music major and homeschooling

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>I am homeschooling my 3 children. We live in a rural area out in the country. The closest town has 11,000 people. My youngest loves music like me. She has been singing in church choirs since 2 ( no childcare so she had to be in my choir). She started taking violin in 1st grade. She started piano last year in 4th. She will be in 5th grade for this coming up school year. My older boys started in ps and I pulled them out in elementary and it has been a very good fit for them. They had the option of going to ps high school, but didn't want to. Instead they do a lot of classes at the cc for dual credit. My daughter is more social. I'm trying to figure out what would give her the best prep. My thinking is she will do music education, but who knows. She is so young. </p>

<p>Violin
She is playing in a strings prep group. She will then move to the youth orchestra.
She takes private lessons already at SFA prep, but that means driving an hour there and an hour back once a week. I couldn't do that more. They do have great string camps in the summer but they are geared toward the competitions for public schoolers. ( Homeschoolers cannot participate in UIL evens like solo and ensemble or all-state.)
She will probably start playing in our church praise band towards the end of middle school.</p>

<p>Choir
She is singing in a children's chorus through SFA music prep right now. She sings in my children's choir at church. There is none for high school unless I wanted to start it which would mean the children's choir program would end. I can't do both. Every single time I've given up doing children's choir for a while ( when my dad was sick and died or I had a baby) the choir dropped from 30 to about 5 and I had to build it up again. As she moves into high school she can do a high school choir through the community college. They can participate in 9th grade and can get dual credit for 11th and 12th. I don't know of any solo and ensemble opportunities. She could sing in our adult choir, though.</p>

<p>Theory
She knows some and I am working with her. There is a theory class with piano at SFA music prep that she could take. She could also do music theory at the cc in high school for dual credit.</p>

<p>Some people mentioned TPSMEA as an organization that allows homeschoolers to do a solo ensemble/ all state kind of thing, but no school around here does that. We would have to drive over an hour away. We live in a rural area. I wish we lived in the Houston or DFW area as there seems to be lots of options there. (Ok, not really. We love where we live.)</p>

<p>So, it seems my options are those above or send her to our local ps, which I honestly don't know if I can do. The academics stink. Seriously. They offer 3 AP classes but not everyone takes the exam. 34 people took AP exams in 2011. Only 7 people scored a 3 or better.( When I called to register him for the AP Chem exam the counselor said that she didn't know if any of the 22 kids enrolled would even take it. They didn't think they wanted to wast 87 dollars on the off chance they would pass. ( Oh my... I didn't know what to say to that. So much is wrong with that statement.) So far my boys have gotten 5's on every exam they have taken. ( We'll see about their scores for this year in a couple of weeks.) </p>

<p>I was talking to the valedictorian of our school the other day. She is going to aTm and she said, "Wow I had no idea. I feel so unprepared. So many people that are enrolling have taken so many advanced classes. Our school just doesn't offer them. I had no idea how many advanced courses I should have taken..</p>

<p>There are starting to be big gang fights between the blacks. ( As in they had to lock down the school and then the police were all over all of the campuses in the area to prevent further incidents. Someone entered from off campus with a gun, etc.) Part of that is because the Mexican population is starting to explode. Which is fine, HOWEVER, so many are illegal and living under the poverty line. Once again, nice people but overall not good for academic rigor if that makes sense. ( My boys played on soccer teams and many of those people are SO nice and respectful. But their parents can't speak English and can't help them with homework.) So much drugs.. I just don't think I can send her. The local Christian schools don't have choir or orchestras... Some are VERY academic and they do musicals and such but no individual competitions. I did solo and ensemble every year starting in 7th grade as well as all-state choir.. I just don't know how she could participate in something like that.. Texas does not allow it for homeschoolers. </p>

<p>She has attended the Annie Moses Fine art camp for the past 2 years and we will go again in another week.</p>

<p>So, am I overlooking something? I have 4 more years before she starts high school. How should she prepare?</p>

2

<p>Sounds like you are already doing a lot for them. In our area, most of the top violinists and pianists are homeschooled, even though we have really good public schools here. It gives them more time to practice. They are the ones winning the concerto competitions, sitting principal in the (really good) youth orchestra. In our state, home schooled kids can partipate in All-State band and orchestra, so there are a number of homeschooled students there too.</p>

<p>Make sure they get out to hear the symphony play and hear some great music. The teacher of course is very important. Play in youth orchestras. You could add in concerto competitions. That’s where they’ll meet the best players in the US.</p>

<p>Also, for the one entering high school, send her to some top music camps in the summers. Others on this board here will know which camps to recommmend for her instruments(s).</p>

3

<p>Read into the state and school district rights you may have as a taxpayer, too. Here in our school district in Michigan, homeschoolers have the right to be enrolled for the elective classes of their choosing, even if they opt not to enroll for the academics. My daughter has a couple friends at her middle school that are only there two hours per day for electives. I imagine that qualifies them for S&E, etc.</p>

