Home Schooling
Adding Music to Your Home Schooling Curriculum
 

Home education continues to grow by leaps and bounds all over the country, and Tennessee is no exception. By some estimates the number of home schooling families is increasing by 15 percent a year with no end in sight. Home schooling is not only popular but an excellent way to ensure that your child is getting a superior education. Music is very often forgotten but can play an important part in making sure the educational plan is complete.

 Background:

In colonial America, home education was a way of life - and the literacy rate was around 98 percent. Our founding fathers had a strong conviction that children should be able to read so that they could read the Bible. It was not uncommon for colonial American parents to join together and hire a teacher to teach their children subjects they did not feel qualified to teach.

Later, formal education evolved into religious training as the Ivy League universities were established to train ministers. Eventually, communities and states began to establish schools supported by government funds - with a distinctively religious influence. In fact, the Catholic parochial school movement began as a response to what Catholics perceived as the overt Protestant nature of the public schools.

In the 1880s, states began to impose compulsory attendance laws. Supporters of the movement argued that the state had a vested interest in ensuring that every child received an education - so that they could become productive citizens. Supporters of the opposing view argued that compulsory attendance laws eroded the authority of the parents, making the state the final authority, rather than the parent. One by one states passed the compulsory attendance laws building the public school system in this Country.

In the early 1960s, the United States Supreme Court issued a series of rulings that dramatically changed the complexion of public education and opened the door to a home schooling return. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it was a violation of the Constitution to read the Bible, pray, or even post the Ten Commandments in a public school.

As a direct result of these Supreme Court rulings, private religious schools began to spring up. The growth of these schools was an attempt by parents to give their children an education integrated with the values that they held. Ten years later, parents began to take the concept to its logical conclusion, teaching their own children at home. As the home schooling movement has grown, many of the benefits of the direct tutorial method with its low teacher/student ratios, the basis of our founding fathers' beliefs, are being realized in the comfort and familiarity of the home.

As with any teaching methodology, home schooling is at its best with a diverse and well rounded curriculum. That's where Studio 3E can help. We are happy to discuss ways to integrate our musical training into your home school curriculum. To find out more, please call Studio3E at (615) 844-4224.

 To obtain more information or pre-enroll your youth, please Click Here.