While classical music is not something I usually enjoy listening to, I was excited to learn that I would be receiving the The Great Composer set of Handel/Schumann from Zeezok Publishing. Zeezok is a very family friendly homeschool company that says “It is easier to build children, than to repair men”. They offer quality literature and educational materials to help you build great children while still having a good time. They also offer the Presidential Penmanship Set and many other great products. Be sure to check out what the TOS crew has to say because there are several different products from this company that was reviewed.
Our family received two paperback books and two study guides that tell the story of George Handel and Robert Schumann. Both are excellently written by Opal Wheeler. We also received a CD that offers music from both of these great composers.
We chose to read Handel at the Court of Kings first and we have just finished it. My kids really enjoyed the story of how a little boy, age 7, fell in love with music. Their favorite part of the story was when Handel ran for miles behind his father’s carriage for the chance to hear a fine orchestra.
Our family is not what I would call musical. My son plays is learning the guitar and my daughter is learning piano with an online curriculum but we do love to listen to music. If you would came by our house on a spring day you would probably hear Christian music coming from the open windows. That is what we usually listen to. But, after reading this story, the kids have asked to listen to the CD that accompanied the books. It is filled with the beautiful music composed by Handel and Schumann. We have listened to it while the kids were doing their art projects. The kids even recognized a few of the melodies from television commercials they have seen. The CD also includes coloring pages, sheet music and audio files which help make this a complete music history unit study. The coloring pages are actually just copies of the pictures in the books so a lot of the picture is black so they are not the best coloring sheets. This didn’t bother my 6 year old at all.
The study guide that comes with the set is nice for helping to remember what has been read. After each few pages, we stopped to answer the questions in the book. We have been trying to follow Charlotte Mason’s style lately and this has really helped with narration for the kids. The character qualities listed are great because a good character is one of main goals we would like to achieve in our homeschooling journey. We also enjoyed the Tidbits of Interest in the guide. The kids were surprised to learn that George’s dad was actually 63 years old when he was born. There is also a timeline which helps for visual learners. The kids couldn’t wait to find a picture of Handel to put in our timeline book so they would remember when he was born.
The last part of the book is filled with piano music for many of Handel’s pieces that he wrote. I have to admit I tried several of them on the piano myself.
You can get the set, Handel at the Court of Kings/Robert Schumann and Mascot Ziff set which is what I received for $38.50 by visiting Zeezok Publishing at www.zeezok.com. You can also purchase these items separately if you would like.
They also offer the following musician sets:
- Bach/Mozart
- Beethoven/Haydn
- Brahms/Schubert
- Foster/MacDowell
- Chopin (2 book set)
When you purchase one of the sets, you receive the CD free for a savings of $7.95. All of these are $38.50 with the exception of the Chopin set which is $30.95. The website is easy to navigate so be sure to check out all they offer.
If your family is looking for a way to incorporate music history into your curriculum, I can’t think of a more fun way to do so. Living books like these make it easy to learn about the lives of famous people in history. I would recommend these because of their great content and reasonable price.
Don’t forget to check out what the other crew members have to say about the products they received from Zeezok Publishing.
** Please note that I received a copy of The Great Musician Series from Zeezok Publishing at no cost in exchange for my honest opinion in this review. No other compensation was provided.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment