Reviews: History and Geography

Jim Hodges Audio Books ~ Plus Giveaway

September 11, 2012 By Maureen Spell 35 Comments

This post may contain affiliate or advertiser links. Read my full disclosure policy here.

My family loves to use living books instead of textbooks for the main part of our curriculum. Currently our entire history and literature program is comprised of a huge list of chapter and picture books. Sometimes this momma needs some help getting through the stack of read-alouds and readers. That’s where audio books can help. One wonderful resource for history audio books is Jim Hodges Audio Books.

Why Use Audio Books?

While there are many reasons to use audio books at home, here are some reasons we find audio books a helpful resource:

1. There are some books I just stink at reading aloud. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has started reading a book but it just does not flow. Sometimes it is due to vocabulary and other times it is due to the subject matter. Either way, when this happens I don’t feel like reading the book and the kids don’t get excited about hearing me read the book. That’s when I turn to an audio- version.

2. My 10yr. old with dyslexia can concentrate on the content and the storyline without struggling with reading. Audio books are a wonderful resource for struggling readers or students who are auditory learners. I have recently started to add more audio books to our collection specifically for my 10yr. old. My daughter is able to listen to books above her reading level. It has helped her develop a “like” (can’t say she loves them yet) for books, which is translating into her wanting to read some books on her own that she normally would have resisted. There is a wonderful article called “Reading with Your Ears” that discusses the benefits of using audiobooks with students whether they struggle with reading or not.

3. I can drive a car and listen along. I love to use audiobooks as a way to multi-task. If we are driving around town, I can throw an audiobook in the cd/mp3 player and continue schooling. If I need to be preparing a meal, I can have the children listen to an audiobook to keep them focused and learning.

4. My pre-readers can listen to stories on their own. Sometimes I just don’t have time to read aloud. Audio books are a wonderful way to allow non-readers the opportunity to listen to a story.

Jim Hodges Audio Books

Jim Hodges has a vast collection of historical audio books available. One of his main sources are unabridged books by G.A. Henty. Over the past couple of years I have heard of G.A. Henty on various homeschool message boards, but had no clue who he was or read any of his books. Since we are finishing up ancient history this year, I wanted to add a couple of additional resources. One highly recommended book mentioned as a supplement for studying Ancient Egypt was The Cat of Bubastes. I was thrilled to see that Jim Hodges had it in audio book format! I picked that book plus Beric The Briton to fit in the time period we are currently studying. In addition to the audio books, Jim also has vocabulary guides for many of the books available.

We listened to The Cat of Bubastes on our tv while eating lunch.

There are a range of historical books available, and they come on a .mp3 CD or as a direct download. The cd’s cost $25 and the direct downloads are $18. Note that these are .mp3 CD’s. Older cd players might not have .mp3 capabilities. We were able to listen to our CD’s on our t.v., iPod, and computer. I love all the playing options we have!

One helpful resource is the scope and sequence of the historical audio books. You can easily see which time period the book belongs in and the age level the book is geared for. If you are looking for historical books for school or just pure enjoyment, I recommend you check out the audio books Mr. Hodges offers. I have several on my wish-list for this year and for next year’s history studies. The quality was nice and it was easy to listen to Mr. Hodges tell the story. You might want to sign up for the newsletter in order to learn about sales and other resources.

Our family is being challenged (in a good way) by the stories of G.A. Henty. The rich vocabulary and historical settings of his books have been a fantastic addition to our school year. There is no way I would have read these aloud on my own. I am thankful for the option of listening to these books and thrilled that Jim Hodges Audio Books has so many available.

”I like to listen to audio books because I don’t have to read any pages. I can imagine what is happening in the story when I hear Mr. Hodges read the story.” ~10 yr. old dd.

Check out what Mary from Homegrown Learners says about Jim Hodges Audio Books.

Free Audio Book

Would you like to listen to one of Jim’s audio books for free? Here’s your chance! You can download a complete and unabridged recording of the book Stories of the Pilgrims by Margaret Pumphries. This would be a great resource to add to a unit study on Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims. Follow the link above, enter your email, and use code IHSPilgrims (it is case-sensitive. The first letter is an “i”.)

