Hello from Iowa, USA

Newbie here. Homeschool Dad of 6 boys (8, 7, 5 , 3, and twin babies). We picked up a subscription at a homeschool conference. I have just installed the software and played around with a few games. The newly published user manual seems like a welcome tool. I also found the one year lesson plan. Now, I'm hunting for some additional directions: are the flash cards free with purchase of the subscription? Is there a video of the five finger exercise?

Any other advice for a beginner would be appreciated!

Every one of my boys, except for the babies of course, wanted to play more of the first game (Key Note School?). Thanks for the great program!

Welcome! Your place must be busy, the que at your piano is going to require some interesting time tabling. I can't wait to hear about how your boys are going.
The 5 fingers excersizes ( Hanon) can be found on the index page of the forum under first learning excersizes ( or something like that) there is a section there full of learning videos to help out when you get stuck on something. It has all the beginners songs there to help with timing, fingering and posture.
Anyway the link for the Hanon excersizes is here
softmozart.com/forum/55-teaching-videos/...the-first-level.html
Flash cards are an extra expense but quite cheap. There is a share file section in the forum index which has some colourful ones for young beginners free to download. Check them out.
The one year lesson plan is a great place to start teaching, you older children will move faster than it but the direction overall is great.
Glad you like the new manual. People spent plenty of time on making it user friendly.

jamesmillsia wrote: Newbie here. Homeschool Dad of 6 boys (8, 7, 5 , 3, and twin babies). We picked up a subscription at a homeschool conference. I have just installed the software and played around with a few games. The newly published user manual seems like a welcome tool. I also found the one year lesson plan. Now, I'm hunting for some additional directions: are the flash cards free with purchase of the subscription? Is there a video of the five finger exercise?

Any other advice for a beginner would be appreciated!

Every one of my boys, except for the babies of course, wanted to play more of the first game (Key Note School?). Thanks for the great program!

Welcome!
I'm Andrea, president of Soft Mozart PTO.

Guess Key, you mean? My oldest loves it, my one year old is still scared of it :blink: but loves to watch me or the oldest one playing in Gentle Piano :lol: . Seems he doesn't like notes falling down trees but likes flowers and butterflies! And he recognizes notes or note symbols or instruments everywhere - I say that cause he starts singing solfege (from Soft Mozart Alphabet Song Chant) whenever he sees them.

We have a new sample curriculum with links to all the complementary materials (some are free, some are for purchase only) and links to useful videos for start, like video tutorials for each Soft Mozart module and some video explaining what Soft Mozart does in terms of reading music sheets and more. Please write me at [email protected] to email it to you in case your package had the old one.

Meanwhile, Hellene promised some free materials for those she met at the conference. This link is available about a week for you to download: dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60668524/Sof...Beginner%20Files.zip

I suggest going through the manual first.

Just to help you catch up with Soft Mozart schedule each year:
We're in the middle of May online international Recital (anyone can join, by the way read here details ) and after that we have graduation and giving diplomas and prizes, followed by a Summer Curriculum as we do each year (ear-training, transposing, composing and music dictation). Then we start a new Academic year in August with detailed curriculum for each level.

:lol: Hope this is not too much for a beginner...

jamesmillsia wrote: Newbie here. Homeschool Dad of 6 boys (8, 7, 5 , 3, and twin babies). We picked up a subscription at a homeschool conference. I have just installed the software and played around with a few games. The newly published user manual seems like a welcome tool. I also found the one year lesson plan. Now, I'm hunting for some additional directions: are the flash cards free with purchase of the subscription?

We have beginning flash cards for free in our TRY NOW section:
www.softmozart.com/teaching/how-to-get-s...it-for-yourself.html
Later on you will be able to download the rest for a little charge.

Is there a video of the five finger exercise?

Woops! :blush: We have to make one!

Any other advice for a beginner would be appreciated!

Every one of my boys, except for the babies of course, wanted to play more of the first game (Key Note School?). Thanks for the great program!

The best way to learn is a customized one. Start providing their Progress Diary and share your experience. Other Soft Mozart teachers and I will be guiding you and helping you to progress most effectively.

Hey, JamesMillsIA, I'm in a similar situation as you! My wife and I are homeschooling with 4 kids (7,5,3,1) and also just met Hellene and purchased SoftMozart. I am glad you asked the questions you did and thankful to Andrea and Hellene for the answers, links, and materials. I was able to download and start a folder of files too. Looking forward to progressing with you?

One question, are you going to learn also, or is this primarily for your kids. In our situation, I am going to be learning and the kids also, but not all of us at once. The three year old only if she shows interest in it.. and the one year old is too busy trying to unplug the piano!

See you around! Thanks again.

Oh, and thanks to Mandabplus3 also.. didn't mean to leave you out