An Honest Review of Music Appreciation for the Middle Grades from Zeezok

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Zeezok Publishing. We received a copy of Music Appreciation Book 2 for the Middle Grades in exchange for an honest review.

Are you looking to add music appreciation to your middle schoolers’ curriculum? We have been using Music Appreciation Book 2: for the Middle Grades from Zeezok Publishing to include music appreciation in our homeschool.

Zeezok is a Thorough Homeschool Music Appreciation Curriculum for the Middle Grades

Through the course of Zeezok’s Music Appreciation Book 2, students study seven different composers. Each composer is studied for four weeks, with the exception of Chopin who is studied for five.

Zeezok’s Music Appreciation Book 2 includes the student workbook along with the following living books:

• Fredric Chopin, Early and Later Years
• Robert Schumann and Mascot Ziff
• Adventures of Richard Wagner
• Stephen Foster and His Little Dog Tray
• The Young Brahms
• The Story of Peter Tchaikovsky and the Nutcracker Ballet
• Edward MacDowell and His Cabin in the Pines

The Scope and Sequence in the front of the student book shows which standards are being covered for each composer. They are broken down into three main categories: Creating, Performing, & Responding.

Layout for Music Appreciation Lessons from Zeezok

At the beginning of each composer study is the weekly outline. In addition to listing what the student is working on each week, it stars those components necessary to meet the national music appreciation standards. This allows you to identify the most important parts of the lesson, in case you needed to skip some material.

The lessons are not broken down into daily assignments, giving flexibility into when you do which pages. My daughter found it easy to break the assignments into days.

Zeezok Uses Living Books to Teach Music Appreciation

One of the things I like about this curriculum is the inclusion of living books to teach. A living book is a book that portrays information about a subject in story form. In this case, instead of learning straight facts about the classical musicians being studied, kids learn about them through a narrative of their life.

Living books do a better job at holding a child’s attention. They also make the subject more relatable. Because the story is told in narrative form, they can also be used as read-aloud’s.

Zeezok’s music appreciation curriculum, with its living books, fits nicely with a Charlotte Mason homeschooling philosophy.

Throughout the books are simple black and white pictures depicting scenes from the story as well.

My daughter enjoyed learning about the composers in this manner. The chapters were also quick and easy to read.

Music Appreciation Activities in the Student Workbook

A variety of workbook pages assist in learning.

There are a series of comprehension questions for the student to answer after each reading. There are also sections called Character Qualities and Tidbits of Interest. My daughter liked these sections because they give more detailed information about certain parts of the composer’s life that were mentioned in the books.

In addition, there is a section related to the area where the composer lived. The material in this section varies with the composer. Activities include information about the country, recipes, map work, etc. My daughter ear-marked some of the recipes she is most interested to try.

Finally, there are sections related to learning the technical aspect of music, such as timing, vocabulary, and different components of music. My daughter liked these parts because they related to what she was learning in piano.

The student also listens to selected musical works by each composer. The music is accessed through QR codes in the beginning of the book or the app site. My daughter discovered she enjoyed listening to the selected music while she worked.

Interactive quizzes are done through the app site or the student workbook.

Zeezok Music Appreciation Lapbook and Coloring Pages

While we do not have them, there is the option of purchasing lapbook material and coloring pages separately from the website. Throughout the student workbook, you will see mention of the lapbook. There is one lapbook for each composer. If you are wanting to add a hands-on element to your student’s study, this is one option.

An Enjoyable Homeschool Music Appreciation Curriculum

Overall, we found this to not only be a thorough music appreciation curriculum but an enjoyable one as well.

My daughter liked learning about the composers through living books. She found the activities in the student workbook interesting. She gained exposure to music from some great artists and learned it was enjoyable to listen to. Every once in a while she would get excited to share some new fact that she learned.

Music appreciation is a great way to expose children to the beauty of classical music and help them find its value. We look forward to continuing our music appreciation study throughout the year.

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