Dave
and Renae Cummings of Michigan both grew up with
music. They studied music in school and
participated in music ensembles in school and
church. So when they made the decision to home
school their three children – Hannah, David and
Sophia – one of their concerns was making sure
they could provide their children with a solid
and proper music education.
About two years, ago,
Renae read a review of Music Ace Deluxe in the
Practical Home School magazine. She visited
Harmonic Vision´s website and downloaded the
Music Ace demo. After working through the demo
lessons, she was convinced she could provide an
excellent music education to her children
centered around Harmonic Vision´s Music Ace.
All
three of the Cummings´ children use Music Ace –
Hannah (8), David (6) and even four-year-old
Sophia. Two days a week, the oldest children
receive music education, based
on Music Ace and other music appreciation
material. Instruction time on another day is
reserved for other arts education such as
painting, drawing and art appreciation.
"Music
Ace is a wonderful program for early music
education. The lessons are so much fun that I
felt that focusing on Music Ace instruction
twice a week was possible," said Renae Cummings.
"My children don´t ever seem to get bored with
Music Ace, and it has stimulated their interest
in music appreciation, music performance and
other arts."
The
Cummings family augments Music Ace lessons with
classical-oriented music appreciation using the
Classical Kids Series and other general music
appreciation material. Renae believes that by
combining strong music theory instruction with a
well-rounded music appreciation program, her
children will become not just better musicians,
but better students.
During
the schooling terms, David and Hannah alternate
between Music Ace and other music and arts
education – one works through music lessons
independently while Renae provides less
structured instruction on the arts.
A
trained musician, Renae says, "Music Ace is
great. It lets the kids work on their own and at
their own pace. The games at the end of each
lesson reinforce what the lessons covered and
helps them see their success". |
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A
gratifying consequence of the Cummings
family´s use of Music Ace is the interest in
music performance it has stimulated in David
and Hannah. In early 2006, Hannah began
studying the violin, taking lessons with a
local teacher. David is planning to commence
piano lessons later this year – once Renae
is satisfied he has mastered his Music Ace
lessons sufficiently.
Sophia
is just getting started with Music Ace, but
finds the early lessons engaging and Maestro
Max an amusing, yet effective taskmaster.
While
Hannah has just started violin studies, the
issue of music ensemble participation that
many home school families face, is not far
from the surface. Often times, churches and
other fraternal organizations offer music
performance opportunities not affiliated
with the government school system. But the
Cummings family is fortunate because they
live in an area where a home school co-op
focused on music education exists. This
co-op has organized music performance
ensembles for home school families,
including multiple levels of band and
orchestra.
The
Cummings family currently uses a Dell
computer running Windows 98 to deliver their
computer-based curriculum, including Spanish
and math. They are looking to upgrade to an
iMac or some other Apple platform in the
near future. The Music Ace family runs on
all Windows and Mac platforms and has been
tested on the Intel/Mac product with
positive results.
The
Music Ace Deluxe product that the Cummings
family uses was purchased from Amazon. All
Harmonic Vision products are also available
from home education specialists such as
Rainbow Resources and Timberdoodle.
"Our
family has had a great experience with Music
Ace Deluxe. I´ve been able to provide my
children with a quality music education in
our home education environment." said Renae.
"We highly recommend Music Ace to other home
school families and see Music Ace as the
positive, effective core of a solid music
education.
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