I'm often asked if I homeschool or not...the answer to that is two-fold. First, no because I send my kids to public school. Second, yes because I homeschool them in piano.
When I started teaching my oldest piano, he was in first grade. Since he was the only one I was teaching at that moment, I taught him in the classic style...meaning a 30 minute lesson with us both sitting at the piano. That went ok, but not spectacular. But at that time, I was still a fairly new teacher, new mother and idealistic in my plans for teaching my child piano....not realistic. Sadly there were many lessons that ended up w/ crying, screaming and gnashing of teeth! So I actually took a hiatus from teaching him (its sad to think that I actually thought it was my son that was the problem---nope--It was me!) When I started teaching him again, I also began teaching my daughter so at this time, Nathan was in 3rd grade and Mandy was in 1st. Once again, I tried the classic method, and it went better. (Probably because he was older, she was a gem to teach and I had some more piano teaching under my belt!)
By the time I was teaching 3 kids piano, I realized I didn't have an hour and a half slot of time available to sit and teach the kids---especially because I was teaching 25 other kids every week! So I came up with this method that has worked very well for us over the last year and I think it will continue to be successful now that I'm teaching all 4.
Here's the method. I teach for no more than 5 minutes at a time. Each time the kids go to the piano, mostly on their own accord, I go to them and go over one page or one small concept at a time. I never give more than 2 songs to work on at a time. I also treat each of their practices as a mini-lesson--meaning that I listen extra carefully while they practice and correct their form, hand position, incorrect notes, rhythm mistakes, etc while they are practicing. (I will say that this is a time when it really helps that I know the songs as well as I do, I can be in the kitchen listening and still be able to tell them what they need to fix! :)
I have noticed that since adopting this method, the kids are moving through the books very quickly and are very encouraged to go further! That is a wonderful thing to experience. :)
Now, will this method work for you and your gaggle of kids? Maybe, maybe not. But I hope it encourages you to think outside the "box" of the 30 minute lesson. If you have an idea, share it with me! If you have a question, please ask!
Such a great idea, Audrey! That's what I hope parents are doing (on a smaller scale) at home during practice sessions. I've been wondering how our daughter will take to violin lessons from her mama, and think you have come up with a really good system!
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