One part of Charlotte Mason homeschooling that we’ve never incorporated is hymn study. Well, that is about to change!
I’ve done some reading, made some purchases, and we’re ready to begin.
Since we don’t have the chance to go to regular “church” and sing hymns, I thought that hymn study was especially important to our family. I’d hate for Sprite to grow up and not recognize some of the great hymns of our Christian faith.
I was raised Methodist, and everything we sang in church came directly from that bright red hymnal. Still, when I hear the tune of an old hymn, I am instantly taken back to those pews under the stained glass windows. It’s a delicious feeling. It sort of makes me sad that Sprite will miss out on that. But I know that she’ll have her own special memories of childhood (most of them involving Asia). Different is not bad. Just different.
But back to hymns.
I created a lens with all the great resources I found as I was researching hymn study — Hymn Study. And I created some notebooking pages to complement our study. You can find them on my freebies page or directly from this link: Hymn Study Notebooking Pages.
The lens is a more general look at hymn study, but here on the blog, I’m going to give the specific steps we are using for introducing hymn study and for studying a specific hymn — Holy, Holy, Holy.
Day 1
Introduce the concept of hymn study. Pull out the books to let Sprite browse. Play the entire CD as background.
Look up the word hymn in the dictionary. Notice the Greek root.
Day 2
Pull out the concordance and look up hymn. Find verses dealing with hymns, and use three of them as cursive copywork. Write the English meaning of hymn and the word’s etymology. Look up the Greek word for hymn in the concordance.
Day 3
Read the first chapter in Hymns for a Kid’s Heart — Holy, Holy, Holy. Read the lyrics and discuss meanings.
Listen to the song on the CD and sing along.
Day 4
Look up new vocabulary from the hymn and take notes.
Listen to the song on the CD and sing along.
Look up verses referenced in the hymn and take notes.
Listen to the song on the CD and sing along.
Day 6
Read Unit 3 from Stories of the Great Hymns — Holy, Holy, Holy.
Take notes on the songwriter and composer.
Days 7-10
Copy a verse each day for cursive copywork.
Additional Activities as time or interest allows
- Sing Holy, Holy, Holy in Chinese. (You can choose an appropriate foreign language for your setting. Thanks to Amy for giving me this great idea.)
- Listen to Youtube video versions of the song.
- Learn to play Holy, Holy, Holy on the piano.
- Listen to the Center for Church Music‘s audio hymn lessons (MP3) for Holy, Holy, Holy.
Lee says
The freebies link and the direct link to the hymn study pages didn’t work for me. Just thought I’d alert you–but I know it’s possible it’s just me because well, things are like that here 🙂
.-= Lee´s last blog ..Westward Expantion =-.
Paula in MN says
What a beautiful idea! You’ve come up with some great resources. I’m going to tweak it a bit for my family and use some Gregorian chant and some older hymns in Latin. I’m curious, what software do you use to make your notebook pages?
.-= Paula in MN´s last blog ..She’s right… =-.
Pam says
Cool. Wow. You are in depth. We have just sang the hymns for so many years that many of the kids know them by heart…and then I have a devotional about the writers, period!
You are so right about the importance of this. These songs are so rich and they last for life. They are going on in my head as a crisis comes. Excellent.
.-= Pam´s last blog ..In our home school…. =-.
Julie says
Faith was part of my childhood, but not like I know it now. I was raised Catholic, and I don’t remember any hymns at all. I truly haven’t seen the merit in studying hymns, but now you give me pause. I’m going to check out your lens and learn more myself!
Sylvia Duggan says
Dear Jimmie, I am a homeschooling mom who lurks on and loves your site, thanks for all you share. A wonderful resouce for hymn study that I think would fit with the way you teach is the Mr. Pipes Series by Douglas Bond, it looks at various hymn writers through a story narrative to two children and their friend Mr. Pipes. The titles are Mr. Pipes and Psams and Hymns of the Reformation, Mr. Pipes Comes to America and Mr. Pipes and the British Hymn Makers and a an additional one called Accidental Voyage. They are availabe through Amazon and CBD and probably other places too.
Melissa says
This is great Jimmie! I too love those old hymns, and our church doesn’t incorporate them nearly enough with all the contemporary music today.
richele says
Love it! We only sing hymns at my church so my kids are very familiar with them. We also only read the KJV, so they are used to the vocab and Old English. I have been meaning to go more indepth with a hymn study though…so I am so glad you did this!
.-= richele´s last blog ..My New Site! =-.
J's mom says
So is it possible to attend church service in China, or is it illegal?
Here in Japan, we live in a Christian part, and there are quite a few churches in our neighborhood. However, still only a small percentage of the people are Christian. (Most are probably some combination of Buddhist, Shinto, atheist, or agnostic… I am guessing.)
