Wednesday tip: Free Classic Audiobooks for Android, itunes, or 'puter

Once upon a time there was a mom who liked the idea of reading books to her kids. She read and read, her voice ragged with winter cold,  until she wondered if there was a free source for books in audio so she could rest her scratchy throat.

She looked and typed and browsed the various apps and options on her phone and computer and one day happened upon an place which enchanted her. Old books, classic books, long lost books, all read by volunteers, some with interesting accents, but most completely understandable and easy for listening, every last one free in the public domain.

This was too good to be true! A whole new world opened up to her. Foxes Book of Martyrs became her kitchen companion, as she listened and worked. A voice read The Story of the World to her kids as they colored and she tidied. The Book of Art for Young People rounded out her homeschool curriculum, as well as Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare. She found Elsie Dinsmore, all the works of Louisa May Alcott, Margaret Gatty's Parables from Nature(in progress), The Bobbsey Twins, Anne of Green Gables, and these only a few from the 549 books in the Children's Genre.

As far as I can tell, there are almost 8000 English titles in the library, all free with no rights reserved!

Download the app Traveling Classics (It's free.) to your Android phone or go to Librivox.org and load any book you wish to your itunes account. Or download to your computer. Browse by Genre or search for your favorite classic by name.

Hours of listening await you!

I was not paid for this so called endorsement in any way, nor am I being compensated in even the smallest amount. I may or may not agree with the content of all the books that they offer, nor do I claim to understand German or Russian or Latin or French, just a few of the languages many books are offered. I do remember three Russian words, one from each month I spent there, but that is irrelevant.

Librivox is completely free and is so great a find that I just HAD to share this source of great classics in audio. Please don't tell me if you've known about this forever. I'd be so embarrassed that I just found out. Thank you. Or alternately, you are so welcome!

Weekend Links - Homeschool Books

We just finished reading these enjoyable books as part of our home school curriculum:

My kids loved these science lessons told in stories about "Uncle Paul" as he instructs his nephews. 

Written by French entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre (1823-1915):

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Fun, short book, a cat's view of life from his own perspective:

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Mitchell and Megan especially enjoyed the above selections, so when we were finished, I wanted to find something similar to continue reading with them. I didn't want to invest much money so I spent a couple minutes finding and loading a Kindle app. to my HTC EVO phone. I don't have a Kindle or reading device, but my phone screen is large enough to comfortably read from, so I did a short search for similar books based on a homeschool catalog I had been perusing, and shortly joined the modern world of digital books.*smile*

Jane Fielding wrote (or revised from the works of H. P. Robinson,) six animal autobiographies, and Fabre wrote three great science story books for children, but some are difficult to track down.  They are available from QueenHomeschool.com but I was able to find a couple inexpensive downloads.

  ~ Animal Autobiography: Bear Brownie, The Life of a Bear: $1.29 for Kindle ~
 $4.99 for Kindle~  

The last book I found is written by the daughter of author Margaret Gatty whose Parables from Nature   I own, but have not read yet. The below book is said to be full of great information on gardening, woven into story form. I plan on reading it as our family begins thinking about spring and planting our garden. And it's free for Kindle!

But until the ground thaws, we are all set to cozy up with blankets while the snow still falls and read and read and read!

Activities in a Bag

Do you ever have moments when you just need a quick activity to keep a small child out of your hair for a bit? Maybe while cooking dinner, or nursing the youngest or home schooling the big kids? Activities in a Bag is a great solution!

I first heard of their bag activities and swaps when a friend hosted a swap. Everyone gathered at her house, got an explanation of how the swap would work, picked a bag to assemble for everyone and then a few weeks later we gathered again and exchanged. We all went home with a box full of bags full of small learning activities to keep little hands busy.

I loved the idea and efficiency of one box full of many individual activities all made from inexpensive supplies and stored in Ziploc bags so much that I wanted to check out some of the new swap books offered. I decided to host a Science Experiments in a Bag swap for my local home school co-op friends. We already meet at a park weekly, so the date was set, all I had to do was email everyone to see who wanted to participate and print out instructions on how to assemble each bag activity.

We met,  each mom picked out an activity to assemble, then we took our instructions home, gathered supplies and assembled bags, one for each of the participants.

Here's an example:

One mom assembled 12 bags of the Anitfreeze experiment pictured below. Each bag contains  two 6oz cups, one T of salt, a plastic spoon, an experiment log, and an answer sheet. This project illustrates how salt makes it harder for water to freeze.

