Most Kids Aren't Getting Enough Music Education. Here's What Homeschool Families Can Do About It.

Many families dream of their kids spending each morning working on math, science, and language arts, and a few afternoons each week in orchestra, band, or chorus with professional instructors they trust to teach their kids good habits and life skills.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t usually happen that way. Budget cuts, shrinking schedules, and competing priorities have steadily pushed music to the margins of public education. 

And for homeschool families who want to give their kids a meaningful music education, the options can feel out of reach since there's not much pre-packaged homeschool music curriculum to pick from, and, unless you live in the heart of a big city, you probably won’t have many music teachers to pick from.

So what can families who value music education do? Let's look at what the research says.

Most Kids Aren’t Getting Music Education in Public Schools

More than 3.6 million public school students attend schools with no music instruction, with disadvantaged students most likely to be denied access to music education. As Maestro Music teacher, Olivia Kellett (M.M. Classical Voice) shares, “The number of students and children who are guaranteed music education before the age of ten is a very, very critically low number.”

Even among the public students with access to music education, fewer than half participate, falling to around 18% by high school.

Homeschool Families Left Traditional School for a Reason

Homeschooling is the fastest-growing form of education in the U.S., with 5.2% of all K-12 students now learning at home (up from 3.7% before the pandemic).

Today's homeschool families are diverse in their backgrounds, beliefs, and reasons for educating at home. Concerns about the school environment, dissatisfaction with academic instruction, and the desire to individualize curriculum rank among the most commonly cited reasons for homeschooling. 

Many of these families have looked at what's available and decided they can do better.

For Most Homeschool Families, Music Is a Priority

In a 2025 survey of homeschool educators, more than 80% rated music as very or extremely important in their children's K-5th-grade curriculum. 

Why is it a priority? Because, for most homeschool families, the goal is raising a capable, confident, emotionally intelligent person, and music can be remarkably good at that. 

Children who receive consistent music education show: 

• Stronger emotional regulation
• Greater empathy
• Reduced anxiety compared to peers without musical training

A survey of professional music teachers found that 92% observed students developing meaningful non-musical skills through lessons, including collaboration, perseverance, and the ability to engage constructively with others.

But Homeschool Music Education Is Usually Piecemeal

Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of comprehensive homeschool music curriculum out there. So, unlike topics like mathematics or language studies, you can’t really just buy a course.

Many homeschool families draw their music curriculum from a mix of YouTube, websites, and library resources. While this is a reasonable approach, it’s not perfect.

So, What Kind of Music Education Does Work?

The most effective music education is student-centered, one-on-one, and led by a qualified teacher, in which, as Dr. Eleonora Concina from the University of Padova says, “The basic assumption is that each student has unique characteristics; it is the teaching process that must adapt to the student rather than the opposite.”

That means having a teacher who: 

• Knows your child
• Adapts to their pace and interests
• Gives students immediate feedback

Maestro Music teacher, Camille Hatton (M.M. Conducting) says, “It is a really uniquely special thing to have a one-on-one coach in real time give you feedback and information purely for you to get better at this skill. It's kind of mind-blowing.”

YouTube tutorials and music apps can teach a child to follow along, but they can’t replace the one-on-one lesson experience.

Online Music Lessons Were Made for Homeschool Families

Some of the biggest obstacles to consistent in-person music education include the cost, location, and logistics of getting multiple kids to and from a music studio every week. Online music education can address many of these concerns.

And the tools available in an online lesson go well beyond simply replicating the in-person experience. Maestro Music teacher Chase Chandler (M.M Music Composition) teaches voice, piano, and trumpet online. He says his lessons include:

• Sharing his screen to draw directly on a student's sheet music without marking up their book
• Pulling up notation software to write out exercises while students watch
• Keeping detailed lesson notes for each student, updated between sessions
• Introducing students to audio production and recording software basics

“There are endless ways to apply technology,” Chase says.

Want to See If Online Music Lessons Are Right for Your Family?

Maestro Music is a boutique online music lesson studio catering specifically to homeschool families. Our teachers are highly vetted professionals, most of whom hold advanced degrees in music, selected through rigorous interviews and background checks to help ensure we make learning fun and inviting while teaching children to become the best musicians they can be.

Maestro Music offers a free trial lesson so you can see if online music lessons are a good fit for your family before committing.

Want to explore more Maestro Music articles? Try these next: 

• Every Student Deserves a Workaround: Meet Piano Teacher Camille Hatton
• Music Teacher Chase Chandler: Helping Kids Teach Themselves
• Online Piano Lessons: Pros and Cons for Homeschool Families 

Frequently Asked Questions

Is music education worth adding to a homeschool curriculum? 

Yes, research suggests children who receive consistent music education show stronger emotional regulation, greater empathy, and improved focus compared to peers without musical training. For homeschool families already focused on raising capable, well-rounded people, music education can align naturally with that goal.

Is YouTube enough for homeschool music education? 

YouTube is a reasonable starting point, but it has limitations. It can't, for example, assess whether your child is developing bad habits or adjust to their learning style. 

Studies suggest that real-time feedback from a qualified teacher is a key element of effective music education.

Can online music lessons work as well as in-person lessons? 

For many children, yes. And for some, it can be even better than in-person lessons. As Maestro Music voice teacher Olivia Kellett shares, “With online lessons, there is the kind of safety of your own environment, in your own space, and you know exactly who is listening to you and who isn't. Having a little bit of that protective barrier in the beginning can be so, so helpful.”