What Homeschoolers Listen to While Studying

Music has never been more prevalent and readily available than it is in today’s world of smart phones, wireless earbuds, and intelligent personal assistants. However, when it comes to studying, does background music create a positive learning environment or merely a distracting noise?

According to Stanford professor Clifford Nass, the effectiveness of study music depends on what you’re trying to accomplish.

“Music with lyrics is very likely to have a problematic effect when you’re writing or reading,” Nass said in a USA Today article, “[but] if you’re feeling agitated, you can listen to more calming music, and that will absolutely have a positive effect.”

Those same sentiments were reflected among homeschoolers we asked on Facebook. Here is a baker’s dozen of responses we received about what homeschoolers like to listen to while studying:

“Classical is great for that, although back when it was me studying, I needed complete silence!” – Heather Anderson

“I love the classical, but jazz is wonderful. We are open to anything that is just music, no words.” – Tracy Dunn

“My kids and I find quiet works best for us. We like to listen to hymns, both instrumental and not, but music distracts them when trying to focus.” – Stephanie Umpleby

“Mine often plays the CDs of her choir practice music or sound tracks from movies.” – Nita Spearman

“Our kids love anything composed by John Williams.” – Jacob-Kiki Hantla

“My kids like classical, instrumental, and worship music.” – Fides Miranda Caingcoy

“My 13-year-old likes to listen to Adventures in Odyssey while she does school, but the 16-year-old says no music...only quiet.” – Charity Mile

“We use YouTube and search study music, but we prefer nature sounds such as birds, rain, waves, etc.” – Lisa Ackermann

“I let my kids listen to what they want while they do handwriting.” – Katie Keele

“I am going to go with the great classic composers like Bach and Chopin.” – Melanie Eaton-Heun

“We listen to Amazon Prime’s classical focus station!” – Sarah Elizabeth Sexton Boggs

“We have a station on Pandora called classical music for studying. We get some cool stuff like Transformers and Skyrim soundtracks!” – Laurie Ward

“Classical for sure, but for things that require less focus, we also love Andrew Peterson.” – Angela Klompien