All the bags are easy to put together and the supplies are inexpensive. Each individual bag is designed to cost about $1 to assemble.

We gathered and distributed our bags so all the participants went home with 16 different science experiments in Ziploc bags. (We had 12 participants, but some of us made more than one activity.)

Now there will be no need to run around the house searching for random small objects when it comes time for science experiments. They will all be in one nicely organized tote all ready to go!

Activity Bags offers books of "recipes" for swaps on reading games, travel activities, math games, preschool activities, or you could assemble the bags yourself too! Check out their website for sample pages of each book, for a summary of the experiments, and activities at a glance.

Thanks, Activity Bags, for the free e-book and the opportunity to review your product!

Shaping up my Day

I’m always looking for new ways and systems to make our home school days run smoother. We tend to lose momentum, the kids and I are easily distracted and school drags on all day. One of the great things about doing school at home is, most days, at least in elementary school years, it is possible to be done by noon. But only if everyone works hard and stays on task. And if mom doesn’t get distracted by blogging. Ahem.

  

Yesterday I made a new check list. The previous list was too detailed, had a small font, and I think was overwhelming to little eyes. We quit using it months ago. Since that list bit the dust, I’ve foolishly expected my children to remember the work they needed to accomplish each day, and then ended up barking at them until it was. So I made a new list. Simple. A little thing.

Today began with new lists posted. And so far, my day is shaping up nicely.

  

  

 This post has been shared at I Should be Folding Laundry for You Capture. Today's focus is on shapes.

All in My Line of Work

Look around my house, and there’s plenty of work to be done. I’ve heard some assume that since I am a stay-at-home-mom and we home-school, there should be no problem keeping an orderly home. I have all day, after all, right?

Wrong.

I mean, yes, I have all day between everything else that needs to be done, but my kids never leave, so neither does their mess-making ability. Have you ever noticed, friends whose kids attend school, your house is messier during Christmas vacation when your kids are home from school? Yep. My life. It only makes sense that if you all eat at home for every meal, there will be more dishes.


Dishes aside, here's my job of first priority...

Schoolbooks and pencils, both colored and unleaded, and papers and scissors and glue sticks and notebooks have taken hostage my lovely craigslist dining room table. All that stuff represents work. Not just naming a place for it all to belong, but teaching and tutoring and nagging and urging.

I am my kids’ educator and that responsibility often overwhelms me! I love the stage we are entering though. They love to listen to me read out loud. We begin each day with a Bible story, then American history, and often, accounts of great Christian heroes.

During this reading time, my children like to snuggle and occasionally enjoy making forts out of our living room furniture, which means blankets and sleeping bags draped over everything. Fun is always followed by work. Have you noticed? Piles of blankets and cushions heavier than they can carry must be hauled up the stairs. And folded. This is my job. For now.

 

We are working on the chores thing. Child slave labor is a beautiful thing. :)
And then, of course, there’s more folding after the use of these.

I have to say though, I love my stacked Maytags on the same level as the bedrooms. No hauling laundry up or down stairs. What a treat after living for seven years where the washer was in my dark yucky basement and I carried everything up one flight of stairs, squeezing the basket through the overstocked pantry, and then up another flight. Try doing that pregnant. And my husband wonders why I never did laundry!

Anyway, here’s my final job. OK, not really. Just my final picture.

You like my double monitor? My husband has the best technology castoffs! And they are indispensable for my line of work.

I’ve been working for Carrie for a bit now designing blog books. So. Fun. I especially enjoy our weekly meetings at the local coffee shop!

Really, I think every mom needs a hobby or a job where every so often she has the satisfaction of a finished product. Something about which she can say, THIS IS DONE.

Because every mom knows that the work of  mothering is never done.

Now, off to do those dishes!

Thanks for the You capture challenges, Beth, at I Should be Folding Laundry.  I never would have taken a picture of my dirty dishes if it weren't for you!

A day for play

Yesterday the kids were playing so nice. I was torn between the joy of their happy laughter and the nag of responsibility as their teacher.

They must learn. But they must play. And play they were. Happily. No conflict. Just joy in exploring a toy we've had so long, recently rediscovered. Marbles and plastic chutes. Endless fun.

I let them, ignoring the nag. Not til the end of the day did I remember that the rest of the country was at play too. A holiday I had forgotten. No more nag, just gratefulness for children at play.

