I’ve been the music teacher at a University-Model® (“UMS”) for the past 5 years. At our particular school, students are on campus 3 days (MWF) and at home for the other 2 days (T-Th). The school provides the lesson plans for our home days. I love, love, love the model for many reasons, and it has been a great fit for our family.
However, when it comes to curriculum, one size does not fit all. I’ve been a part of the curriculum review committee at our UMS for the past 3 years. All too often, we find that it can be difficult to find curriculums that can bridge the spectrum from classroom to homeschool because they have been written with either a classroom or homeschool setting specifically in mind. When I was building Scholé Songs, I specifically wanted to create a product that would work well for our own school community.
Scholé Songs was created with UMS schools in mind!
Because all songs are streamed from the website, there is continuity between school and home in how memory work is practiced and presented. It also provides continuity between grades. Families can learn the songs together, regardless of the ages of their children. Teachers have access to what has been learned in preceding years. Memory checks can be done at school with printable fill-in-the-blank worksheets or at home orally.
It is affordable. All subscriptions are per household or teacher (not per student) annually. For only $20/year, the Timeline Songs can be streamed from any device and comes with all of the necessary teaching materials (including videos of me teaching it for you!) Our All-Access Plan is priced at $75/year (for a limited time, $50/year with the coupon code LAUNCH202), which includes a full memory guide and access to all songs. Other memory guides can cost up to $45 per cycle, and charge extra for any additional resources. Depending on how you provide curriculum at your UMS, you can either ask families to subscribe as part of their outside expenses, or absorb the fees into your tuition price and pay for your families annually.
Teacher friendly. There is very little prep required, and teachers can learn the songs alongside their students. All of the Timeline Songs come with teaching videos, in case you want to put the direct instruction of the Timeline Song on home days. (I know how valuable all instruction time is on days when the students are on campus!) All the students will still be receiving the same streamlined instruction.
Time sensitive. I have intentionally tried to keep musical introductions short and the memory work easy to regurgitate without a lot of preamble or fluff. If a teacher asks the class what is an adjective, I want the class to be able to sing/chant the definition without a lot of fanfare, or I want that teacher to be able to review the song without a 15 second musical introduction. Most of our songs (Timeline and Scripture excluded) are less than a minute in length.
Flexibility in how the material is used. While we will provide memory cycles to follow, each school can decide for itself what it wants to use and when it wants to use it. For example, some schools chose to go through the entire Timeline Song Cycle every year (one song per quarter), and others choose to have certain grade levels learn specific songs to correspond with their History cycle.
All lyrics/materials can be viewed online/downloaded from the website and printed at home, so your school doesn’t have to print for every student. Lost copies can be easily replaced. However, if you want to provide copies for your families, downloaded files can be sent to printing companies for a professional look.
Long Scripture passages set to music. Many UMS schools learn large passages of Scripture over the course of a quarter or semester. The songs help to make those passages accessible for younger students. (You can always request passages to be set to music as well).
Performance tracks are available for any of our Timeline Songs or Scripture Songs for showcase performances.
Questions? Feel free to contact us. We'd love to come alongside you and support the work that you are doing!