3 Reasons Why Hymns Make Smart Homeschool Music Curriculum

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; make music to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing,with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn— shout for joy before the LORD, the King. Psalm 98:4-6 

Want your child to grow more confident in their faith in Jesus? Add hymn study into your homeschool day!

We've got three reasons why you should add the study of hymns to your homeschool lesson plans throughout the year. We'll show you how we did it, share thought-provoking research on this topic, and tell you our TOP 5 Christmas hymns. Let's get tuned up!

Looking back on our homeschool years, we see how beneficial our close-knit homeschool community was to us. One way that illustrates that point is our decision to add hymn study when we were choosing homeschool curriculum. We didn’t decide this on our own and can confidently say that it wouldn’t have entered our minds had it not been for a mama of kids just a few years older than ours who encouraged us to spend time on it. We needed a community to spur us on with this topic of study, especially knowing it wasn’t a “hip” idea with the world to study “ancient” biblical hymns. 

It happened later on in our homeschooling journey that our church was purging their actual book of hymns collection in favor of the big screen with words scrolling across.  Out of sadness and nostalgia, we grabbed a few of the hymnals before they hit the dumpster, and it would turn out to be one of the best…albeit not intentional…things added to our homeschool day.

One thing we’d have done differently was to get one of those hymnals right at the outset of our hymn study, years earlier! We felt that the singing became more intimate when the book was close at hand. Tangible and present. We also found extra information and narratives between the song pages which added meaning and connectedness to scripture.

There are resources for a homeschool in Hymnals beyond songs. Many of these sections contain commentary, prayers, and more.

We experienced many blessings from studying hymns and want to encourage you to add them to your homeschool lesson plans.  A hymnal is a treasure for easily adding free homeschool music curriculum that you and your kids will benefit from greatly throughout the school year and especially at Christmas time.

Here are a few reasons for hymn study and our top five Christmas hymns for you to consider for your homeschool plans. 

Before owning our Hymnal, we printed online resources like this, kept all of our fine arts studies together in folders like this. Nothing fancy and a kid-designed cover. Many times, we went down the rabbit trail ex: “first piano made”. We went deep with that one as it was one of their recital pieces.

#1 Reason Hymns make a smart homeschool music curriculum: It enhances our worship for the Creator.

Hymns are unique songs written with Jesus at the center. They were written long before technology allowed us to communicate easily, which gave the writer a more intimate, personal experience writing WITH the Holy Spirit’s influence instead of that of the culture.

God put it on our hearts to seek Him, and we naturally do it through song. Observe how all of creation sings songs in their own unique way. From under the sea with songs of whales and dolphins, to over land with the chattering of squirrels, and then the birds weaving beautiful music into the skies above. God made music to glorify Him and bring us closer, and studying hymns will enhance our relationship with Him!

The book of Psalms inspires us to use music to worship God. He hard-wired our bodies to enjoy and respond positively when listening, singing, and playing music. Hymns are more than just lyrics and music; they can plant seeds and lead the singer to salvation and the eternal gift of life. Nothing is more important than that to consider when choosing homeschooling curriculum. 

#2 Reason Hymns make a smart homeschool music curriculum: It nurtures our God-given music/brain connection.

Many hymns are classics to be heard in various public spaces especially at Christmastime. When they’re studied in depth, this will draw in a child’s attention, mindfulness, and create powerful connections in the brain. We pay close attention to the details as the hymns become familiar and then recognize them when heard going about the world. Background music becomes identifiable. Your kids may even end up retelling, right in the middle of the grocery store, the things they learned about the song! This is powerful brain work, and nurturing the ability to pay attention to details is important in many areas of life beyond music. 

For more details about that, see Christianity Today’s fascinating article about how we were created with a music/brain connection:  "Hymns and Neurons: How Worship Rewires Our Brains and Bonds Us Together"

A recital program w/ notes taken by one of our kids while watching the performances.  Studying hymns nurtures this kind of mindfulness. 

#3 Reason Hymns make a smart homeschool music curriculum: It helps us learn about scripture.

The study of Hymns helps us make connections to the biblical meaning contained in lyrics and to understand what motivated the composers/writers to create that connection. Many of them were motivated by a deep pain or loss that only the Lord’s word can comfort. That shows our great need for His presence. When we sing and/or play the songs while remembering what the writers went through and how they were comforted, we are inspired to learn more about the scripture in the lyrics.

The wonderful book series, “Sings My Soul” by Robert J Morgan, was another resource we used in our homeschool music curriculum. The quote below is from the book and gives perspective of how scripture lessons occurred with past generations of believers and their “pocket” hymnals.

 “Once upon a time, English-speaking Christians owned their own hymnals just as most believers today own their own Bibles. In the 1700s and 1800s, these were small volumes without musical notes, giving stanzas of hymn texts in tiny print. …Worshippers carried these under-sized hymn books to church each Sunday, then took them home and sang from them in personal or family devotions the rest of the week. Hymnals were, as someone put it, the ordinary person’s systematic theology books -- their Bibles in one hand; their hymnals in the other.”

We love that visual of people carrying their good books and can imagine the same ability for us on our smartphones and tablets. The point is, keep the hymns easily accessible!

Below are a few more resources we used as we focused on about 4-6 hymn studies. We usually had one or two learning sessions and then sprinkled in the listening, playing and reflecting, or reading a bit more in the few weeks that followed until we went on to the next hymn. In this way, it allowed us to linger over each composition and devote time to learn to play them, if desired.

Ambleside Online Free online hymn study resources

Hymnary.org A comprehensive index of hymns and hymnals

Singing the Great Hymns Simply Charlotte Mason's all-in-one curriculum including downloadable audio.

Our Top 5 Christmas Hymns/Carols. Each of these songs holds a special place from our homeschool journey, as we’ve studied the composers/writers, heard them at the symphony/holiday show, or our favorite thing, listened as our children or friends have repeatedly practiced and then performed them at Christmas piano recitals through the years. 

#1: Carol of The Bells

#2: Bring a Torch, Jeanette Isabella

#3: O Come, All Ye Faithful 

#4: Deck the Halls

#5: O Holy Night

We hope these songs bless your family, as they did ours, with a deeper connection to Jesus at Christmas time and throughout the year.

Conclusion:

The most important part of any homeschool journey is inspiring our kids to a deep relationship with the Savior. Hymn study does that in a powerful way. We hope you see the potential and value of adding homeschool hymn study to your plans.

What resonates most with you and how can we help you apply it to your homeschool days? We are here to help you make your days easier and more enjoyable and encourage you to prayerfully consider the following support systems for your homeschool: The Homeschool Well Community, The Homeschool Well 1:1 Coaching 

We pray this blesses you!

Be encouraged,

Kim

This article was written with care by Kim & Jenny. No AI invited.😜❤️️

👓Our other resources related to this topic:

The Homeschool Well Blog: Find Reassurance in Homeschool Gaps

The Homeschool Well Podcast episodes:

Music Education Makes a Homeschool Soar w/ Guest Cindy DiMarco

Planning For Enrichment

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