SQUILT Live! Plus: Music Appreciation Review

^{Disclaimer: We received this product for review purposes. As always, we are not required to write a positive review. All opinions are honest and my own. This post may contain affiliated links.}

Are you wanting to introduce music appreciation into your homeschool without creating a whole curriculum from scratch? If you are like me, you must be asking yourself a hundred questions. Where do I start? Where would I find the time? Do I need a musical background? Can I include ALL the kids? Is it easy to implement into our homelife? Is it budget-friendly? Is it worth it?

SQUILT Music might be just the place to start.

What is SQUILT Music?

SQUILT teaches children to listen attentively and focus on the elements of music:

Rhythm
Tempo
Dynamics
Instrumentation
Mood

Here are some FREE music word cards to use with your learner.

The curriculum does not teach you HOW to play musical instruments, however, it exposes the family to a wide variety of musical styles and diverse musicians and composers.

Age Range: It doesn’t explicitly say, but in my opinion, it seems best suited for kids in elementary or middle school grades, but in our home, we’ve also included our preschooler.

How does SQUILT LIVE! Membership work?

Every month the kids are exposed to different theme-based listening selections.

2 live 1-hour SQUILT music appreciation lessons taught by Mary. During the live sessions, you can communicate via the chat feature.

About two weeks prior to the new month, SQUILT LIVE! Plus sends out an email link that contains useful and comprehensive information for the month. The information package includes:

A personal video message from Mary about the specific month’s theme
The private YouTube playlist for the month
The One-Page Listening Calendar with hyper-links
A comprehensive informational Listening package:
- Note About This Month
- How to Use This Calendar
- QR Code – You can download and save the YouTube calendar. Each music selection is numbered; so if you are on the 17th day of the month, just scroll day to number 17. There is absolutely no pressure to listen everyday.
- One-Page Listening Calendar (again)
- Helpful Resources (i.e.,Book or videos)
  - When we wanted to expand on the lesson , we either requested the books through our local libary or found them on YouTube as a read-aloud. Personally, the YouTube readaloud worked best for us since we already physically read alot because of our literature-based curriculum AND most importantly helped keep our toddler focused. 🙂
- Fun Facts for Student and Teacher
- Be the Critic (Ratings worksheets)
- Draw What You Hear Sheets (You can have the kids close their eyes and move their crayon(s) around based on what they hear)
- Coloring/Activity Sheets (Keep those hands busy while listening)

Costs

Depending on your needs and budget, SQUILT offers a 3-tiered membership option; Calendar Access ($65/yr), Live ($20/month – or if you homeschool year-round $240/yr), and LIVE PLUS ($30/month or $360/yr). This is an great option for a non-toy gift.

Try this FREE Learn About Mozart Listening Calendar to see if the calendar-only option is exactly what you need.

Our Experience

You do not need to have a background in music to enjoy the program.

SQUILT is a no-stress creative element that can easily be incorporated into your homeschool and enjoy.

It’s a flexible, open and go with minimum prep work (if you even want to print anything), enrichment program. The only thing that may be “fixed” is the set times for the live classes. However, if you cannot attend, you can watch the recording as early as the next day.

There was an enormous amount of thought and time invested throughout the entire program. Every month the kids were introduced to TWO feature composers, daily exposure to different musical pieces (one for every day of the month) , different composers (at least 13 different ones in one month), and quality picture books reading selections . Furthermore, all the materials sets you up for a really nice Person Unit Study if you choose to dive deeper.

We were able to listen to SQUILT Live for three months and incorporate it into our routine as a family subject (myself included) but if your child(ren) has the maturity to work independently, go for it! Use your free time. 🙂

November’s Theme: “Musicians with Differing Abilities” and two musicians showcased were, Itzhak Perlman and Blind Tom Wiggins; two incredibly talented humans who happened to be blind. And oh boy, Blind Tom Wiggins’ story is so tragic. An enslaved child that was taken advantage of. This historical truth was presented gently and respectfully. While listening to the music, my kids were amazed that they felt “something in their chest”. They were both happy and sad.

December’s Theme: CHRISTMAS MUSIC!!! The live focus lesson was two different selections from The Nutcracker. Hello, in the homeschooling world, it seems like almost every home studies the Nutcracker. And guess what, this was the easiest introduction to Nutcracker because everything was already curated!

January’s Theme: Broadway Musical! The two musicals showcased were The Sound of Music and Newsies. While listening to the Beauty and Beast’s Gaston Musical selection (from the monthly calendar), both kids recognized LeFou’s voice as Olaf from Frozen. I had to look it up to confirm — they were right! Hello, a musical connection!

Full transparency: The music that we normally listen to at home is quite different, ie. merengue, batacha, reggaeton, and rap. However, the elements of music are the same. The music pieces we were exposed to through SQUILT, are entertaining. Sometimes, the kids were uninterested, that’s normal. But I wasn’t. And as a homeschool mom, if I’m not bored, I’ll find a way to weave it into our homelife.

Also, In order for me not to forget to listen to the daily selections, I had to anchor it during our lunchtime. Also, SQUILT is an acronym for Super Quiet UnInterrupted Listening Time and we are still working on mostly being silent while listening. I thought having food in their mouth would help, but it hasn’t. HAHA!

I hope this review was helpful. You can sample a lesson for $4, if you want to see whats its all about. If you do include SQUILT in your home, you will not be disappointed.

Please be sure to click on the banner to check out reviews from other members of the Melanated Gold Review Squad.