Free Online Piano Lessons 4 Kids ~With Lesson Materials Giveaway!

Are you looking for a great way to teach your kids piano from home?  I was contacted recently by the website Free Piano Lessons 4 Kids to do a review on their site. They have 56 FREE video piano lessons for kids.  There is no catch & no obligation to buy anything, they are just there for free.  The teacher, Joseph Hoffman, has put all of this together because he loves music and wants more people to be able to learn to play.

We have been working our way through the lessons and are now about halfway through them. My son really loves doing the lessons and will often do more than one in a sitting. I have liked seeing what he is learning along the way and have been very impressed with these lessons!

These piano lessons are meant to be a full music instructional program- the same that you could get from a regular teacher.  They start right from the beginning, so you don't need to have any previous experience. 

Here are some of the things taught in the lessons:

• Correct playing technique, posture and hand position

• How to read and write notes on the grand staff (treble clef and bass clef)

• How to read, write, and perform rhythms

• How to listen to music and to dictate melodies

• How to improvise and compose your own songs

• The basics of music theory, including chords, key signatures, and more!

Along with the free video lessons, they also sell downloadable lesson materials and a practice CD in their store.   I received these to review along with using the videos. The lessons sell for $23.95, but are currently on sale for just $19.  The CD is on sale for $8 (down from $12).  

What is included in the lesson plans?  There is a worksheet or activity for each one of the lessons with materials to increase learning. There are printable music sheets, games, music note cards, and lots of other fun activities.  I feel like these lesson materials really improve upon the already great lessons. It is definitely worth the purchase- especially considering the cost of regular piano lessons!

The Practice CD is designed to be used along with the you kids' practice sessions. It has accompaniment tracks of the songs they learn in the lessons to help them keep the beat and to encourage improvisation, too. 

They have graciously offered to give away THREE copies of the lesson materials and listening CD's!  I am happy to be able to host this giveaway for you guys!  I feel like music is such an important thing in this world and would love to help someone else to include it in their lives.

Here is the first lesson on their site:

Enter the giveaway with the form below. Thanks for stopping by & best of luck!!

Entry-Form

Spill the Beans- a Math Game Printable

I made a simple & fun math game for my kids to practice addition or multiplication. It's called Spill the Beans. I have a copy to share with you below.   To play, you need to print a game board. I laminated mine, but you don't have to. You need 2 or 3 dried beans, paper & pencil, and a small cup.  

To play, place the beans in the cup. and dump them onto the game board. Whatever 2 numbers they land on, you add or multiply them together.  Then you subtract the total of that number from 50.  Each player takes a turn and you continue to subtract from 50 until someone reaches zero first.

Print your copy HERE. (directions are included in the file)

Why Homeschool? Guest Post Series- Selena

Today we are lucky to hear from Selena sharing her thoughts about why she is homeschooling her children.  If you are interested in writing a post for this series, check out the Guest Post page for more details & a submission form. You do not have to be a blogger to participate. 

Passing Along a Homeschooling Legacy

The most valuable reason to homeschool (for me) is to pass on an educational legacy to my children. I'm a homeschooling graduate myself and I've seen firsthand how the personal attention and time I received during my schooling has served me well in my family and career. I can think of no better reason to homeschool my children than to give them the same opportunity. When I think of the value of a homeschooling tradition, one advantage stands out to me more than all others: 

A homeschooling legacy helps children feel proud of their education.

One of the biggest problems that plagues homeschooled children is the feeling that there's something strange about their lives. Many kids who aren't educated in public school feel that they're misfits who don't fit in. Comments from family members or friends who don't support our decision to homeschool can easily make our children feel like they're missing out on what "normal" kids are doing. Over time, this can cause them to lose interest in their schoolwork, resent our efforts to teach them, and eventually rebel against our decision to educate them at home.

If kids are part of a family that values a homeschooling tradition, though, this feeling rarely affects them. Instead of feeling out of place, they can come to appreciate their unique education and the opportunities it offers. How can we encourage our children to value their homeschooling legacy? 

We can do this by helping them understand the advantages of their education. I'm not talking about the fact that they don't have to sit at a desk for six hours a day or the fact that they probably get unlimited recess. I'm talking about helping our kids truly understand the high quality of their home education. To do this, we have to make learning interesting and meaningful to them by showing them why their lessons matter and how they can use them in their lives. 

Why do we homeschool? There are several reasons that factor into our decision, but our overall desire to give our children an educational experience they can value for life is what helps us stick to our choice to be a homeschooling family.

