As a classical educator of my kids and a piano teacher, my teaching methodology is shifting to classical. Does anyone know of a piano teaching series or book from the classical perspective?

I have a junior in high school who is a musician and composer. She'll probably be applying next year to music composition programs. I am trying to help her put together a portfolio to take with her when she visits colleges. It would contain a resume of her music work, along with printouts of all her compositions. I would also like to include programs of some of her more important choral performances, e.g. the ones in Carnegie Hall. I tried putting the programs in sheet protectors, but they are too flimsy for the weight of the programs. What have other people done to display performance programs? Please give me details!

Registration for Summer, Fall, and Full-Year 2017-18 courses is now open! New courses include: • Summer Reading Club for Logic Stage Students • Counting and Probability & AoPS Pre-Calculus • Latin I, French II, & German II • Physics for the Logic Stage • Kinesiology & Nutrition I • Science of Writing Grammar Series, from Foundational to Advanced Grammar • Socratic Discussion for the Rhetoric Stage Our unmatched refund policy is very simple and aims to benefit our students and families. If a student withdraws from a course before the end of the withdrawal period (listed below), he will receive a full course tuition refund. Fall and Full-year courses - September 30th Spring courses and Full-year transfers only - February 28th Summer courses - June 30th In addition, because our primary goal is the successful education of our students, we do not charge any fees for section or course changes. The Well-Trained Mind Academy Handbook offers guidance on course planning and placement for both logic-stage (middle) and rhetoric-stage (high school) students. And of course, you can contact us for help! See our website for our full course offerings and to register: www.wtmacademy.com We can’t wait to see you in class! Contact us with questions.

Dear Forum Folk, Note: WTMA Fall registration has closed, so subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on Facebook to receive announcements for spring registration! Did you know that our Well-Educated Minds program offers courses for adult learners year-round as an Independent Learning Module? This provides the opportunity for independent learning at your own pace. The Well-Trained Mind has been in the classical education business for over 15 years, providing homeschooling families with high-quality, ground-breaking resources that combine the best of the classical tradition with innovative teaching methods. In fact, more than half a million parents have successfully used the curricula, book lists, and methods of The Well-Trained Mind to teach their children at home. We’re excited to bring you the third year of the Well-Trained Mind Academy, with experienced instructors to further your ability to homeschool your children at middle school and high school levels of learning. We offer small class sizes, with live and delayed-recording courses to meet any schedule - including those seeking additional courses to augment a private, charter, or public school education. Full-year courses include writing (based on our successful "Writing With Skill" workbook series), math, science, music, history, literature, and now foreign languages. We also offer one-semester courses, including Study Skills, Socratic Seminar Discussion, Geography, Grammar, SAT exam preparation, physical education, and several levels of creative writing. Here's what our parents have to say: "My daughter is in the WTMA Algebra 1 class this year. She was so nervous... math was her least favorite subject. Oh, the anxiety it would produce! I have heard her exclaim that she loves math this year and her WTMA teacher is one of her favorites. (And I am wiping sweat off of my brow.)" "...in the past two weeks, our child has actually proclaimed that she is enjoying writing. Awesome!! She is much more focused, diligent and enthusiastic about tackling the assignments." "I've used other online schools. I can honestly say, WTMA has been the best experience!" Preview our courses to see how classical online learning works, then register soon. Classes began September 6th (recordings are available for any missed lectures) and are filling quickly! www.wtmacademy.com

My 7yo has enjoyed plunking around on our digital piano, composing his own songs and learning some tunes via the built-in program. Without instruction, he has poor technique and isn't learning music theory this way, so I'd like to be intentional with his piano and music theory instruction. For this kid, I suspect it will be a hobby and not a life-long pursuit. Maybe he'll join a homeschool band or something if interest and opportunity presents itself. I inquired about some private lessons, but my husband thinks at this age and stage, it is an unnecessary expense. He questions whether we can handle the year-long weekly commitment (and having to entertain/occupy my younger kids somewhere else), but also if we should commit to something that he might not want to pursue long-term as a weekly class with daily practice at this age. And yah again, the price tag he thought was a bit much for right now. As an alternative, I had him do a few lessons of Hoffman Academy. We love it so far -- the methodology, Mr. Hoffman's demeanor, and how it will encourage such enjoyment of creating music. I will buy the downloads/join the 2.0 site when it launches to round it out. It seems to me, if a student only wishes to have a casual, passing ability to play piano or make music, Hoffman Academy ought to be sufficient to meet that end. If he wanted to pursue further piano or another instrument, I'm thinking HA would lay a good foundation....right? Or, would it be more likely that without a private instructor seeing my child's weekly progress, he might develop bad habits that are hard to break? I would be actively involved with viewing the lessons and making sure he is following instructions with regard to form and technique, to the best of my own ability -- but my own musical background is just a few years of elementary-age violin in a group setting, a year or so of piano, and 4 years of choir. I'm not a musician. I'm overthinking this, but I welcome any input. Is "good enough" fine here? Thank you!

I have zero experience with the piano or reading music, but I would like to teach my kids to play. (And I'd like to learn too!) What have you used and liked? Anything you'd recommend I steer clear of? My guys are pre-k, k, and 2nd. Also, we can't fit a piano in our home atm, so I'm looking at keyboards. They all seem to have a different number of keys, and none with what I think is the actual number on a piano...? Does it matter how many keys are on the keyboard I buy?

If anyone is looking for some little games to improve kids' musical literacy and knowledge, have a look at this list: http://cornerstoneconfessions.com/2012/08/the-ultimate-list-of-online-music.html I haven't looked at all the links, but from what I have seen it looks like the list is mostly geared toward younger students.

DS11 plans to take the Advanced Placement Music Theory exam in May 2016. I called the College Board and asked where this test is offered. They told me to call around to local schools. I have reached out to our local high school, but have not heard back yet. Can anyone help? We live in Colorado Springs. I doubt any of the schools here will offer the test. We're willing to travel in order to take the test.

Dear Forum Folk, We hope you have found The Well-Trained Mind and these forums to be excellent resources for your home schooling efforts! We’ve been in the classical education business for over 15 years, providing homeschooling families with high-quality, ground-breaking resources that combine the best of the classical tradition with innovative teaching methods. In fact, more than half a million parents have successfully used the curricula, book lists, and methods of The Well-Trained Mind to teach their children at home. Now, we’re excited to bring you the second academic year of the Well-Trained Mind Academy, with experienced instructors to further your ability to homeschool your children at middle school and high school levels of learning. We’ve listened to our customers who feel they would benefit from access to instructors for advanced or technical subjects. Explore our online course offerings to discover exciting new options for your family! Over 25 full-year courses and 13 single-semester electives. Special focus on written language, small class sizes, and instructor feedback. New electives offering music theory, Socratic discussion, spoken rhetoric, and grammar. Pre-Registration for the 2015-2016 Academic Year is available only until April 14th, which entitles you to the steepest discounts we will provide to the general public! Simply visit our site for a list of courses, and pre-register today! www.WTMAcademy.com Contact Us: 844-986-9862 Why the extension? Many have asked us about monthly payment plans. We’re finalizing a system that will allow families to make automated monthly payments on tuition, rather than having to pay the full amount up front. It's almost ready to go, but still needs thorough testing. So we’ve decided to delay general registration until that payment-plan testing is finished.