Homeschool co-ops · PreK–Grade 6

Teaching music at a homeschool co-op?
Songs and singing games built for a group

Once a week, a room full of mixed ages, and maybe no music training at all. The Singing Classroom gives you 158 songs and singing games, each one explained step by step on video, so you walk into class knowing exactly what to do.

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158

Songs and games

PreK–6

Every grade

Video

Every song

Music degrees needed

Who this is for

The parent who said yes to teaching music

Most co-op music classes are taught by someone who volunteered, or was volunteered. Maybe you sang in a choir years ago. Maybe you play a little piano. Maybe you just love music and nobody else raised a hand.

Either way, the job looks the same: one class a week, children from kindergarten to fifth or sixth grade in the same room, no curriculum handed to you, and often a showcase at the end of the semester. That is a hard job even for a trained music teacher. These songs and games make it a manageable one.

"Good music teaching is not about music. It's about creating joy, humor, and love in the classroom. Music is simply the way to get there."

Deborah Skydell

Co-Founder · The Singing Classroom

How to teach music at a homeschool co-op

Six things that make a co-op music class work

What experienced elementary music teachers do every day, adapted for a once-a-week class with a wide age range.

Learn the song before class

Sing it all week, in the car and while you cook. If you have to read the words off a page, the children will watch the page instead of you. Watch the teaching video until you can run the game without it.

Open and close the same way every week

A greeting song at the start and a goodbye song at the end turn a once-a-week class into a routine. Children settle faster when they know what comes first.

Choose songs with a simple core

Pick games the youngest can join on the first try, then layer harder parts on top for the older children: keeping the beat, singing it as a round, or leading the game.

Give the big kids a job

Older students in a mixed-age class drift if the material feels babyish. Make them the leaders, the beat keepers, or the ones who teach the game to the little ones.

One new song, two old ones

Children love repetition more than adults expect. Each week, teach one new song and play two they already know. By the end of the semester they will have songs they can sing on their own.

Use the room you have

Many co-ops meet in church halls, fellowship rooms and community spaces with open floor. That is exactly what circle games, arch games and line games need, and what most school classrooms lack. Use it.

A 45-minute class

What one week can look like

A simple shape you can repeat all semester. Swap the songs each week and keep the structure.

0–5 min

Greeting song

The same one every week. Everyone sings, and every child hears their name.

5–15 min

Review game

A song they already know, played as a game. Let an older child lead it.

15–30 min

New song

Sing it to them first. Then have them echo it back phrase by phrase. Add the game once they have the tune.

30–40 min

Movement or circle game

Use the open floor while you have it. This is where the youngest children burn off energy and the oldest get to show off.

40–45 min

Goodbye song

Calm, quiet and the same every week, so parents arriving at pickup find a settled room.

Running an hour? Stretch the review and movement blocks rather than adding a second new song.

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Watch two before you decide anything

One for younger children and one for older, the kind of pair a mixed-age class needs. One is a full teaching video and one is the bunnies, the same two ways songs are shown throughout the library.

Oh, Row the Rattlin' Bog

Grades PreK–3 · Partner clap

A cumulative folk song from Ireland with a partner clap. The verses pile up as the song goes, so it holds a whole room to the end, and the youngest children can join the chorus from the first try.

Lyrics, score and full teaching notes →

Bobo Ski Watten Taten

Grades 4–6 · Hand clap game

A clapping game your older students may already know. The pattern is far easier to learn from the bunnies than from the score. Watch it yourself first, then let the big kids work it out in pairs.

Lyrics, score and full teaching notes →

Mixed ages, one library

Find songs that work for everyone in the room

Every song in The Singing Classroom is tagged by grade range and by the musical concept it teaches, so you can find the ones that span your whole group instead of guessing.

It is deliberately not a set curriculum. It is a library you build your own class from, created by Deborah Skydell, a Kodály-certified elementary music teacher with more than thirty years in the classroom. It works on its own or alongside a music program you already use.

More than one music teacher at your co-op?

Each subscription is for one teacher. If your co-op is paying for several, contact us and we will set it up.

Keep planning

More for your co-op music class

Circle games

For the open floor in a fellowship hall. The heart of a group music class.

Rounds and part singing

The challenge your oldest students need, sung over a part the youngest already know.

How to teach steady beat

The first musical skill, and the one every age in the room can practice together.

What to teach, and when

A plain-language scope and sequence for elementary music, with the songs that carry it.

Homeschooling one or two children?

Some of these work at the kitchen table. Some need a crowd.

Fingerplays, motion songs, clapping games and lullabies work beautifully with one child. The circle games, arch games and passing games need a group, though. If you homeschool on your own, save those for a park day or a get-together with other families, and they will be the hit of the afternoon.

Questions

About teaching music at a co-op

No. Every song comes with a video in which Deborah Skydell, a Kodály-certified teacher with more than thirty years in elementary music, explains step by step how the song goes and how the game is played. Many songs also come with the bunnies, a short animation that shows the game being played. Watch them before class and you will know what to do.

Choose songs with a simple core the youngest can manage, then give the older children harder parts: leading the game, keeping a steady beat or ostinato, or singing the song as a round. Every song in the library is tagged by grade range, so you can find ones that span your group.

It varies. Fingerplays, motion songs and clapping games work with any number. Circle, arch, passing and line games need a group, which is exactly what a co-op class gives you.

No, and that is on purpose. It is a library of songs and singing games for building your own music class or supplementing a program you already use. It does not lay out a fixed sequence for you to follow.

Yes. Each subscription is for one teacher, and a co-op can pay for its music teacher's subscription like any other purchase. If your co-op is covering more than one teacher, contact us and we will set it up.

The monthly plan is $22.95/month. The annual plan is $199.95/year ($16.66/month). The 7-day free trial gives you full access from day one, and you can cancel any time before it ends without being charged.

No. The teaching videos are for you, so you can learn each song before class. The bunnies are worth showing the children on a laptop or TV if your space has one, but nothing requires it.

Walk into your next
co-op class ready

Try it free for seven days. Browse all 158 songs and games, watch any video, download any score.