“So many books… so little time” is a common refrain among bibliophile homeschoolers. Laundry has to be folded, meals have to be cooked, and errands must be run. As much as we love reading aloud to our children, homemaking often keeps us from doing it as often as we would like. And we are not the only ones who are busy! Our children attend music lessons, help with household chores, and need time outdoors for free play.
Despite our busy lives, I’ve discovered a secret for injecting more books into our schedule – audio books.
Whether downloaded for free, borrowed from the library, or purchased at a retail store or website, audio books are a super way to “read” more books with your children. We store our audio CDs on the shelves along with our books for constant access. Our family rule is that you must ask permission to watch a movie, but listening to audio books is okay anytime. I love that my daughter reaches for an audio book when she’s bored instead of watching television or playing video games.
My daughter’s favorite time to listen to audio books is while she cleans up her room. The story engages her mind and helps her forget the drudgery of her task. I love that she’s hearing good fiction or classic biographies while I’m busy with my own work elsewhere in the house.
Of course, we listen to audio books together as well. That’s the best situation because we can discuss what we’ve heard and share the memories of the book together, even weeks later.
Here are some great times to sneak in more books with audio books:
- During meal preparation and clean up
- While drawing or crafting
- As you assemble a model
- When sick in bed
- During a trip in the car
- As you wait for an event or a doctor’s appointment (use headphones)
- While folding laundry
An average juvenile fiction novel at Audible.com is around 3 hours of listening time. So if you listened to an audio book only half an hour each day, you could easily add fifty titles to your yearly reading list.
Will you choose audio books for fun or for academics? That’s up to you. You can certainly choose historical fiction to match your history curriculum. Or you may want to choose some literary classics that aren’t scheduled in your language arts curriculum. Look at some of those great books lists that you never seem to get around to reading, and choose some titles to listen to on your computer or MP3 player.
Do you use audio books? What time works best for listening? And do you have some suggested titles that were big hits with your family? Please share them in the comments.
Jimmie is a former public school teacher turned homeschooling stay-at-home-mom. A sense of humor, faith, and creativity keep her “pressing on” in her unique situation — living and traveling abroad with an only child in a bilingual environment. Visit her blog at Jimmie’s Collage.
With a 30 minute trek to any place we go, we often listen to audio books from our library while we drive. Some of our fav’s have been My Father’s Dragon, Henry Huggins, Sign of the Beaver, Dr. Doolittle, Simon the Gravity Keeper, and all the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle stories.
Marsha´s last blog ..Surrender
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I’m so grateful to live in this technological era – to be able to download a story for free – what a blessing!
We love to listen while we we craft or prepare food! Our favourite long audio book was Brother Andrew’s “God’s Smuggler”. I try have a new audio book for our annual long road trip across country.
Nadene Esterhuizen´s last blog ..Day, Week, Month, Season and Weather Chart with Rotating Circles
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Our boys have listened to the Jonathan Park audios that deal with science in an adventurous setting. We’ve also listened to Radio Theater CDs from Focus on the Family when we take car trips. The last sets we listened to were The Life of Jesus and classics such as Les Miserables.
Lisa V.´s last blog ..WFMW – Orange Peeler
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I love using audio books from the library to “sneak in” a little extra historical literature in addition to what the kids (ages 11 & 14) are assigned to read on their own. We listen in the van and at lunchtime. Our current story is Red Scarf Girl, a true story which takes place during the Chinese Cultural Revolution; before that we listened to When My Name Was Keoko, set during the Japanese occupation of Korea.
Like the previous commenter, we also enjoy listening to lit-based audio dramas from Focus on the Family Radio Theater, especially during long car trips. They are SO well done and really help to pass the hours. I get most of ours at discounted prices from http://www.libraryanded.com. These are dramas rather than audio books, but they serve the same purpose. Favorites have included Anne of Green Gables and Les Miserables and… the list could go on and on!
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Absolutely, we have done the car, and some listening while playing or during meals as you say…I yet have to get a DVD player for the girls, maybe once they are like yours a bit older.
Thanks for the Focus on the Family Radio Theater tip.
Silvia
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I have some great book lists for ages toddler through middle school if you want some ideas at http://pragmaticmom.com
See black navigation bar and entry: Book Lists. Hold down that button to see all the various lists.
Hope this is helpful.
Pragmatic Mom
pragmaticmom´s last blog ..Meet DesignTrackMind for Creating Fabulous Child-Friendly Spaces
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I adore audio books. My daughter and I are big Harry Potter fans and have listened to the entire series on CD – twice. It is amazing how much listening time we can get in just going back and forth from swim team. I just told her today we need to pick something to listen to in the car because I’ll be driving her to USA Swimming Sectionals soon (5 hours away) and she’s going to the homeschool conference with me (4 hours away).
Another great use of audio books that was not mentioned in your article is to use them ALONG WITH the actual book. My middle son is able to read along with novels that would be a bit too difficult for him by reading along with the book on CD. I have found that this method is increasing his vocabulary and dramatically helping with reading comprehension.
Thanks for more insightful comments, Jimmie!
Samantha
Samantha´s last blog ..Scale Model Solar System
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Recently I have instituted audio books during our clean up time before dinner. They have really tekn up to it and are really enjoying it. Such a blesing. Now I need a good selection…
Joelle´s last blog ..Sunday Hymn
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Our entire family loves audiobooks, including my husband. We do the usual-listening in the car, and while cleaning. Some of our favorites have been the American Girl Collections, Left Behind Series, Lori Wyck books, Karen Kingsbury books, Elizabeth G Speare books and so many more. I am currently reading the YWAM biographies the we read during school onto my husband’s ipod so he can hear them as well. We totally enjoy them.
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Oh yeah, we also now have available from our library the ability to download books. I have in our queue some foreign languages books as well as listening books.
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I haven’t figured out mp3s yet, but I did put in a cd of Alice in Wonderland while finishing up some work on the computer one day. The kids were piled on my bed w/ the book while I half-listened. I remember thinking, “Wow. This book is crazier & harder to follow than I’d realized.”
A little later, I realized I had the cd set on “shuffle.”
I think for now I have to stick to cassette tapes, lol.
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Jimmie,
No the kids didn’t complain. They’re like that with books, but when I realized & stopped the cd, they all let out sighs of relief. LOL Kids can be strange!
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I need suggestions for audio books. I have 2 boys – 6 1/2 and 4 1/2. Both read above their grade level. We started Lion, Witch and Wardrobe on audio but the oldest preferred to read the book instead. Ginger Pye was a hit with my youngest. Any suggestions? Both love animals but not dogs or horses.
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I love books! I love to snuggle with the book. I love to turn the pages. I love to read aloud. This is a new idea for me. My children listen to the little audio turn the page books, but using audio books as they get older is a new thought for me. We will definitely give this some consideration! Something new to look for at the library! We’re always at the library!
jeannine: waddlee-ah-chaa´s last blog ..Meet our Stray Dog Shadow (book GIVEAWAY!)
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