Ashley Hylbert
If you’re anything like me, homeschooling started off as an unprecedented opportunity to become the grown-up version of the girl that used to line up dolls and play Mrs. [insert-your-maiden-name].
But what started as Pinterest-worthy spelling words in homemade icing on sugar cookies and beautifully laminated schedules, quickly turned to a coffee mug of pinot grigio and tears in the guest room closet. And that was only halfway into day three.
Over these past eight weeks, I—like many of you—have processed my tenure as an in-house educator /lunch lady/counselor/janitor/ emotional referee in a rainbow of ways.
I’ve tried implementing family yoga sessions, half-written an expose in my head on “why school shouldn’t be a thing in modern American culture,” drank the county dry of brut champagne, vomited my childhood traumas into mom group texts… and in all seriousness, apologized to my kids a number of times not even their actual math teacher would believe. And with our last day approaching (at a snail’s pace, mind you), I still have zero answers on how to thrive (while trying to host a Zoom team meeting and explain to a 1st grader why the word “bought” has so many extra letters in it at the same time).
But, as the school of life has reminded me, and as we famously say in Nashville—music really is medicine. You would think as a 15-year songwriting veteran on Music Row, I would have intrinsically known this already. But alas, one of the greatest lessons in this for me has been watching how an impromptu dance party or a cheap Bluetooth speaker on a bike ride has given our whole tribe a reprieve from our collective tailspin. I’ve watched a snotty-nosed meltdown disappear in seven seconds flat given the right groove. And I’ve watched fighting siblings turn into best friends given the right Top 40 intro.
So, if you’re already going stir crazy from a summer that hasn’t even started yet—or you need some of popular culture’s greatest voices to step in and substitute for three minutes at a time—here are some of the songs that have created some semblance of harmony in our home these past few months.
Now do your best and make good choices.
Love,
Mrs. Galyon
Homeschool Playlist
Listen on Spotify
MATHEMATICS — they say that numbers are better learned in word problems, so here we’ve illustrated in lyric how one drink actually multiplies a family tree and how in order to master love for an infinity, you must spend the equivalent of 416.6667 days getting to know someone.
- “10,000 Hours” Dan & Shay
- “Twenties” Bren Joy
- “One Beer” Hardy
- “Six Feet Apart” Alec Benjamin
PHONICS — when it comes to acronyms, look no further than the sad boy pop playlists and Music Row’s most recent rising stars for help. And IMO OMG SMH if you can’t understand all this IRL.
- “ILYSB” LANY
- “OMGILY” Madison Kozak
SPANISH — they say the younger you are, the easier it is to learn a second language. Which is why it’s crucial to include songs that use the words Reposado within the first 16 seconds in your morning curriculums.
- “Real Talk” Angie K
MUSIC — and to think Gen Z thinks they coined this highly important musical term…Mr. Seals.
- “BOP” Dan Seals
HISTORY — gather around children, and let me introduce you to a sonic blessing called the 80s. Sometime after Vietnam, but before Desert Storm, came an era called the synthesizer.
- “I Loved You First” Joan
- “Don’t Start Now” Dua Lipa
GEOGRAPHY — if you’re blanking on where the capital of Iowa is or how to find the metaphorical heart of Texas, always enlist the truth-telling crooners from the flyover states to educate you on why sometimes you have to leave God’s country, and then miss it enough to return.
- “Heartland” Hailey Whitters
- “Wide Open Spaces” Dixie Chicks