A favorite thing necessary to our homeschool? Just one?
Well, okay – I’ll pick:
Audiobooks
Yep, good ol’ audiobooks. The reason I specify audiobooks instead of just good literature and include audiobooks in it? Because the audio part can make a huge difference for some kids. Once audiobooks were discovered by my readers (and they LOVE to read), a bigger array of titles opened up to them because the thickness of the book or the tininess of the print was no longer intimidating. From Anne of Green Gables to folktales by native storytellers to major productions like The Dragon and The Raven by Heirloom Audio Productions, audios have made a huge impact on our homeschooling.
If you are looking for classics, you can get many of them for free online from sources like Librivox or your local public library site (using things like Overdrive).
If you are looking for children’s titles, check out your local public library or a interlibrary loan system. Miss J checks out Playaways with titles like Corduroy, Amelia Bedelia, and The Hungry Caterpillar. Miss E checks out Ella Enchanted and Anne of Green Gables and more.
If you are looking for more, you can pay and buy them online or in bookstores. (But don’t forget to look in used bookstores, too!)
We have used audio books to make our roadtrips much more productive. Whether it be a classic that we want to listen to or something new we have never experienced, we have found that roadtrips are the perfect time to try out audiobooks.
History is one area where audiobooks bring a whole lot of information to life for the listener. Especially if you use our very favorite resource: Heirloom Audio Productions.
We have reviewed several of their productions (and we just found out we get to review their newest one, as well: The Cat of Bubastes so look for that in October), including:
Beric The Briton,
Under Drakes Flag,
In Freedom’s Cause,
With Lee In Virginia, and
The Dragon and the Raven.
These will teach the listener history whether they want to hear it or not! They are amazing and fantastic and tons of fun. Just ask Miss E. She keeps them in her room and listens to them quite often. I would imagine she has listened to each of them several times.
So our favorite, can’t live without item: audios, be it audiobooks or audioproductions. Go find one to listen to and see if your family doesn’t fall in love with them, too.
At Home.
This is a part of the Review Crew Round-up, publishing the evening of August 26, 2016 (when this link will be live).
Tagged: audio, homeschool, TOS
At Home 
I like Lori. We love them to. Right now we are doing Artemis Fowl and the Artic Incident. Good book, the lad is fascinated.
What do you think of Artemis Fowl? Can you elaborate a bit? I have heard much negative about it.
[…] Lori @ At Home: where life happens shares A favorite thing necessary to our homeschool? Just one? […]
what do I like about Artemis Fowl books? its an interesting story, where a kid is bad in an evil genius kind but is slowly turned good, he discovers there is good in him. right now we are in book four of artemis fowl after the fairies had removed the “fairy memories” so Artemis is having to relearn the good part of himself. What negative things have you heard about them? There is no swearing, the bad guys tend not to win, the characters are interesting and well-developed, just a make-believe world.
Your response makes me wonder if I have gotten the wrong name attached to something negative. I can’t place exactly what it was I have heard now that I am trying to put it into words so maybe I am just imagining things. Thanks for the info. I will definitely look them up at the library this week.
[…] Lori @ At Home: where life happens shares A favorite thing necessary to our homeschool? Just one? […]