I will admit that teaching music is not something I feel equipped to do. I only have a basic music education from public school, and anything I picked up from Nick Jr. But I really want to introduce our kids to more than I have learned. But signing up for so many different classes is not budget-friendly and can get expensive. We recently had the opportunity to try out a World Instrument learning program called Homeschool Music Journeys written by Daria Marmluk-Hajioannou. And it has been a great addition to our music studies!

Homeschool Music Journeys allows your students to travel the globe. They will travel through almost all the continents of the world, China, India, Africa, South America, and North America.

Homeschool Music Journeys will introduce your student(s) to twelve world instruments. Each instrument has a brief explanation about the history and where you would have find it. Then your student gets into the hands-on fun of building the instrument with simple instructions.

Each activity gives step-by-step directions to build the instrument out of mostly materials that you find around your house. Some of the materials we have used include bottle caps, string, aluminum pie pans, straws, and tape. The only thing I have needed to purchase has been the thicker dowel rods for the Australian clapstick project.

Some the instruments that they will study include:

• Chinese Gong
• Castanets
• Rainstick
• Tingsha (Tibetan Handbells)
• Native American Style Turtle Ratte

At first, I was so excited to try this out and work through the kids for music credit. But as we really dug into Homeschool Music Journeys, I realized how much this program fully fit into our World Geography studies. The Homeschool Music Journeys has fit into our school so much more than I originally thought since I can use it cross-curriculum. It is a very affordable addition to your studies as the PDF download is only $8.99.

The Homeschool Music Journeys was created for students in elementary grade levels, but even older students will enjoy making the instruments along with their lessons. The Homeschool Music Journeys curriculum would also make a great addition to a co-op setting and allow the kids to have a music recital at the end of the twelve-week study.

World Music with Daria also has a wonderful website to go along with her programs. She offers snippets from various world instruments and instructions on how to make those, as well as links to her different channels that feature videos and projects that she is working on.

There are so many possibilities for the use of The Homeschool Music Journeys. Music and Geography studies, and even use along with Science lessons on sounds. You could use it in your living room or a classroom setting. What great fun for kids of all ages! And don’t forget to hang up that world map when you start your travels!

-Product review by Renita Kuehner, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, January, 2018