Today, we buckle down, begin again. Three pajama clad students wrestle crayons and pencils and books.

They create new schools and desks with blankets and couches. Private offices of learning.

The youngest joins in. She's reading now, sound by sound. So proud of herself and happy to learn. There's joy today too.

This post is a part of Tuesdays Unwrapped at Chatting at the Sky.

Kitchen work

I'm in that funny time of year when I can't decide if I should be planning school or canning garden produce. Thankfully my garden isn't humongous, so I'm not completely overwhelmed, but still the urgency remains to preserve the food that my small plot grows. In my old fashioned farmhouse cellar, shelves are slowly filling with hamburger and bread and butter pickles, apple pie filling and applesauce. My freezer, also, receives weekly deposits of green beans, jalapeno peppers, green peppers, zucchini, and tomatoes. It feels satisfying. Yet I know these productive kitchen days are nearing their end. Soon the canning jars on my kitchen table will be replaced with Language Arts, Math, Science and History books. Thankfully, I use curriculum that requires little planning, so I'm gonna can away!

Hired Help

With Them

Ahhhh. My week of freedom is almost over and I am savoring the final moments over a cup of lemon balm tea.

Contented Sigh.

My house is clean. I shared brunch with four girl pals. My garden looks the best ever. It has been weeded and fertilized with stuff from the floor of the old chicken coop. The front of the house was landscaped with new bushes and perennials. The barns and sheds have been cleared out and two dumpsters were hauled away. A box of clothes is washed and pressed and ready to go to Once Upon a Child. All the toaster crumbs have been vacuumed out of the lazy susan cupboard. Various other storage has been organized and sorted. One morning was spent at the Prime with a friend kitting 300 boxes and then we had lunch with another friend. My errands will be completed tomorrow. And then my kids will be back from Vacation Bible School full time.

This sending my kids away thing is tempting. I could send them to school and live this life all the time. However, I feel compelled by this magnificent task of homeschooling, this challenge. I will not shy away from it, though I am exhausted and despairing. Others may be called to complete their task differently. I will not judge them, nor will I envy them. I will press on as I share truth with my children during the smallest, most unexpected moments of the day. I will live my life in front of them, all the time. I will share my tears, my joys, my anger, my laughter, my faith, my God. I will be with them. And He will be too.

A jar to keep your stomach in...

We are on to studying mummies and the process of mummification. Mitchell and Megan made canopic jars (with a little sculpting help from their crafty mom). These jars were used to store preserved organs from the mummy, and these jackal heads on the lids specify that each jar contains a stomach, though I believe my children have decided that theirs will store money.

School is fun!

The Sun rises on the Nile River!

And our crops are growing!

We are still studying Ancient Egypt,

home to hieroglyphics (rather difficult for a 7 and 9 year old to master)

and Sumer,

the creators of cuneiform (slightly less difficult and thus our choice of ancient writing).

Can you translate what Mitchell and Megan carved?

School projects

I am using a great history curriculum this year with lots of fun projects for the kids (and I) to do. The Story of the World starts at the beginning, and for four years, will follow the course of history to modern time. Here are a couple of pictures of what we've done:



How do we learn about history? One way is archaeology! This is our "dig." The kids buried items from our house and then we dug them up a week later.

This is our model of the Nile River. Notice the Pyramids and Sphinx. We will "flood" the Nile to water our "crops" just as the ancient Egyptians relied on the annual flooding to fertilize and water their crops near the river. Notice also the Delta region at the top, named for the Greek letter D which is shaped like a triangle...Yes, I am turning into a very smart homeschool mom! :)

School, to start or not to start

So, swimming lessons are over and we are in the final weeks of summer....Labor day is coming and we are looking forward to camping. Then starts school. Or I was thinking that we should get a week of school in before Labor Day. I was telling a friend this thought, and her response was, in her nice British accent, "You should tell yourself to shut up!"
So maybe we'll wait till after the holiday, or better yet, start after the laundry is done, the camper is cleaned and I feel all rested from a busy vacation. Oh wait, then I'd never start at all! Well, I don't want my kids to grow up stupid, so I'd better start at least sometime in September!

Oh my, I was just typing away and Megan ran in saying there were cows at the end of our driveway! And there were. At least 20 cows stampeding down our country road chased by a four-wheeler. Never seen that before!