Selena blogs about her family's homeschooling adventures at Look! We're Learning! every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. You can subscribe by email or follow along with Look! We're Learning! on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.

Share It Saturday

Hey everyone! I am happy to be back with you all for another week. 

You are the ones who make this party successful week after week. 

Thanks!

Here are this week's features:

Easy Tree Snack for Kids from Fantastic Fun and Learning

Felt Board Tadeo Turtle from He Cares For You

Creating Art With Non-Traditional Tools from Gummy Lump

Mr. Picasso Flowers from Rubber Boots and Elf Shoes

Fairy Houses from There's Just One Mommy

Color Bath Fun from Seedlings Nursery School

Share it Saturday is co-hosted by Golden Grasses and Sugar Aunts. 

These posts will be pinned to the Share It Saturday Pinterest Board! 

(Are you following it yet?)

Spring Learning & Play Day 5- Homemade Bird Feeders

It's the final day of our Spring Learning & Play Blog Hop! Thanks to each one of you who have share ideas this week. I have loved visiting your blogs and checking them out.

Be sure to visit the other days in the series to see the rest of the wonderful ideas shared!
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday

From True Aim Education:  Walk This Way  (How cute is he?)



And my post for today:

We made some fun homemade bird feeders recently.
The kids and I loved doing this together!

We made ours with birdseed and gelatin. In a large bowl, pour in 1/2 c. cold water and then sprinkle in 2 packages of unflavored gelatin.  Let it sit for about 5 minutes.  Then pour in 1 3/4 c. Hot water and 3 c. of birdseed.  We also added in 1 c. of raisins. Pour them into molds that you can easily remove the seed mixture from- it gets very stuck!  I tried 2 different molds- mini bundt pans and some heart cookie pans. The bundt pans did not come out at all!  In the heart ones, we made a little hole in the center to thread some yarn through.

I hope you are enjoying this beautiful Spring with your families!

Linking to these parties.

Spring Learning & Play Day 4

We are in our fourth day of our Spring Learning & Play Blog Hop & I have been so impressed with all that has been shared this week. Today will not disappoint you either. We have a great line-up of ideas. Take a minute or two to visit their sites and see their full posts. 

From Sugar Aunts: Spring Nature Hunt Flower Craft

From No Doubt Learning: Are Birds Picky Eaters?

From Bow of Bronze: Spring Learning Through Outdoor Exploration

From Craft to Art: Pipe Cleaner/Fuzzy Stick Flowers

Check out the previous posts in the series:

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Spring Learning & Play Day 3

We are half way through the week now and I am just loving all of the wonderful Spring posts that you guys are sharing!  If you have missed the first two posts in the series, be sure to check them out here: Day 1, Day 2. 

Inspiration Laboratories shared a post about Flower Print Art

Farm Fresh Adventures posted a Spring Scavenger Hunt and Nature Study

Wildflower Ramblings shared a post called Paint a Pot, Plant a Plant

From Montessori Tidbits- Pressing Flower Tips

Still to come from these great bloggers: 

 Thursday

Kitchen Counter Chronicles ~ No Doubt Learning

~ Sugar Aunts~ Craft to Art ~ From a Country Road

Friday

Rainy Day Mum ~ Creative Playhouse ~ Scribble Doodle and Draw

~ True Aim Education ~ Good Work Academy 

Spring Learning & Play Day 2

Today we have some more great ideas for our Spring Learning & Play Blog Hop! If you missed yesterday's post, see it HERE.

Preschool Powol Packets posted a great post about Land Art with some great ideas to create art in nature!

Artchoo posted this lovely Tape Resist Flower Project. I love how it turned out!

From the Pleasantest Thing: Sensory Spring Water Table  
This is such a cute idea! Her kids look so engaged.

Smiling Like Sunshine posted 6 Children's Books about Spring


Thanks to all of them for sharing their wonderful posts with us!


Here is what's coming the rest of the week:

Wednesday

Growing Green Fingered Kids ~  Inspiration Laboratories
~ Montessori Tidbits ~Wildflower Ramblings ~Farm Fresh Adventures

 Thursday

Kitchen Counter Chronicles ~ No Doubt Learning
~ Sugar Aunts~ Craft to Art ~ From a Country Road

Friday

Rainy Day Mum ~ Creative Playhouse ~ Scribble Doodle and Draw
~ True Aim Education ~ Good Work Academy 

Schoolhouse Review~ Spanish For You!

