Musically inclined I am not. But, I do want my kids to learn about music – both how to read music, and how to appreciate it. That’s why I was so excited for the chance to review
Music Appreciation Book 2: for the Middle Grades from Zeezok Publishing. They had the opportunity to learn about famous musicians, listen to their music, and dive into some musical concepts. Without me having to piecemeal something together.
That’s important for me as a busy homsechooling mom. Because music isn’t my forte, this is not a subject I would have wanted to teach without a curriculum. So it was very nice to just open the book and run with it. No random Google searches. No trying to figure out which songs to select. Just a well-laid-out curriculum that was simple to use
What Is Music Appreciation Book 2: for the Middle Grades?
When I first heard about this product, I was expecting a book. I was shocked by what it contained:
I received the readers and the Student Activity Book. Not pictured here is one additional reader, Peter Tchaikovsky and the Nutcracker Suite. This was sent digitally, as an eBook.
As students dive into the Student Activity Book, it directs them which reader to read. It also provides activities, and QR codes to easily scan and listen to music, see additional online information, and further their studies.
The Student Book
The heart of the program, The Student Book ties everything together. It walks students through the whole curriculum. I love that it was written in student-centered language. Everything was clear and easy to follow.
Designed for students in middle school, my son who is just entering fifth grade, was definitely on the young end of the spectrum. He struggled a bit with the reading and writing, so I adapted some of the materials for him.
He really enjoyed using the camera on my phone to scan the QR codes and seeing what popped up. These are scattered throughout the book, like this:
When the QR code is scanned, you can open a website with additional information. There were some great YouTube videos linked in this book.
I really appreciate the focus on comprehension. The Student Book has comprehension for each chapter of each reader that students read. Here is a quick peek:
Since writing is an area where my son struggles, I acted as his scribe. I made him practice answering questions in complete sentences.
There were also several activities woven into the book, and journal prompts. There were so many things to do! I had my student pick a few for each chapter to do.
Musical Instruction
To truly appreciate something, students need to have some understanding. This book provided much in-depth instruction on musical concepts. I learned quite a bit about music, just in the past few weeks while we reviewed this.
The Readers
Written at the perfect level for readers in the middle grades, the Zeezok Readers are impressive. They have simple black and white illustrations that correlate to the text. They are in chapter format, with about 150 pages.
How Did We Use This Product?
Over the pat several weeks, we have been regularly using this product. I work through it with my son, though I can see this being a great independent study for the right kiddos. You’d just have to check to make sure they were doing the activities and tests.
Since I knew we weren’t going to get through multiple books in the review portion, I asked each of my kids to scroll through the activities and pick something fun to do. They complied! ,
Our favorite activities involved cooking. There was one recipe in particular that turned out delicious. It was for the Richard Wagner book, and was a German recipe. We made raisin buns as a family!
Cooking is a fun way to get the whole family involved. We used the QR scans to listen to classical music while we baked.
What Did We Think of This Product?
I really enjoyed the opportunity to review this set from Zeezok Publishing. It was so nice having a resource put together for me, that I could just open and run with. There was very little prep work required on my part.
The cooking was fun. The kids learned a lot about music.
And it was fun to see their brains take it all in. I want my kids to exceed my musical abilities, so I’m thankful that we got to try this product out. We will definitely keep using it, as we build musical appreciation in our house.
What did my son think?
“I liked using the phone on the little black box things. There was a video of a person conducting that I liked. It made me think of what Pastor does when he leads music at church!”
Here’s the page with that information on it:
If you’re looking for a resource to help teach musical contents and has hand-on components, I highly recommend Zeezok publishing.
I was one of several reviewers for this product. To see how it worked for other homeschooling families, please click the banner below.