4

<p>If SFA is close to you, check with their music department as to what would be available on all fronts as to all of the children. Just a note - this is not a political board or a board in which to wail on public education (that’s what parent’s cafe is for), so IMO the paragraph as to why in your opinion the public schools in your area are woeful is inappropriate for this forum.</p>

5

<p>In Texas you cannot participate in any UIL events unless you are in a public school. Period. (They have tried several bills to change this, but a lot of homeschool people were even opposed because right now Texas has NO homeschool regulation and they were afraid their rights would be limited. I would give up a few rights to participate!!! Oh well. There is a private school league that allows homeschool participation, but the closest member school is over an hour away.</p>

6

<p>My daughter has not found the all-regional and all-state band/orchestras to be all that beneficial, even though she does attend public school and can participate. When she did it in 9th grade, she was surprised that players with poor tone quality were advanced. In talking with her band director, we realized that often the judges were made up of people who sometimes didn’t even play the instrument they were adjudicating. Plus, the audition process could take up an entire day. Then at the end, she didn’t really like the music chosen at All-State. So, she doesn’t audition any more. She has found participation in concerto competitions to be much more beneficial. So, if your kids can participate in it in your state, that’s great, but if not, I don’t think they’re missing much, if you can get them involved in other music activities.</p>

7

<p>Your D is still pretty young and it is good she already is exposed to the music she is, that is already a great start. A lot of music parents homeschool their kids as woodwinds said (raising hand), especially once they get serious, because the time spent in school plus the homework makes practicing extremely difficult (some kids do, bless them, not sure how they do it) even if the schools are good. My son was going to a top notch private school and ended up homeschooling because it just was too time consuming, plus friction with the school’s music director. From my perspective (and that is all it is, my opinion) if the local schools don’t work for you homeschooling is a good alternative, especially if she chooses to get serious about music (with my S it started right after 6th grade ended), and as you seem to already know homechoolers often do as well or better then kids in traditional schools…and as I and woodwinds noted, having the flexibility of online schooling is a godsend (my son is in an online accredited high school program a lot of music kids have used, he can take courses one at a time and finish them at his own pace and can do the work when he wants to). </p>

<p>I have heard the arguments about homeschooling, the socialization factor and so forth, and I personally am very dubious about that one. Thanks to music my son is constantly socializing with kids, making friends, and people constantly comment on how socially adept he is, yet he has been homeschooled since 7th grade. As long as your D interacts with other kids, through church programs, music, maybe hobbies or groups like girl scouts and/or makes friends locally (I realize it is different in a more rural area), she will be fine IMO.</p>

<p>It sounds like you have a resource with SFA prep and that is a good thing, most of the prep programs tend to be very motivating for the kids (I don’t know SFA’s program at all, have heard things saying it s good), and it sounds like she has a good teacher, which is really important. The big thing at that age is showing support and encouragement, whichever way she wants to go. If she can get into the prep program (I assume that has what my son does in his program, i.e where you have lessons, chamber groups, orchestra , theory and so forth) when she is old enough that would be a major thing for her I think, you generally are talking fairly high level students there, and while not all will be stellar, she prob will run into some top kids who will motivate her. I tend to agree with Woowinds assessment and such, the playing level there may not be as good as you would think, in my area all state tends to be kids from public high school music programs , for example, and they generally don’t have the top level kids, because they tend to end up in the pre college prep programs. I realize she might not even be eligible (in NJ the all state choir simply required sponsorship, could be school or for example a church where the director was a member), but I believe with the orchestra programs you had to be in a public school. </p>

<p>Other things that I think are great prep for a potential music student is to listen to as much music as possible (you should see what my itunes bill looks like, and it isn’t me:), thinks like spotify allow listening to music, plus you tube has some fanastic performance videos, plus orchestras often stream stuff as well. If you guys can get to live performances at all, of chamber and orchestral music, at SFA or other places, that can be valuable, too. Libraries often have music scores you can check out, or online resources like IMSLP (I think that is its name) have online scores of public domain music that as she gets older are cool to read and such. </p>

<p>I realize, especially living in a rural area, that it is harder for you then where there is a lot, as in my area, but it if she shows an inkling towards doing music it is worth the effort. At my son’s program there are people who drive ridiculous amounts to get them to the program each saturday (I am talking people driving 4, 5 or more hours one way), or even flying in from far away parts of the country (which I personally find a bit ridiculous, as there are great programs a lot closer to where these people live), but they do it because finding those opportunities is important:). I think the biggest gift is encouraging them and trying to share their passion (hard, when as my S would say when he was younger about myself and my wife, “you just aren’t musicians” <em>lol</em>), that goes a long way, and the rest is all the craziness of driving them, hanging out waiting and so forth:)</p>