Some one recently explained to me that her 4-year-old child who she is homeschooling learns best through song. This method of learning is so effective for him that he has learned his times tables. (I know for a fact that his method is very effective as my Jamaican husband and siblings learned to memorize multiplication facts in the same way at a very early age.) She asked for more ideas for educational music. Here are my recommendations.
My favorite education music/cd’s is School House Rock. I purchased the 30th Anniversary issue that includes every School House Rock song ever created. It will help a child solidify their multiplication table facts. It teaches parts of speech. I teaches about government (I love the preamble song), and it teaches about money managements. I played these CD’s on my Car’s TV for the first two years that we homeschooled.
Phonics by Twin Sisters, is an Audio CD and workbook set that teaches your child to read. While I have not used this program myself, it does sound promising.
Songs for Teaching (songsforteaching.com) is a website that offers users the ability to download educational songs according to their needs. They have songs for math, reading and language arts, languages, science, social studies, and art appreciation. This site is geared toward early education through teenage years.
The Kids Know it Network (kidsknowit.com) has free educational songs and movies that will entertain and inform your child. Songs can be played online or downloaded. The website also offers educational games.
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), a government website also offers a site for free sing-alongs. The songs are mostly patriotic and popular songs but it singing in general is very useful for language and brain development.
You might also want to check out the Homeschool Curriculum Glossary.