I'm not going to go into all the gory details, but six and a half weeks ago I was in a car accident.  It was not my fault, and the other driver was not hurt.  I was, though.  I had injuries to my upper body and my right ankle was broken.  I spent several weeks just managing pain with very strong medicine.  I have had to use a wheel chair to get around the house.  And, what is even worse for a home school mom....I haven't been able to drive since the accident!! 

I have spent all of those weeks pretty much confined to the bed or the couch.   But, last week I was able to start walking with my ankle that is still in a cast.  It felt good to be upright again.  The past couple of days I have been growing stronger and feeling less pain in my ankle.  This morning I decided to dust off the ipod and play some music.  I was tottering through the house singing along to Matthew West.  A song came on that just makes you want to move and praise God for all that he does for us broken people.  I found myself tapping my toes, then swaying a little bit, and then before I knew it...I was dancing!  Raising my arms to Heaven.  Bouncing around as well as I can with one cast-covered foot planted to the ground.  The heart rate was going up for the first time in weeks.  I was doing all kinds of funny moves that would embarrass me to no end if someone were watching.  I felt free and joyful!  I'm going to be healed!  I'm going to get my life back!  I'm going to be "normal" and goofy and silly again!  Praise God!!!

...now....I must rest.  :o)

I really wish I was one of those moms who plays lots of classical music every day, but I'm not.  Personally, I love classical music, and I do play it from time to time.  But, I've found that my oldest son needs complete quiet when doing schoolwork.  Well...as quiet as it can be with a loud 5 year old in the house! 

However, I am still a firm believer in the power of music!  And, I get the feeling God appreciates music, too.  After all, one of His favorites, David, wrote countless songs praising God!  And besides the Psalms, there are many references to singing in the Bible.

Right now we explore music by having the boys take piano lessons.  I once heard Andrew Pudewa speak about the importance of children learning how to play an instrument.  Learning any instrument can help the child in many ways.  But Mr. Pudewa said that when you play the piano, your brain is making more connections than it could with any other activity.  You are reading music, hearing notes, coordinating your brain and your fingers, and counting time all at once! 

I had always intended on the boys learning how to play piano.   After hearing Mr. Pudewa talk about the importance of music in "growing" the brain, I was inspired to start immediately!  Last year, when the boys were 7 and 4, we found an excellent teacher and entered the world of music lessons.  My oldest wasn’t so sure about it in the beginning.  But, then he discovered that he has talent for the piano.  My youngest has loved knowing how to play, but he’s never very enthused about practicing.  I don’t push him, because I don’t want to kill it for him.  I will sweat it out every week, worried that he won’t know his songs for his next lesson.  Some weeks he’ll barely play each new song once a day.  Then, I take him to his lesson and he sits properly and plays his songs beautifully.  Whew!

 I would like to see both boys take lessons through high school.  I haven’t met a single adult who has complained that his parents made him stick with music lessons.  Usually it’s the other way around, and adults wish their parents had insisted that they continue childhood lessons rather than quit!

It is such a joy to hear my little ones play music.  Besides that,  I have seen amazing non-musical benefits from learning piano.  My oldest son has struggled with handwriting.   He would get so frustrated because his hands couldn’t write as fast as his brain could think.  Worksheets were nightmares, and forget about him writing anything on his own!   Did you know that handwriting is learned in a completely different part of the brain than things like reading?   Since he has started taking piano, his handwriting skills have improved in leaps and bounds!   He has been taking the initiative to write more and more.  He has even started drawing more!    I have always been told to teach him typing as soon as I could.  That would alleviate some of his problems in getting his thoughts out on a page.  After seeing his success on the piano, I realized that typing was quite similar in motor skill requirements, so we started him on a typing program. 

I had no idea that we would be seeing such immediate improvements in other areas of our schoolwork just from my children learning how to play the piano!   It has been a great blessing to us!