Piano

Several moms in our ward teach their own children piano. To help motivate us all, we get together once a month for group theory lessons and individual practice sessions. We switch kids for lesson time so that the kids are accountable to someone besides their own mothers. Then of course we play basketball and have a treat afterwards, bona fide Mormon-style. There are about a dozen kids in the group.

    Figuring out practice/lesson time has been a little tricky. A couple times I hired a neighbor girl to come play with the little ones during piano time. Most times, though, the little guys are close by:

I only saw Jacob do this once, but I thought that it was so stinkin' cute that I had to take a picture. He was playing with Max on his lap! 

Last weekend our group had a recital, where the kids performed beautifully. Jacob performed "Impromptu" by Franz Schubert (the one printed in the Children's Songbook). I was nervous that I had chosen something outside his ability level (he's only been playing for nine months!), but he really stepped up and practiced well. I don't know how moms manage daily practice time with multiple children--it's such a huge time commitment for each child. I'm hoping to grow into it better!