LOVE NOTES FROM HOMESCHOOLING MOMS JUST LIKE YOU
I’m a stay-at-home mother who has homeschooled in the past, but now has children in public school and homeschools as supplementation to their public education. My eldest son has always wanted to take piano lessons, but we live in a rural area, and probably couldn’t afford a private tutor even if we found one who would come out to the house to give lessons. Because “Teach Your Child Piano” offered a solution to that problem, I jumped at the opportunity to use this program designed for parents who do not know how to teach piano lessons. I did play the flute in middle school, but I didn’t even remember how to read music when we started the lessons. This program reminded me (and allowed me to teach my son) how to read music. To me, that was the most important thing that we learned together. Of course, it was very rewarding for me to watch my son play the piano with both hands at the same time, while reading sheet music. His favorite parts of the course were actually playing the songs and doing the worksheets provided. He was thrilled to actually be playing songs; not just by ear with one finger as he had been doing before we started, but with both hands, correctly, and while sight reading music on a page. I highly recommend this program to full-time or part-time homeschoolers. It is a useful tool in broadening your child’s musical knowledge and a practical guide to teaching your child to play the piano or keyboard. “Teach Your Child Piano” has greatly enriched our lives. I am so grateful to the creator(s) of this program. Thank you so much for this wonderful opportunity. My son and I have thoroughly enjoyed learning to play piano together.
Before we started Teach your Child Piano my child had never played any type of instrument, she did not know how to read music and the prospect of me trying to teach her an instrument that I didn’t even know how to play myself seemed impossible.
I love this course because we did it together at home. It gave me step by step instructions on how to teach my daughter how to play the piano in just a few minutes each day using fun games, worksheets, and flash cards to help reinforce the simple lessons. It’s broken down into small steps that helped us to understand each concept and then move on at our own pace.
My daughter loved that from the very first lesson she was playing a real songs on the piano, rather than just boring scales. With each lesson her confidence grew along with her musical understanding. After using this program for just a few weeks she has been able to slowly begin to sight read other simple songs on her own, leaving her feeling accomplished.
Living in a rural area, private lessons are not easily accessible and they are quite costly. Teach Your Child Piano made it possible for me to teach my daughter to play the piano in the comfort of our own home on our own schedule.
Teach Your Child Piano provided us the ability to learn a new skill together, so that I am no longer just teacher to her student. She could see that I was learning right along with her, I think it has brought us closer together in addition to giving us both a new skill that we enjoy.
I would highly recommend this course for anyone regardless of musical background who wants to teach their child to play the piano.
I took piano lessons briefly as a child, but struggled to learn it at all and was never able to learn to sight read music. My son is seven years old and had no prior musical instruction before taking this class.
The best part about the class is the graduated way that it teaches fingering and notes with games and other activities. My son absolutely loves playing the songs, and enjoyed the challenges as the songs became more difficult over the weeks. My son began to take time without me reminding him to practice within the first couple of weeks, and is asking for more music now. He is eager to continue learning music.
My son is very proud of the fact that he has already learned to read music. The way the class is structured has allowed us to do all the work at home, without needing to travel anywhere or find an instructor. I had no difficulty teaching him the material, and have actually learned quite a bit myself!
I would definitely recommend this class to other parents who are looking for a home based instruction program!
I’m a homeschooling mom of seven, with a very limited musical background—I took a single piano course in college because I needed the humanities credit! But, despite my lack of knowledge, I knew that I wanted my children to know more about music than I did. I just didn’t know how to teach it.
I heard about Karen’s class, and it sounded like a great fit for my family. I decided to have my six-year old daughter go through it first, as she was the most interested in learning to play.
I loved that this course started with the assumption that I didn’t know anything about music. It provided the framework I needed to feel successful. I also loved that a variety of learning methods were provided. My daughter loved the games, but there were also worksheets and videos. The weekly lesson plans were complete, and I never questioned what I should be doing next.
I’ll be going through the material again with a couple of my other kids. I appreciate the fact that I’m saving money on private music lessons! I’d definitely recommend this course to other homeschooling moms. It gave me confidence to teach a subject I personally don’t have much experience with.
Before the Teach Your Child Piano prgram, I had basic music knowledge. I played flute and my husband played clarinet in the junior high band 20 years ago. We knew how to read music on the treble clef, but had absolutely no clue how to teach it. Our four year old Jack had no music education, beyond exposure to various instruments and listening to music. He had no knowledge of rhythm and playing an instrument consisted of banging on the keyboard or drums as loud and hard as he could.
