Godspeed, Stimson, and saying a little prayer for you now. My first ever chant classes yesterday with a homeschool co-op went very well. We learned the Signum Crucis, a little solfege and the first page of the Litany of the Saints, and it was great fun. I discovered that having them sing antiphonally in two groups is a great way to incentivize them to sing.

Stimson, having four boys of my own, I guess I've learned a few tricks. Lots of eye contact
with boys is essential, and stopping frequently to ask questions to draw them out helps a great deal. In other words, don't drone on for long periods by yourself without interacting closely with the kids and making them think and participate at frequent intervals.

I watch closely early on to identify the ones who might be trouble and gravitate towards them from the get-go so they never have the chance to collect collaborators.

You might ask two or three of the loud ones to act as cantor (they'll rarely do it alone) and try to use their obstreperousness to your advantage. Ask them to hand out papers or collect papers, etc. If you've got lots of boys in a group, I'd strongly recommend establishing a collaborative relationship with them first and then you can give more attention to the girls later on.

In other words always try to zero in on the ones most likely to cause you trouble from the beginning and make them your allies. Use their leadership skills to help YOU. Always, always focus in a positive, energetic way on the potential ringleaders from the beginning.

Hope that helps. I have two groups: grades 1-3 and grades 4-6.

LOL, Francis!

What's funny about young boys is that you can pretty much tell the minute they walk in the door which one is the hot dog of a group, and that's the one you've got to co-opt as soon as possible if you can. Attention (positive or negative) is what fuels them, so give them plenty of positive attention, and you can usually win them over or keep them sufficiently off balance to get things done. Trouble-makers don't expect adults to act like they like them so if you can pre-empt them before they get their act going, chances are you can throw them off their game.

Just curious, how often do you meet with your children's choirs/homeschool groups? I think this is part of my problem.

We had a turn-out of three, which was depressing until I found out we were unadvertised. (There's apparently a sizeable number of students who want to join now.) We started practicing the Gloria from Mass VIII; at first I was going through section by section until we decided to try a "cold read" of the rest about halfway through.

They nailed it. Like Bob Vila.

Mind you, this was after only a few minutes' worth of learning how to read Gregorian chant.

The music director at this Newman center (which shall remain nameless) once told a colleague of mine that Gregorian chant would be "difficult and inaccessible to the average student."