Music Appreciation for the Middle Grades Book 2 From Zeezok Publishing {Review}

 

I grew up listening to music from classical to bluegrass and beyond, so I was very excited to receive this wonderful homeschool music program, Music Appreciation Book 2: for the Middle Grades from Zeezok Publishing for the purpose of this review!

 

For a little while now,  “The Artist” has been learning all about Frederick Chopin, using the main Student Activity Book and biographies of the composer.

It has been important to me that my children learn to appreciate music from diverse time periods, so this really fits the bill! By the time this course is finished, we will have learned about seven different composers:

• Frederic Chopin
• Robert Schumann
• Richard Wagner
• Stephen Foster
• Johannes Brahms
• Peter Tchaikovsky
• Edward MacDowell

We will learn about them by using the big Student Activity Book and reading nine biographies. We received physical copies of eight, and we received one of them as an e-book. When you order this package, you will get them all as physical books. Of the books we received, seven are very nice soft cover in a couple of different sizes, and one is a nice, sturdy hard cover.

While this is not a problen for us, I know that there are people who like matching sets so I thought I ought to mention it.

If you follow the table in the workbook exactly this curriculum will take you twenty-nine weeks. Four weeks per composer, with the exception of Frederic Chopin which is a five week section. This could take as long or as short of a time as you wish, but following the schedule is worthwhile if you would like it to be completed within one school year.

This course is cross curricular, covering history, geography, music, social studies and more.

At some point we will be coming back to this to try the delicious sounding recipe pictured here, but as my husband is on the hunt for a new job he wants to avoid poppy seeds for now. 😉

The components of this curriculum are listed below.

• Student Activity Book:

This is designed for different kinds of learners (auditory, visual, kinesthetic, “active”) Activities will teach geography, history, instrument study, music vocabulary, timelines, character trait studies, musical facts, and more. This is a consumable book, so while multiple children within your family would be able to share the biographies you will need a separate Student Activity Book for each of them.

• Optional Journal Notebook:

While working through the Student Activity Book, the student will find directions for creating their own journaling notebook using a 3-ring binder, a regular notebook, or even a sketchbook, helping him or her to connect with the musicians and their musical creations through writing.

• The Great Musician Series (nine biographies by Opal Wheeler and Sybil Deucher.
• Music Appreciation for the Middle Grades App:

This is a new feature as of this curriculum. There are QR codes sprinkled throughout the Student Activity Book which give your student easy access to all of the songs in the biographies, interactive quizzes and additional website links.

I have covered the website link to the App page because it’s reserved for consumers of this curriculum only.

There are optional components available for purchase:

• Music Appreciation: Book 2 Lapbook for those who enjoy them
• Music Appreciation: Book 2 Coloring Book which might be a nice way to include your younger set!

I feel that this is an excellent tool for introducing my children to the appreciation of music! With this set we are not simply listening to music, we are learning about the places from which the composers came, how they lived their lives, along with much more from each time period. I very much recommend this set to you!

To read what fifty-nine other families think about Music Appreciation Book 2: for the Middle Grades from Zeezok Publishing, please click on the banner just below.

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