Despite our limited music background and his young age, we experienced success immediately. Jack loved that he could color and play games during “piano time”. He also loved that almost immediately he was abe to play a song he recognized. I loved that the program is laid out ready for me to present and I’m not having to take time to build curriculum myself. I also love that we’ve been able to teach and practice really anywhere. We’ve snuggled in bed and colored, we’ve played games in the car, and we’ve practiced piano in hotel rooms.
The teach your child piano program has been such a blessing for us. Having three kids so close in age we’ve stressed about the cost of private lessons for them. We’ve also worried about the logistics. How do you commit to lessons and provide the consistency and schedule needed to succeed when you travel often? This program has taken care of our concerns. The cost is reasonable, especially since the material can be used for all of our kids, and we are only limited by our imagination as to where we can practice at. It’s also created this amazing bond between Jack and myself. We have time we spend together daily and an activity that his siblings don’t participate in. Lastly, it has given me a confidence boost as a stay at home and teacher. I always worry about providing enough experiences and knowledge to my children. Music is the area I really struggled with. It’s not like most people pick up playing an instrument in their thirties and gain enough knowledge to then teach that instrument. I also knew private lessons simply were not in the cards, but music education was important. The teach your child piano course has given me the tools and knowledge needed to provide music lessons and education to my kids. It has alleviated my worries of providing “enough” in areas where my own knowledge is limited yet I feel the education is important.
I’d like to give you a huge thank from far Italy. I’m originally from Poland but I moved to Sicily in far 2004 to live with my Sicilian husband. We run familiar bed&breakfast close to Taormina, Etna and the sea and we love to travel. We are also acting as a homeschooler family and choose what is best for our 5 years old son.
I was very curious when I heard about this course for the first time: will it be really the good time I will finally learn how to use piano and how to read and play music?? Once upon a time.. when I was young it was my wish but it couldn’t be.. after many years I have opportunity for me and my child to experience it.
Wooow!
I was taking part of people that had never touched piano before, nor been musically prepared. Starting from ZERO I was following literally all Karen’s videos and materials. The lessons were clear and practical in all their parts – the language was easy to understand for me as a foreigner. As for my child – an almost 5-years old boy – without any previous preparation he was surprisingly brave and patient in improving the technique and exercising. He enjoyed a lot the games and playing and singing new songs which remained him even now after terminating the course I think we generally are coming back to the times when music took part of basic everybody’s knowledge and as it’s culture heritage and without frontiers should be taught from the very young age.
Speaking about it as a gate to something huge the Piano Lessons is for sure a fantastic beginning and first step in the music journey. Maybe my boy will be enthusiast of drums or guitar later on, but definitely I can say now we are able to read the musical notes and are good prepared which is really cool, and I feel extremely happy speaking about it to people, that we are making an on-line musical piano course with a teacher from the other part of the globe We did it and we did it together!!! it’s wonderful I’m providing those huge musical basis to my child by my own! such a kind of course is is the best way of monitoring the progresses of your child.
After we tried this program and they are more relax in their learning approach as that it is ok for them to learn it with number first and then moved to the notes slowly and Karen has made the program so much fun for them that I can not believe that my children are loving the theory of music!
This course has saved us money and time of having to travel from home to piano lessons and back, as well as my sanity having to pack my 5 children in the car.
As a mom and teacher to my children, I now have the confidence and the joy of seeing my children flourish through the program and they want to practise because it is doable for them to do without my supervision after 2 or 3 practises of the songs.
I would definitely recommend this program and you can go at your own pace, and it will save you mental sanity and financially it’s more affordable!
Thank you Karen for providing such a great program for my children to love learning music!
Let me start by letting you know we are just starting week three of the six week course and I have already learned so much. After watching the instructional videos I actually feel confident enough to teach my kids. I know what each key is on the keyboard and my kids do too. That alone is really exciting to me. My girls both can play one song and are really trying to learn next. Personally I like the second song presented. (This helps since two little people are singing it a lot of the day in my house now and let me tell you, it is a big improvement on their last favorite song. But we’ll just “let it go”) My girls like being introduced to the new songs, and really enjoy the games. It showed today when we had a guest playing around on the keyboard and my three year old proceeded to show her where all the “c”s were located. I’d like to add that the course was suppose to be presented to one child at a time, but as anyone with a little sister knows, they will not be left out. And it is easy enough to include her.
