Homeschool Music Education: A Descriptive Study

Abstract

All people deserve access to quality, affordable music education. However, without participation in local public and private schools, this is not guaranteed to be accessible to children. This study explores where homeschool families obtain music curricula, parents’ perceptions of their chosen music curricula, and parents’ musical values in relation to the National Core Arts Standards (NCAS). Results suggest that homeschool families primarily obtain music curriculum from websites, apps and other technology, the library, and private lessons. Parents in this study value all of the NCAS but most highly value creating, listening, and responding to music. Quite often their chosen music curricula do not have opportunities for creating music. In addition, homeschool families appear to be piecemealing music experiences rather than using one complete music curriculum with goals, objectives, standards, and assessments. Therefore, it is my recommendation that the music education community work together with the homeschool community to create a homeschool music curriculum that meets all of the NCAS and provides flexibility for homeschool families based on personal choice. The present study offers insight into the homeschool music experience in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and is a building block for more research, both within this community and beyond to the national level.