Hymn Study Resources

For the past few months, the kids and I have enjoyed learning more about hymns around our breakfast table in the morning.  In fact, we have enjoyed this so much that I thought that I would share a few of our favorite hymn study resources with you today!  These have proven to be a fantastic way to introduce my children to the traditional hymns that they might not have an opportunity to hear at our usual place of worship.  And even though I love praise and worship songs in the contemporary style, there will always be a special place in my heart for the hymns of old!

As you probably know, we homeschool our children and our focus this year is on all things American: U.S. history, geography, composers, artists, etc.  As such, we decided to start out our school year studying American hymns using this fantastic resource put out by the folks at She Reads Truth: Go Tell It On the Mountain: Stories of Early American Hymns

This is a BEAUTIFULLY done study book that walks you through a dozen early American hymns and tells you about the writer and/or composer, time period, and the inspiration behind the hymn.

Each hymn is also printed in full on a one-page art print, as well as featured with its accompanying sheet music, so you can play or sing it at home.   Or...if you are like me and NOT so musically inclined...all the hymns can be found by a simple Google search and you can just play from your phone (go low-tech and put your phone in a coffee mug to really amplify the sound!)

The book is also chock-full of beautiful period photography, timelines, and maps, so you can place the "where" and the "when" of each hymn.

If you are interested in this resource, I would encourage you to go ahead and buy the hymn study bundle (pictured below) which also features the Worthy of Praise hymn study as well!  It features another dozen hymns that have a prominent place in church history.  Like the study above, it also tells the backstory about the hymn, writers, composers, and includes all the lyrics and music.

She Reads Truth hymn study bundle

Finally, as the holidays are not too far away, I must put a shout out for three hymn studies put out by Not Consumed: Count Your Blessings: A Thanksgiving Hymn Study; Gloria: A Christmas Hymn Study; and When I Survey Easter Hymn Study.  This hymn study bundle is actually on **SALE** right now so I would highly encourage you to snag it for you and yours to enjoy together this fall! (Check it out HERE):

Hymn Study 3-pack: Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter

The studies from Not Consumed are specifically geared for homeschooling families, so they are teeming with copywork/handwriting pages, crossword puzzles, and more to get young children engaged in the hymns.  Again, sheet music is included so you can play and sing at home (and easily found online!).

I truly cannot say enough about how much these hymn studies are blessing my family right now!  After the early American hymn study, the kids were eager to jump right into the Worthy of Praise study, followed by the Count Your Blessings hymn study, and now we are going through the Easter hymn study (because who says we cannot talk about the resurrection of Christ ANYTIME of the year, right!?).  My children and I are just eating.this.stuff.up!

I do hope these hymn study resources will serve to be a blessing to you and yours, as well, dear friend!  May you have a joy-filled week, praising our Lord and Savior in a myriad of ways!