farm Rain, Rain, Go Away It’s Raining, It’s Pouring Sing a Song of Sixpence Row, Row, Row Your Boat Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain A Sailor Went to Sea, Sea, Sea Supercalifragolisticexpialialodocious My Favorite Things (from The Sound of Music, now available as a children's book) Hickory Dickory Dock Pop Goes the Weasel Action Rhymes Joanna Cole has a book, The Eentsy, Weentsy Spider: Fingerplays and Action Rhymes, that has instructions of how to do some of these action rhymes: I’m a Little Teapot Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes Ring Around the Rosie The Grand Old Duke of York Incy Wincy Spider London Bridge is Falling Down If You’re Happy and You Know It The Wheels on the Bus The Hockey-Pokey If you want to play an melodic instrument, there's a "lap harp" called the Music Maker for which you can buy song sheets to slip under the strings and play. www.lapharp.com sells both the harp and song sheets. www.worldofharmonymusic.com also makes song sheets for these type of lap harps. You could also buy a glockenspiel. I got mine from when my son participated in Kindermusik, but they sell them online too: http://store.kindermusik.com/p-302-kindermusik-glockenspiel.aspx Nancy Poffenberger has several books for glockenspiels with familiar songs: http://www.funpublishing.com/?author=5 These books are with notes written as letters ("A-B-C") as opposed to notes on a staff: Your 4 year old could probably pick up how to play these songs easily! NURSERY RHYMES WITH BELLS AND XYLOPHONE includes these songs: The Muffin Man; The Bear Went Over the Mountain; Ring a Ring of Roses; Eensie Weensie Spider; I'm a Little Teapot; Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush; Lazy Mary; Oh, Dear, What Can the Matter Be; This Old Man; Down by the Station; Ten in the Bed; A Tisket, A Tasket. INSTANT FUN WITH BELLS AND XYLOPHONES includes these songs: Mary Had a Little Lamb; Jingle Bells; London Bridge; Farmer in the Dell; For He's a Jolly Good Fellow; Hickory Dickory Dock; Pop Goes the Weasel; Row, Row, Row Your Boat; Ten Little Indians; Baa Baa Black Sheep; Twinkle Twinkle Little Star; Brother John; Hot Cross Buns

I have sent my middle daughter (my oldest living at home--she's 13 now) to sleepaway camp, but this year it will not be in the cards financially. So we will be back to Mama Camp. I try to take the kids to swim every day--either at the pool in our apartment complex, of if it is too hot for me to supervise them (we live in Texas and sitting in the summer sun can be brutal), I take them to a municipal recreation center with an indoor pool. They can also play basketball in the gym at the recreation center and play "rec room" games like pool, foosball, etc. We also try to do one arts and crafts activity a day. My son (age 9) has lately been initiating craft projects on his own. I highly recommend Earthways: Simple Environmental Activities for Young Children by Carol Petrash for craft ideas. Often we go to the art museum (we're members so we get free admission and free underground parking--so very nice in hot Dallas) where we can cool off (art museums are physically very cool so the art work will not deteriorate). The local art museum has art projects for the kids during most summer weekdays. My daughter plays guitar too, so we have had her learn patriotic songs for us to sing along to on July 4. In cooler climates (like where my parents live), we have gone fruit picking during the summer. Very educational and it gets your kids to eat healthier foods! When we lived in a townhouse with a backyard, we had a garden too, and the kids loved picking the vegetables. Also in my parents' vicinity is a reservoir with boat rentals--paddle boats, canoes and kayaks. It's a good skill for the kids to learn and great exercise. I have only recently found a place like that in Dallas, but the heat around here (and now the cold) has not made for a tremendous amount of opportunity for us to do this here yet. Mothering Magazine had an article some years ago that spoke of the need of young children to have a relatively unstructured summer. Your local library may have a digital copy of this article: "A Summer to Savor," which appeared in the July/August 2008 issue (#149), p.p. 36-41.

I think that Keyboard Kapers from Rainbow Resource would probably be appropriate for both your boys. If you don't want to make your own manipulatives, you can order a manipulative kit from Rainbow Resource too.

I like Cartooning for Kids by Mike Artell.