The games and worksheets are geared toward early elementary but could easily be tweaked for my non writer. As I look at the upcoming lessons I can’t help but feel a little intimidated by all the material presented but I also felt that way looking at weeks one and two. And, after watching the video and reading the comprehensive lesson plans we have done so far, I feel more like the expert my kids think I am. I can’t wait to get further in the program, not only so the kids can learn more, but so I can too. I would highly recommend this program to other homeschoolers, or really anyone considering piano class. I could recommend it for all the reasons mentioned above but I will recommend it for the fantastic support I’ve received though out the course. This is a quality course by it self, but what makes it better is how Karen practically holds my hand with every video and lesson plan. Every little silly question I’ve had so far has been answered if not in the videos, then by Karen herself. My family is lucky to have found such a fantastic and fun set of piano lessons
This course has been awesome! I’m so glad we did it. I feel much more confident about teaching him piano, especially since this course has given him such a great foundation to build on. And in only 6 weeks!
The best thing about the course is how easy it is to follow. All the instructions are very clear and the layout very efficient. I never had any trouble understanding what I needed to do to teach my son.
My son loved the games and worksheets. They were fun for him and they helped keep him engaged in the lessons, even when the information started getting more challenging for him.
I HIGHLY recommend this course. It really is so easy to teach and it covers such a surprising amount of information. It’s just FANTASTIC!
Unfortunately, due to financial and time constrains, formal music training has never been in our curriculum. In addition, I never took more than very basic music classes in elementary school, so I didn’t think I had the ability or confidence to teach my children piano. All that changed with the Teach Your Child Piano program. When I received the program, I noticed it was very well laid out with clear instructions, games, flashcards, activities and videos. Karen Cadera was very personable, encouraging and clear in her videos and in no time at all my kids were actually playing piano! When I think of all the money and time we saved by doing this at home I feel so grateful to Karen for putting this program together. I just wish I had found this sooner! My kids continue to play the piano now and little by little they’re learning more and getting better. Thank you for the program Karen and helping our kids get a strong music foundation they can use for the rest of their lives!
My daughter was excited to start the piano lessons and remained excited during the entire course. Initially, she did not use the worksheets as she felt they were too easy. However, we decided to watch the instructional videos together and she enjoyed that as well as when I sat down and taught her lessons as Karen had instructed.
Karen did a wonderful job breaking down each lesson and making it easy to understand and teach my daughter. I enjoyed the weeks when a video would explain what we would be going over for the week. I found that to be the most helpful.
I also enjoyed the variety of music the course provided as practice music. I never dreamed my daughter would be able to play “One Love” by Bob Marley. That actually became her favorite song to play.
The schedule provided during the course was great. We find ourselves extremely busy throughout the weeks but knowing that no more than 30 minutes a day needed to be allotted towards piano lessons made my daughter and I more amenable to practice.
We did find ourselves at a bit of a hiccup when it came to the reading music lesson. It’s no secret that this may be the most difficult part in learning any musical instrument. The great thing is that since the course started out a bit easier, it allowed my daughter to develop a true interest in learning music and she was happy to continue to learn..
I would recommend this course to all my friends with younger children. It has allowed my daughter to discover playing an instrument she never even thought of learning about before. She now comes home and plays on her own, even when without me telling her too.
I hope you too can find so much joy and excitement as you see your child learn for the first time the beauty of the sounds and songs that they can learn to make. As you both discover the pattern and learn to read notes and find rhythm, your child’s mind will open up to a wonderful world of music. I believe that all can experience this through teach your child piano programme. I highly recommend that you try it, it’s been such a blessing to my family.
My 11-year-old son had music while in public school. He was not able to read music, but was familiar with some aspects of it. He loves music and wanted to learn to play the piano so he can play his favorite Star Wars music!
I wanted to give both of my children piano lessons to help foster the love of music. I’ve also read that learning music has positive affects on the brain. With having a single income, private lessons were not an option – especially because I wasn’t sure if the piano would keep their interest or if they’d enjoy it. Having the opportunity to use Teach Your Child Piano was exactly what we needed!
I loved the flexibility of the program. I wasn’t running children back and forth to lessons. When we were ready to work on music, we did. If we weren’t ready, we didn’t. I also loved that I was learning (or re-learning) as he was learning. I now can read music WAY better than I did as a child! Just that, excites me!
The program is simple and straight-forward. I was able to read through the lessons ahead of time and quickly turn around and explain it to my son. The first few weeks of worksheets were a little ‘young’ for him, so I had to make some minor adjustments to keep his interest. As the lessons went on, his interest was re-peaked and he was fully engaged. Not only is he able to play the songs in the class, he is absolutely thrilled that he can now play The Jedi Theme.
This program was wonderful for many reasons. We were able to work at a pace that fit our schedule and my daughter’s specific learning needs. This program allowed us to work together to learn music and to learn to listen for the correct notes and to fix them when the wrong note was played. I was incredibly impressed that after only 5 weeks of work my daughter was reading music better than I could and had the confidence to correct me when I said a note wrong.
