Audio books in the Homeschool

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With life a bit busy this week, I didn’t get a chance to write this for publication in the morning. Instead, I’m tying it up at night to publish before the clock strikes midnight here in Alaska.

I’m also not feeling super inspired, so I’m going to share a favorite hint that has probably come up in posts over the last few years.

Using audio books in your homeschool can be a real blessing!

Now, my boys are all good readers and enjoy a good book in their hands.  However, there are times when we ALL want to read the same story and not all the boys are ready to actually read from the book.  Audio books can help achieve that desired goal…everyone can participate and the text can be above their normal reading level and still be understood.

We do not use them nearly as often as we used to when long distance driving was common.  But, we do still listen to history for most chapters.  The boys will then reference the written ‘text’ when completing their chapter outlines.  We’ve also had a few fiction books to occupy our driving around time when we knew we’d be doing a fair bit of driving some weeks.  I’m actually wishing we had one checked out and ready to go as the past few days had us logging quite a bit of drive time.

Aside from in the car or for our history studies, putting on an audio book during snack time, lunch, or quiet time in the afternoon can be a great way to bring everyone together.  The only problem my boys might have with this approach is not wanting to get back to other work if the story engaging.

Finally, I’ll share a tip from one library back in Ohio.  For some emergent readers (or those that struggle with making the transition to chapter books), listening to an audio book while following along with the written text can be a morale booster and help develop their skills.  At times, I’ve had R do just that while listening to history to help cement the details a bit better in his brain.  It also alleviates stress over how to pronounce unfamiliar words.

For my homeschooling readers, do you currently use audio books as part of school and, if so, how do you work them into the schedule?