We have been studying Spanish in our homeschool for several years in various ways. I am always happy to try out a new Spanish curriculum. Lately we have been using a new one called Spanish For You! a themed curriculum for grades 3-8 created by Debbie Annett.  This program is meant to be used 4 days a week and teaches vocabulary, grammar, verb conjugation, and pronunciation (with audio files).  The program is very easy to use and can be done with multiple kids/grade levels at once. It can be purchased in a book or e-book format. 

Each curriculum package comes with: 

24-30 week lesson guide

Worksheets & answers

Audio files of the entire book

Printable flashcards with pictures

Teacher lesson plans (sold separately)

You can purchase the full package for $64.95 for grades 3-8 or you can buy the grades separately for just $39.95. The teacher lesson plans are an additional cost of $12.95-$14.95. 

The curriculum comes in themed packages.  There are currently 2 different ones Fiestas & Estaciones (the links have samples for you to look at). But she is working on creating more. We received & reviewed the Fiestas curriculum. This one teaches all about different parties and celebrations. The celebration themes included are: Birthday Parties, The Day of the Dead, Carnival, Holy Week, and April Fair. You are learning about the celebrations common in Spanish countries along with learning vocabulary, so it is also a great culture lesson.

The curriculum comes with many ideas for games and activities to reinforce the learning. Click here to see lots of these ideas for free. We loved using these fun ideas to practice our vocabulary!  She also has a bunch of free mini lessons available on her site. 

We used the curriculum 3-4 times each week as was recommended. The lessons are simple to follow and fun to learn. I really liked that she taught verb conjugation from the beginning.  It is great to help kids learn how to really converse in Spanish and hopefully reach fluency sooner!  The lessons covered a lot of information. The themes are a fun way to learn. What kid doesn't want to learn about a birthday party?!   

I was impressed with the quality of the materials, however, I felt the lessons moved a little slowly for us. It stayed on the same topics for a LONG time. My son really wanted to move on much sooner than the lesson plan said to do so. So, we skipped ahead after a few lessons. We have been doing Spanish for a while, though. If you are just starting out, you may feel differently. I liked having the audio files so I knew that we were pronouncing everything correctly. I also love that it is adaptable for all grades at once- this is great for homeschoolers.  I am glad we had the chance to try this out- it is a great addition to our language studies!

Spring Learning and Play Blog Hop- Homemade Wind Vane

Hey everyone! I am excited this week to share with you the Spring Learning and Play Blog Hop.  Each day we have several bloggers sharing their Spring ideas with you. You can also link up your own spring posts each day.


Today I have a couple of great posts to share with you from some awesome bloggers! Make sure to stop by and see their full posts.

From Life With Moore Babies: Pipe Cleaner Bubble Wands
These are SO cute & I know my kids would love this project. Stop by her site to see how to make them.

From Royal Baloo: Alphabet Hopscotch
This is such a fun idea to help with alphabet learning!

From Nature and Play: Exploring Spring With Flowers From the Garden

And my idea today is a homemade wind vane.

We had fun learning how to track which direction the wind is blowing. I actually got this set from the Magic School Bus science kits that we have been getting this year, which are a lot of fun.  But it is so simple to make that  I wanted to share!

Supplies to make it:
a small piece of clay, a straw, cardstock, a wooden skewer and some tape.

You need 2 double headed arrows cut from cardstock labeled E & W, N & S.  Then you will need one more single sided arrow.

Stick the dowel into the clay. Punch holes in the middle of each double headed arrow and slide them both onto the skewer. Slide the straw onto the top. Tape the other arrow to the top of the straw.

Take your wind vane outside and adjust the bottom arrows to point in the correct direction.
(N-S-E-W)  The wind will blow the top arrow and point in the wind is blowing!

You could do this to track the wind direction for a few days & record your results.

Here are the list of participants for the rest of the week.

Tuesday

The Pleasantest Thing ~  Artchoo  ~ Smiling like Sunshine ~  Preschool Powol Packets 

Wednesday

Growing Green Fingered Kids ~  Inspiration Laboratories
~ Montessori Tidbits ~Wildflower Ramblings ~Farm Fresh Adventures

 Thursday

Kitchen Counter Chronicles ~ No Doubt Learning
~ Sugar Aunts~ Craft to Art ~ From a Country Road

Friday

Rainy Day Mum ~ Creative Playhouse ~ Scribble Doodle and Draw
~ True Aim Education ~ Good Work Academy 

If you have any recent Spring related posts, feel free to link them up below!