Wendy says
I love the Hymns for a Kids’ Heart books. There are two of them,and both are wonderful!
Thank you for bloggging this. We love the Charlotte Mason method, but have not incorporated a regular hymn study… although we do read and listen to the CD from HFAKH.
.-= Wendy @Sun-Kissed´s last blog ..Happy Easter, and Happy Birthday Little Lad =-.
Sandwich in Wi says
I love the Hymns for a Kid’s Heart. There are actually at least 3. Beside vol. 1 and 2, there is a Christmas Hymns for a Kid’s Heart and I want to say there might even be an Easter volume. But maybe I’m wrong about that (on my MIL’s slow internet connection or I’d look it up).
Holy, Holy, Holy was actually the first and only hymn we studied and my kids still know all the words. My 2nd dd, who is forever plinking out songs and hymns by ear references these books a lot!
May try your hymn study. Thank you so much for always sharing and sharing for FREE!
Blessings,
Sandwich
nichole says
This is great, we did Hymns for a kid’s heart for school as well. I loved it, and so did my daughter. There is something about an old great hymn that just goes right to your heart and makes you feel your in the throne room of God as you sing it:)
.-= nichole´s last blog ..So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodnight =-.
Dana Wilson says
I applaud you for adding hymn study to your routine, Jimmie! And so creatively, too! 🙂 There is such rich theology in so many of our old hymns.
Tracy says
My husband grew up Episcopalion and I attended a variety of churches. We both just love hymns and try to teach the kids at least one holiday-appropriate hymn for Easter and Christmas. Thanks so much for sharing your notebooking pages so we can make it a more formal study and do it year ’round.
Sandy Fox says
Another great resource is http://www.igracemusic.com/hymnbook/home.html. Click on the many links and you’ll find many, many resources. There is a downloadable RUF hymnbook with or without music!
One site that feeds my soul is http://www.reformedpraise.org. New hymns, old hymns with new tunes. My current favorite is http://www.reformedpraise.org/songs/updatedhymns/by_grace_alone/
.-= Sandy Fox´s last blog ..A little more not quite right English. =-.
Cindy says
CM Carnival?? :o)
http://blogcarnival.com/bc/cprof_2378.html
.-= Cindy´s last blog ..The Money Box =-.
Mar says
Hi Jimmie, This is so timely! I have been going over (and over lol) plans for next fall schooling (I have 1 DD who will be in 4th) and was looking at Hymn Study which is something we haven’t done either. I’m looking foward to reading your lense. Blessings. aka Marstar at SCM P.S. I was thinking of you last week…my pastor and his wife just returned from a trip to China.
amy in peru says
yay! I’m so glad that you guys are going to incorporate the bilingual aspect! (thanks for the link, too! 😉 I think it is a very natural way to add in language.
I must compliment you… you are really going all out on hymns!! We don’t do nearly as much, but little by little my kids are becoming more familiar with the oldies-still-goodies 🙂 One day, I’ll probably have to post how we do hymn study and then I’ll really pale in comparison 😉
amy in peru
.-= amy in peru´s last blog ..The whys of Nature Study =-.
Rosemary says
Hi Jimmie,
Finally made it over to check out your blog, it looks lovely!
I clicked on this post as I’m wanting to start hymn study in our home. I need to check out those books esp hymns for a kids heart as I think I’ve heard about it from others as well.
We don’t sing hymns in our church but I grew up with them and would love for my dd to know some of those great old hymns!
blessings
Rosemary
.-= Rosemary´s last blog ..Clean Up Australia Day =-.
Joy says
Glad to see this in the CM carnival. We, too, are learning hymns all the time, and working on Nepali ones.
One of our favorite composers is Isaac Watts. It turned out that so many of the hymns we picked to learn were written by him. Chr. Classical Etheral Library has a huge document of his verses, lovely doctrinal and stories from the Bible in verse. Just wanted to put in a plug for him.
A fellow hymnlover, Joy
Jamie says
This is another of those things I did at one point and have let slide. You encourage me greatly, so thanks for all you share here. 🙂
(Visit my NEW blog: See Jamie blog)
.-= Jamie´s last blog ..Family Vacation =-.
Gladys Jiles says
I dont know A lot about chord
Im trying to play hymn so I can play in Chruch
some day. Thank you
Bronwyn says
Thank you so much for your post! We were inspired and have started Hymn studies as well. Thank you for the great notebooking pages for hymn study too!
Blessings,
Bronwyn
Angie says
Hi Jimmie, I added a comment on your hub page (which I love), but I thought I would add one here as well about another site for hymn study: http://www.celebratingholidays.com/?page_id=10756
I chose a hymn for every week of the year and included history, a lyric video, and other resources. I hope it blesses others!