This course showed me that I could teach my daughter subjects that I am not confident. It also gave us the opportunity to step out of our comfort zones to try something new. This program is great for homeschooling families as it gives the flexibility to work on off times or with multiple age groups. I am so thankful that we went through this program. It has been so much fun and such a great experience.
I grew up in a musical family. Everyone seemed to have their “niche” when it came to music. I enjoyed it, but never fully learned to read music or write it like my elder sister did. The passion was there, just not the classes to support it.
My son, Liam is six years old and had never played an instrument, but showed interest and curiosity in a piano that had recently been given to me by a friend, I knew this was my chance to teach him something that could change his life and mine as well.
we are part way through with this course and I am absolutely thrilled about it! My most favorite part about the course is the videos that come each week. The videos make me feel empowered by Karen that I, all by myself with no tutor, can teach my child this without the background in piano normally necessary, that I would have all the tools to succeed. She Gave me a boost of confidence to teach my child something amazing that he and myself will remember forever.
Liam’s favorite part is the songs that are chosen each week to play. Like “One Love” by Bob Marley. He will hum them all day long. Liam and I get to learn together, which is very special to me. It is something that is enriching both of our lives, it is amazing to sit back and watch it happen! It works! We call this “Music Appreciation” in our home school. It is Liam’s favorite class to do. How cool is that?! I had no idea that I was capable of teaching Liam to play the piano.
This course has helped me so much, we recently had a military move, and usually there is a lot of change that happens with a military move, but having me be the teacher was a constant for Liam. I was able to continue with the lessons even with the move. No new teacher, it was ready for us soon as our piano arrived in the new house. In the meantime while we waited for our household goods to arrive, we were able to play the games from the prior week and practice with the flash cards.
I would highly recommend this course to any family, home schooled or not. You can do this! It’s easily broken down into bite sized pieces so that you don’t get overwhelmed with information. It is easy to grasp. Anyone can do it. To give your child the gift of music, is the best gift you can give.
Being able to use this course and teach my children at home, with confidence, has been inspiring for me. The way Karen explains each step has been instrumental in the success I’ve had teaching my 5 year old son how to play. Every step is clear and understandable. My son has enjoyed the course from the start and he has been able to remember all the notes we’ve learned. He likes showing family and friends his piano skills. I also tried the course with my 9 year old son and one of the things I like about this program is the ability to go at each child’s pace. My younger son learned slower and my older son progressed faster through the program. My success teaching both boys makes me finally feel that I am capable of giving my children a good start in understanding music. I recommend this course to anyone who is interested in learning how to play piano.
We had no musical knowledge before this course and was nervous of it to start with, but as we are into home education we are always up for a challenge. We liked the idea of the course as there was no pressure to have to be at a lesson at a certain time or be in a certain place, we could practice and take the lessons any time we wanted. My girls felt like there was no pressure to do the course and therefore wanted to do it rather than have to do it. The course has helped me as a home educator to explore new things and also made me realise I’m not too old to learn either. I never knew my one daughter (10) was so musical, she has taken to it like a duck to water.
Not only would I recommend this course to other home edder’s and children but to anyone who would like to learn the piano no matter what your age.
Thank you Karen Xx
My husband plays the guitar and I sing but we do not have experience with the piano other than the month of lessons I had as a child. So we needed Karen’s more hands on approach. The material is broken down just like a reading or math lesson I would do at home. You start by introducing new material and then practice with games, flash cards, and songs throughout the week.
I highly recommend the Teach Your Child Piano program for homeschool parents! We include it in our schedule now and it’s apart of our day. I never thought I would be able to teach my child piano! We are learning how to read music, play songs, and navigate the piano in just a few minutes a day. Last night we got home late and my daughter asked, “We aren’t going to skip piano tonight are we mom? I need to practice so I can be better than you!”
One of the biggest struggles being a homeschooling mom is the loss of my income. It is difficult to get by being a single income family so private lessons were out of the question and I am glad. I feel so proud of myself for teaching my daughter and learning myself.
When I was a child only my brother received music lessons. He loved playing music. Still to this day he is always playing an instrument. Looking at him playing, you can just see that it is a soul satisfying experience. I wanted that so bad for my daughter. I wanted her to have something in life to turn to, to de-stress and bring her joy. Something that I taught her and she would always have. I found that in this program. I was able to teach my 7-year-old daughter how to play the piano.
I recommend this course to any family who wants to teach their child piano in a fun and easy way and want to see immediate progress. Karen is an exceptional teacher and the videos are so helpful. Worksheets and interactive games help reinforce the concepts.
Thank you, Karen, for a great program! We both loved it!