On Hymn Study: The Homeschooling by Subject Series

Over the next few months I’m going to break down each subject and look at how we study it and what our favorite resources are. 

Our family adheres to Charlotte Mason’s philosophy of education. To truly understand how to teach each subject, check out my series on Charlotte Mason’s 20 Principles.

Hymn study is one of those easy to neglect subjects. We write it off as unnecessary because we feel it’s either archaic or something that belongs in church (that is if your church still sing hymns. I hope you’re blessed to be at a church that does). But I encourage you to do hymn study with your kids. Singing has been a part of humanity for all of time and it’s only recently that we’ve consigned it to the “experts” and you really only hear people singing on stage or in church. Let’s sing in our homes, too. To sing is to be human. And what better to sing than the hymns?

Hymn Study

Goal: to be able to sing the hymn

Time spent: We usually spend about six weeks on each hymn, learning one at a time, and try to sing it every school day, or at least weekly. 
Hymn study should take about five minutes a day.
Hymn Study works really well during Morning Time.

Remember: It’s nice if they know the story behind the hymn and the person who wrote it and composed the music but don’t lose sight of the goal. It really is this simple so don’t overcomplicate it.

Planning: 

• Choose 1-2 hymns per term. I like to choose seasonal hymns, particularly around Thanksgiving, Advent/Christmas, Easter, and summer (there are some great patriotic hymns for Americans). I started with my personal favorite hymns (they will enjoy what you are passionate about) and hymns that we sing regularly at church. After that, Ambleside Online has some great suggestions. So does Cindy Rollins. 
• I find a version of the hymn that I like on YouTube or Amazon Music (or Spotify if that’s you). Sometimes the words are different or they only sing some verses and not all but it’s close enough. I make a playlist of all of our hymns and play it in the background as a way to review. I usually play it on Monday mornings as we are getting ready.

Day 1: 

• Pass out lyrics to the hymn. I usually just make a copy of the music page from the hymn book. I’m not a musician so I have no proof of this, but I think there is something important about them seeing the notes. I went to a Catholic school growing up and we utilized a class period to learn the songs for the upcoming Mass. The director taught us how to read music and sing from the hymnals and I’m so grateful he did.
• I use this book to tell the story behind the hymn.
  I ask for a quick narration.
• Play the hymn and let them read along.

Read more on Substack

Listen instead: