Saturday, March 29, 2008

Educating the Older One & Lapbooking

My older son, Ender, is 2 1/2, and very curious. His daddy and I haven't decided whether or not to homeschool or try to manage paying for private school, but at the moment private school is not looking very affordable. Right now our son is taking Suzuki piano lessons and that has given him something to focus his abundant energy on. I know it seems early for piano lessons, but I'm a professional musician and I've been watching him for signs of readiness practically since birth. I know that sounds funny, but let me tell you-- this child came out of the womb musical! He is able to practice for 5-10 minutes at a time and has a wonderful natural sense of rhythm. He already reads rhythm patterns- I'm amazed by this! Even after being a music teacher for the last 10 years I didn't really think it was possible for him to learn to read rhythm at 2 years old, but he reads rhythms up that include everything from whole notes to sixteenth notes! I will be the first to admit that it is a great help to him that I am also a piano teacher and practice properly at home with him.

We make practice time a daily thing that we do together in the morning, and then he often chooses to be at the piano throughout the day as long as I am not with students. He is around a wide variety of music all the time because my music studio is in our home and I'm actively teaching students about 20 hours a week. I am curious to see if his interest holds. I primarily teach violin, and as long as he is interested in a year or two and his piano technique is well developed I will start him on the violin as well.

Another thing I've been looking at is homeschooling. I was homeschooled through much of my education, mostly because I was involved in so many music activities that it was the only way I could get enough practice time in. As I was looking for information to help us make our decision about schooling our children, I came across information about lapbooking. I think I'm going to start doing a modified version of this with my 2 year old. We are going on a trip to the ocean at the end of May, so I'd like to teach him a little about the ocean and the beach before we go since he has never been, and I think a simplified lapbook may be a nice way to introduce that to him. He's really enjoying coloring right now, so I think a few coloring pages that we can staple into a colorful folder to make into a book might be fun for him.

Anyone else have information on lapbooking?

1 comment:

  1. Being a professional musician, you may not have the need, but I am a Suzuki piano teacher and I journal a lot on music education. I am definitely not a performer, and that's what makes my best performance my teaching.
    So drop in if you are interested.
    Enjoy the journey with your son!

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