For a few years, Eli has been wanting to learn to play the violin. In fact, we even bought him a 3/4 violin four years ago. So you can imagine how excited we both were for the opportunity to review a Family Subscription to Live Violin Classes from Practice Monkeys!! Eli has grown a lot in the last four years so we needed to get a full size violin. We opted to rent one to begin with. Rebekah also decided that she would like to try out violin and since we were reviewing the Family Subscription that was possible. After discussing it with Mrs. Van Kleeck, she placed Rebekah in Level 2 and Eli in Level 3 so that they could share a violin. This has been great because it meant only having to rent one violin!
Details and Expectations of the Class
Practice Monkeys is comprised of a combination of live online classes four days per week, 47 weeks per year, for 15 minutes each and recordered videos that are available anytime. The students are divided into levels. Each level has a Treehouse link. In the Treehouse, Mrs. Van Kleeck has many videos to help get you started right away. These include videos for learning how to tune the violin, how to hold it, a video for Student Setup and Parent Orientation to name a few. She also has links to helpful resources online to supplement the learning experience. Membership to Practice Monkeys also gives us a free account to SightReadingFactory.com for daily reading exercise.
On Mondays, the parent receives an email from Practice Monkeys. This email outlines the upcoming week, recognizes those who have moved up to a new level, and reminds parents to print off the Practice Sheets. I have found these emails to be extremely helpful!! It’s a great reminder to get ready for the Practice Monkey week!
When students are ready to test to see about moving up a level, they need to have a personal assessment scheduled. The assessment is a one-on-one live meeting with the student and teacher. Rebekah has completed her first assessment and was so excited to be promoted to Level 3. Eli is planning to complete his first assessment next week, he wanted to get in a little extra practicing to make sure he was ready to move to Level 4. (As a side note, we were having technical difficulties when Rebekah was trying to do her assessment. Mrs. Van Kleeck was an absolute joy to work with as we struggled to get the tech issues straightened out!!)
What Do We Think About Practice Monkeys?
Rebekah says, “I love Practice Monkeys because it is so fun!”
“Practice Monkeys is fun and I’ve learned a lot. I like being able to have the live classes. I also like that I can ask the teacher for help when I need it too,” says Eli.
I am so thankful for the opportunity to be introduced to Practice Monkeys and to have the opportunity to review this program!! Practice Monkeys has been a great fit for our family!
Eli and Rebekah have both learned so much in the three months they’ve been taking classes. In fact, they were able to do a short performance at our church Christmas program.
We have made the decision to purchase a Family Membership to Practice Monkeys so the kids can keep learning to play violin. I’m excited to watch them continue to develop their violin skills!
Connect with Practice Monkeys on these Social Media Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PracticeMonkeys/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7wOO7WqC5Yk-nID8fhVaiA
I hope you will take the time to read reviews from other members of the Homeschool Review Crew to learn more about other levels.
Jennifer