Alfred just came out with Great Music and Musicians which is correlated with Alfred's Premiere Piano Course but can be used with other piano methods. I'm not sure if your daughter is too young for it, though. It has great pictures and a CD, so maybe if she is too young for the text, the graphics and music will keep her interested. I like My First Classical Music Book. Steven Isserlis has some humorous books for children on people in music history like Why Beethoven Threw the Stew and Why Handel Waggled his Wig. If you are teaching her to play piano, most methods have a supplemental songbook on the various levels (starting at the primer level for most methods) of classical pieces (usually transposed into the key of C or an easier-to-play key). For example, there's Teaching Little Fingers to Play Classics and Pretime Piano: Classics by Nancy and Randall Faber,

I don't know how much money you have to spend, but for a while I was really into the concept of harp therapy and got myself onto some e-newsletters about the effectiveness of harp therapy. Anyway, I read on www.bedsideharp.com that a study in Finland was done that showed that stroke victims who listened to music for a couple of hours a day had better verbal memory, attention and moods than those who didn't. So you may want to consider some CDs of music in your mother-in-law's favorite genres (or a MP3 player, if you can afford it). In the mega-expensive category is Reverie Harp or Angelic Therapy Harps, but I suspect that even a relatively cheap lap harp like the Music Maker Lap Harp (Rainbow Resource sells this one) or Melody Lap Harp will have a therapeutic effect and give your mother-in-law some amusement if you also buy her the sheets of music to put under the strings for her to play.

I grew up in Baltimore, so I have been to many of these places. By the way, my father loves Fort McHenry; it's almost a joke with my children: if we are going to visit my parents, we will be going to Fort McHenry, no matter what. Anyway, there are several Civil War battlefields not too far from DC. Antietam National Battlefield, Manassas National Battlefield are all within an hour of DC. In Frederick, Maryland is Barbara Fritchie's House, which is where the famous scene from John Greenleaf Whittier's poem supposedly took place. Another place with many Civil War historic sites is Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. Although this predated the Civil War (we're talking the Colonial era and the beginning of expansion into the west), Hagerstown, MD has a historic house that is very interesting: Jonathan Hager House and Museum.

The educator for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Jamie Allen, has written a book (with his wife, Toni Austin-Allen): Composing Revisited: An Historical Approach to Learning How to Write Music with Cd, which teaches how to read music from a historical context. There is also a five volume book of music history which might be good for the older grades in your school: An Illustrated History of Music for Young Musicians: The Middle Ages and the Renaissance, An Illustrated History of Music for Young Musicians: The Classical Period, An Illustrated History of Music for Young Musicians: The Romantic Period, An Illustrated History of Music for Young Musicians: The Baroque Period, An Illustrated History of Music for Young Musicians: The Twentieth Century. Lately I have been using for myself Little Musician, which is loads of fun, but is really meant for very young children. Some people have used it in school settings.

Umsami, I am really sorry about your brutal experiences! :grouphug: I just wanted to say that I am an Orthodox Jew, and I usually cover my hair with a scarf or hat (occasionally, I wear a wig). My husband and son wear skullcaps or other hats. When we are in Dallas, we do not feel uncomfortable (most of the time), but in the more rural areas, my husband makes sure to have a supply of baseball caps in the car for himself and my son to avoid antisemitic incidents. We have never had any problems, thankfully, but we always have it at the back of our mind. However, we have had people make antisemitic comments about how all Jews are rich (my husband is in education so we are not rich by a long shot). So yes, I would agree with you that differences from the majority are not always respected. However, I do want to say to the OP that here in Dallas I have meet through La Leche League many Catholic women and during my 18 years in Dallas they have opened a very large Catholic high school, John Paul II High School, in the suburb of Plano. Since this is Texas, many of the Catholics are Hispanic, and most Catholic churches do hold mass in Spanish (which at the big cathedral downtown, is very well attended!), in addition to English. Dallas is very hot in June, July and August (weather in the 100Fs is not uncommon) but is not as humid as Baltimore (where I grew up). After my first year here, I would joke that November, December and January make up for June, July and August. It does get cold every year here (in the 40Fs) and about every three years it freezes for a few days. Every few years it snows. We want it to freeze because supposedly the bugs are not as bad the following summer! But true winter weather only lasts about 6 weeks, so don't get rid of your winter clothes! Homeschooling in Texas is pretty much laissez faire: you don't have to report to the Board of Education with no requirements of testing. As far as other liberal issues are concerned, while most people in Dallas are very conservative in general, if you have a liberal lifestyle, you will not be alone: there are Whole Foods and other health food stores all over the city, organic foods are common in mainstream supermarkets, homebirth and lay midwives, while not common, are legal and easy to find, and breastfeeding in public is legal. And like you, Umsami, I miss the green grass of the East Coast! :laugh:

Alfred just published this summer Alfred's Great Music & Musicians: An Overview of Music History which should be good for sixth and seventh grades. It is in full color and comes with a CD. I would go with this one if you want it to be self teaching. Meet the Great Composers by June Montgomery and Maurice Hison is a two volume course that also includes a CD. It is made for schools and is reproducible. There is also Accent on Composers which is also reproducible. There is also a very pricey five volume set of books called An Illustrated History of Music for Young People by Gilles Comeau and Rosemary Covert that includes the following volumes (no CD included): Middle Ages and Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Contemporary.