Hymn study for homeschool: how to start with one hymn a month

Hymn study means learning one hymn a month by singing it often. It takes five minutes a day and needs no books beyond a hymnal. Some Charlotte Mason homeschools do it beside folk song study and composer study, and it works for any family that wants to sing together. This page gives a plan, twelve hymns for a first year, and the places where hymn tunes turn up in classical music.

Families of any faith, or of none, can study hymns as music and as history. Choose the hymns that fit your home.

What a hymn is

A hymn is a song of praise written for a whole group to sing. Its shape makes it easy to learn.

• One tune, many verses. Each verse has new words to the same tune.
• A steady beat. One note goes with each syllable, for the most part.
• A tune with its own name. The words and the tune of a hymn were often written by two people at two times. The tune of “Amazing Grace” is called “New Britain.”
• A meter. A hymnal prints numbers such as 8.6.8.6 beside each hymn. They count the syllables in each line. Two hymns with the same numbers can swap tunes.

A plan for one hymn a month

Week	What to do
1	Listen. Play a recording each day. Hum along.
2	Sing the first verse each day. Read the words aloud once, and talk about any hard ones.
3	Add the other verses. Read the story of who wrote it.
4	Sing it from memory. Play the tune on an instrument, or sing it for a relative.

Sing at the same time each day, such as at breakfast or at the start of school. Come back to old hymns once a week so they are not lost.

Twelve hymns for a first year

Month	Hymn	Words	Tune
September	“For the Beauty of the Earth”	Folliott Pierpoint, 1864	“Dix”
October	“A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”	Martin Luther, about 1529	By Luther
November	“Now Thank We All Our God”	Martin Rinkart, about 1636	By Johann Crüger
December	“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”	An old Latin text, in English since 1851	An old French tune
January	“Amazing Grace”	John Newton, about 1772	“New Britain”
February	“Be Thou My Vision”	An old Irish poem, in English verse since 1912	“Slane,” an Irish folk tune
March	“All Creatures of Our God and King”	From a poem by Francis of Assisi	A German tune from 1623
April	“Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee”	Henry van Dyke, 1907	Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”
May	“All Things Bright and Beautiful”	Cecil Frances Alexander, 1848	Several tunes are in use
June	“Holy, Holy, Holy”	Reginald Heber	“Nicaea,” by John Bacchus Dykes
July	“Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”	Robert Robinson, 1758	“Nettleton”
August	“Praise to the Lord, the Almighty”	Joachim Neander, 1680	An old German tune

Stories to tell

“Amazing Grace.” John Newton was an English sea captain who worked in the slave trade. He later became a minister, wrote this hymn, and spoke against the trade. The tune uses only five notes, and you can play all of it on the black keys of a piano.

“A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” Martin Luther wrote both the words and the tune. He wanted the people in church to sing, in their own language.

“Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee.” The tune is the “Ode to Joy” from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Read Ode to Joy for kids.

“Now Thank We All Our God.” Martin Rinkart was a pastor in a walled German town during the Thirty Years’ War.

Hymn tunes in classical music

Hymn tune	Where to hear it
“A Mighty Fortress”	Cantata No. 80, by Bach, and the last movement of the “Reformation” Symphony, by Mendelssohn
“Now Thank We All Our God”	Symphony No. 2, by Mendelssohn
“Ode to Joy”	Symphony No. 9, last movement, by Beethoven
A psalm tune by Thomas Tallis	Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, by Vaughan Williams
The big tune from “Jupiter”	The Planets, by Holst. It was later set to words as a hymn. See the guide.
The slow tune from Finlandia	Finlandia, by Sibelius. It was later set to words as a hymn.
A Russian hymn	The opening of the 1812 Overture, by Tchaikovsky. See the guide.

Read Bach for kids, Mendelssohn for kids, and Vaughan Williams for kids.

Things to do with each hymn

• Copy a verse in your child’s best handwriting.
• Find the meter numbers in the hymnal, and count the syllables to check them.
• Play the tune on the piano, the recorder, or the violin.
• Compare two recordings: a choir with an organ, and one singer with a guitar.
• Find the tune’s name, and look for another hymn that uses it.
• Sing in parts. Older children can try the alto line. Read voice types for kids.

Keep a hymn notebook

Give each hymn one page: the title, the names of the writer and the composer, the date, one verse copied by hand, and a drawing. Use the composer study notebook page for the composers you meet.

If you do not sing well

Sing anyway. A child learns from hearing a parent try. Play a recording, and sing along with it.

Where to find words and tunes

A hymnal has the words and the music on one page. Ask at a church or a library, or look in a second-hand bookshop. Recordings of the hymns on this page are easy to find online.

Next steps

Hymn study sits well beside two other short daily habits. Read folk song study for homeschool and Charlotte Mason composer study. To plan the year, read composer study for homeschool. For the instrument that leads hymns in many churches, read the pipe organ for kids.