Mary has an undergraduate degree in Music Education and a Masters Degree in Education along with years of teaching experience both in public and the homeschool environment. Her desire was to write a curriculum in which all the work was done for you in order to make music appreciation easy to add to your homeschool rhythm. With SQUILT she has done just that.
The purpose of SQUILT is create a quiet regular slots of time in order to expose children to excellent pieces of music. As well as equip them with the skills necessary to appreciate quality music. It is perfect for preschoolers, elementary students, and young middle school students.
SQUILT is an acronym for
Super Quiet UnInterrupted Listening Time.
How we used SQUILT
When I recieved my copy of SQUILT I downloaded it to my pc and saved it to my Samsung Tablet.
I love the detailed HOW TO part of the manual. Mary gives a step by step how to implement the music appreciation curriculum in your home and has hyper-linked all the terminology for clarification. The links take you to great resources to help explain the terminology. If you have the internet it means that the eBook is the ONLY material you need in order to use the study.
Mary explained the process of introducing the SQUILT process and using the printables in the the eBook. For younger students it's about listening and feeling the music for regular short periods of time each day. If you have older students you can add in the lessons. These start with a short explanation along with facts of the Baroque Era. Next we were given a list of composers from the era along with when they lived.
After that we learned about Dynamics, Rhythm, Instrumentation and Mood. Sir N is learning how to express how the music impacts him using these as the tools. Younger students can start with 'Draw How ...' Notebook page. There are notebook pages for the children to complete included.
As we progressed we were introduced to the musical instruments of the era and coloured in a notebook page for our folder. Now that Sir N had the terminology and an understanding of the musical instruments of the Baroque era we progressed to the lessons.
There are a total of ten lessons covering six composers. Each lesson gives a short bio of the piece of music. Links to listen to or watch a YouTube clip for that piece of music. You are given a little bit of background to the clip as well. Mary explains the dynamics, tempo, instrumentation and Mood for the piece along with questions to prompt you. Each lesson is ONE page long so you are not overwhelmed with information. These are followed by notebook pages.
Between the lessons you will find incidental lessons. These are titled: What is ... ? If there is something you need to know or understand about a piece of music, you will learn about it before the official lesson.
The final part of the book is an Answer section. Here you will find the answer the question on page 25.
Contents
Volume 1: Baroque Composers
- Instructions
- Baroque era details
- Reproducible Notebooking pages
- Printables {Dynamics, Rhythm, Tempo & Instruments}
- Colouring in sheets with definitions
- 10 Lessons covering {Pachelbel, Couperin, Clarke, Vivaldi, Bach & Handel}
We love SQUILT and look forward to using future Volumes. It is perfect fit for busy home school families and Mom's who do not have time to gather resources for music appreciation. I like the fact that despite my lack of musical training I am able to teach Sir N to appreciate music and together we are able to explore the different era's of music together. You can read more about SQUILT on the FAQ page.
- Volume 1: {1600-1750}Baroque Composers $8.99
- Volume 2: {1750-1830}Classical Era $8.99
- Volume 3: {1830-1920}Romantic (available in February 2014)
- Volume 4: {1920- Present}Modern Era (available in March 2014)
- A SQUILT for Classical Conversations Inc - Cycle 2 released 6 January 2014
FREE SQUILT Lessons
Mary has some great SQUILT lessons on her blog to get you started.
- Free Tchaikovsky SQUILT lesson and Notebooking Download
- Nutcracker Unit Study includes listening links, notebooking pages, ideas for teaching, and much more.
- Music In Your Homeschool With SQUILT ~ Lesson 1
- Music In Your Homeschool With SQUILT ~ Lesson 2/Big Band & The King of Swing
- Music In Your Homeschool With SQUILT ~ Lesson 3
- Going West/Music for Our Great Field Trip - SQUILT Lesson #4
- Fun and Easy Halloween Music Study (SQUILT Lesson 5)
- SQUILT Lesson #6 - Mozart's 12 Variations on "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"
- Learn About An Epic Piece of Music (SQUILT Lesson #7)
- Vivaldi's Spring (SQUILT lesson #8)
- Superhero Fun (Music, Reading, LEGO) & Squilt Lesson #9
- Music History and Notebooking for The Birds - SQUILT Lesson #10
- Facebook SQUILT Fan Page
- Pinterest SQUILT
- Google+
- YouTube
Thank you Mary for the gift of SQUILT to our home we look forward to many years of SQUILT in our homeschool.
Blessings
Chareen
Thank you for such a THOROUGH review, Chareen. I am so glad you are enjoying SQUILT!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome Mary thank you for the opportunity to use SQUILT in our homeschool
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