I am new to homeschooling, so it was awesome to find a resource that has so much already pulled together for me. We do a lot of school work featuring holidays and I had honestly never thought of pulling music into a lot of them. Usually music is not the first thing I think of when it comes to Valentine’s Day. That would be chocolate 🙂 When there was an extra link to more information about a topic it was very helpful. I love getting as much information about a topic as possible before I teach it to my kiddos. Multiple songs/videos for each holiday lent itself to different styles of music, instruments, and time periods. All of which easily segued into other areas of learning. We love notebooking, so the pages for copywork, writing thoughts and ideas, or drawing how the music makes you feel were so welcome. Pages like for Spring with the compare and contrast were great. ~ K. I., homeschool mom

My entire family enjoys Gena’s music lessons! My 1 1/2 year old and their grandfather all joined in as we celebrated Dr. Seuss’ birthday with great music and fun videos. We have done several of her 15-minute lessons and I love how easy to teach and engaging they are. They fit well with other unit study resources or as a stand alone activity. Most of all they help foster music appreciation and spark interesting conversations within our homeschool while keeping learning fun! ~R. J., homeschool mom of 5

Wow! There is a ton of information in this course! My son, Seth, asked me to not mark each section as complete as “he wants to do it when it’s all his turn”.

Seth (age 7) prefers the bagpipes [from the Memorial Day lesson] and said that it makes him feel sad for people he doesn’t get to see much and hopeful that he will see them again. He has also decided he wishes to learn the bagpipes because he “feels a pulling inside” whenever he listens to them. Dr. Seuss Day had Seth putting on his “Seuss” hat and we spent the day watching all of the videos we could find, rereading the beloved books, and with Seth sharing his newly found knowledge with the medical staff at the hospital. The April Fool’s parodies had us both giggling. I loved seeing a memory from my childhood with the Schoolhouse Rocks video for Constitution Day. Columbus Day and the Theme from Jaws helped show Seth that the feel of music can change depending on how it is presented. We are continuing to explore the music of John Williams. I was surprised to learn that “Over the River and Through the Woods is a Thanksgiving song. I’ve always associated it as a Christmas song. ~ K. H., homeschool mom

Overall, my conclusion is that this is a great course for all ages. A parent can choose how much information from each holiday to teach their child depending on their level and add more to it each year, especially with the resources provided. It is also a wonderful and fun way to explore the variations on popular songs whether it is instrumental, vocal, or both. ~ K. H., homeschool mom

Music for Holidays and Special Days is a delight! I love the variety of music that is presented in this course! From sacred to silly, it was fun to introduce my kids to old favorites as well as new songs and arrangements I had never heard. Just enough background info to make it interesting without being overwhelming. I highly recommend this course if you’re looking to add a little fun to your school year! – S. B., piano teacher and homeschool mom of 6

I loved this course, and one of my favorite parts was your inclusion of PDQ Bach! – S. B., piano teacher and homeschool mom of 6

I remember singing the song “Over the River and Through the Wood” when I was in grade school but couldn’t locate it for my own kids. It’s so wonderful to see that you’ve included it in the lesson. I love this lesson because I always feel Thanksgiving is the forgotten holiday since we seem to go straight to Christmas after Halloween. I’m excited to share this lesson with my kids this coming Thanksgiving. ~K.J., homeschool mom of 5

As a homeschooling mother of five, that isn’t very musically inclined, I love that Gena Mayo has taken special days throughout the year and connected it to music. I can cover social studies, with reading and writing, all while making it fun and meaningful by diving into the world of music. It’s an awesome feeling to hear my kids say they really enjoyed what we just listened to or when they hear something and they excitedly tell me what it means. ~K.J., homeschool mom of 5

Our family situation is a little unusual in that five of the six children still living at home were adopted from China over the past few years. They came knowing nothing about the holidays we celebrate in America (except perhaps Christmas) and I’ve made a special effort to teach them about our traditions. It hadn’t occurred to me to use music to do it. So when I saw “Music Lessons for Holidays and Special Days” I knew it had to become part of our learning experience. From the start I was impressed with the number of holidays included, and wondered how in the world there would actually be songs to represent each one. But Gena has done an excellent job of putting together a musical lesson for thirty-six different special days. You’ll find the biggies like Christmas and Easter but also fun things like Dr. Seuss Day and Talk Like a Pirate Day. Imagine, you get up and look at the calendar to find TODAY is International Jazz Day. “I wish I had thought to prepare something,” you think to yourself. Don’t worry, Gena did! And it is so, so easy. The lesson is right there and ready to go with little to no preparation. It is great to have the music to listen to, but she’s included many in YouTube form so the children have something to look at while they listen. As if that isn’t enough, Gena also includes relevant links to further explore the history of the holiday and the songs, a small quiz at the end of each lesson, printables to reinforce the lesson or teach musical concepts, and sometimes even book ideas. In one instance there was even a download for a free lapbook.

Lest this sound like a big deal for you to implement in your home study, relax. Each lesson is clear and requires no preparation except for printing the supplements should you choose to use them. Note: You might read through lessons that are of particular interest several days ahead of time to see if you want to get books from the library to further your study. It is totally optional though. ~R.L., homeschool mom of 13, including adopted special needs children from China

So how does it work? Simple! Gena has done all the work for us. You read the lesson and push the play button for the music and video, and that is pretty much it. The time it takes to listen to each lesson varies greatly. Some take just a few minutes to complete but a few run an hour or more depending on the length of the compositions.

I personally went through the entire year of lessons and tried out two of them with the kids. The first was the SPRING lesson where six of my grandchildren joined in with the six children who are still at home. I’m telling you, if a lesson can hold the attention of TWELVE kids, ages two through fifteen, it is GOOD. We also did the Dr. Seuss lesson with just my four younger kids and they enjoyed it a lot.

I’m looking forward to using this on the relevant days during our Morning Time throughout the next year. What a low stress and easy way to add musical enrichment, learning about the instruments and musical concepts, AND holidays and special days all wrapped into one easy lesson. Thank you, Gena! ~R.L., homeschool mom of 13, including adopted special needs children from China