Audio Book Giveaway

Jim Hodges is offering one of you the chance to get your hands on your choice of any 2 audio book cd’s! He is even willing to ship worldwide. Just enter in the Rafflecopter widget below.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received the two audio books for free, and was compensated for the time invested to do the review. All opinions are my own and I was not required to do a positive review. This review was coordinated by the iHomeschool Network. Please read my disclosure policy for more information.

Filed Under: Ancient History, books, History & Geography, Homeschool, Reviews: History and Geography Tagged With: audiobooks, G.A. Henty books, history, iHN

Founder’s Academy: Vote 2012

March 22, 2012 By Maureen Spell 2 Comments

This post may contain affiliate or advertiser links. Read my full disclosure policy here.

Usually I talk about my little ones, but today my 13yr. old and 11yr. old are in the spotlight! With this being an election year, I was feeling a little guilty about not doing a unit study or something on the subject (we did one 4 years ago, does that count?) Well I remembered how much fun my 9yr. old had in her Meatballs & Marinara class and my then 4yr. old had in her online Smoothie Cooking Class over at Currclick. I thought I’d go look around again and see what they had to offer. I was thrilled to see that Founder’s Academy was offering a Live!2012 class. So I signed my oldest two up.

13yr. old dd in class

This class was a speciality class and only lasted 2 sessions. This class covered:

How are candidates for president selected
What is a primary / What is a caucus
How does the party system work
What is the electoral college
Is voting a right, or a privilege

CurrClick has an online classroom. When you sign up for the class you will receive information on how to access the classroom. Once I figured out how to set up student profiles, it was pretty easy to access the class. It really is a nice set-up. You can configure student profiles for each of your children under your account settings tab. Then once that is completed, each child can have their own “homepage”. Whatever classes they are signed up for will show up under their courses. They can also receive homework assignments and messages from their teacher here.

Mrs. Schott, a 14-year homeschool veteran, was their teacher. She was the only one who appeared on video and was heard. The students typed questions and answers in the chat box, which is on the bottom left of the screen in the picture above. My kids liked that part. They enjoyed interacting online with other homeschoolers from around the world.

This is the “mom-do-you-have-to-take-a-picture?” pose.

One of their assignments in this class was to create their own campaign poster for CurrClick class president. They were told to use what they learned in class about campaigning for their poster. The students emailed their designs to Mrs. Schott, and the next class period they had to give a short slogan or campaign speech, and then show their poster. They held their own class election and voted for a class president.

I was very surprised at how much my kids enjoyed this class. I think they were too. Mrs. Schott did a great job presenting the information. She had visuals, websites, and kept the kids engaged during class. I felt the material covered was age-appropriate and challenged the kids to think about what was going on in the elections around them. After the live sessions were over, recordings of the sessions were available to view again. Both kids asked me to sign them up for another one of her classes. That says a lot right there! Since my daughter will be in high-school next year, I have my eye on several of Founder Academy’s High School level classes. I’m thinking her Live! Economics might be next.

Right now Lynn Schott has several fun summer classes lined up. She even has a repeat of the class we took coming up in July. If you haven’t thought about online classes, these shorter summer classes are a great way to test the waters.

Disclosure: This class was on my wishlist and someone gave it to me for free. I was not required to do a review. I thought the class was a great opportunity for homeschoolers and wanted to share. I did add affiliate links though. Thank you for supporting this site!

Filed Under: high school, middle school, Reviews: History and Geography

Educational Games: Ancient Egypt and Military Jets Card Games

February 23, 2012 By Maureen Spell 4 Comments

This post may contain affiliate or advertiser links. Read my full disclosure policy here.

We have been studying ancient history this year and have just finished learning about Ancient Egypt via living books, Mystery of History, and crafts. I’m always on the look-out for good supplemental materials for our studies–especially fun, hands-on type things. When I saw the Ancient Egypt Card Game from BirdCage Press, I was very interested in checking it out.

The deck of Ancient Egypt cards can be used both as a review tool and a game. The set of cards comes with a little booklet that goes over all the information on the cards. The information is divided into 6 groups: gods, goddesses, symbols, pharaohs, mummies, and afterlife.

I appreciated that the images on the cards were photographic images of real Ancient Egyptian artifacts and artwork. On each card there was a short description of the photograph. I learned quite a bit just by reading the cards.

Of course we had to play the game. The rules were the same as Go Fish. Thankfully each card had a category number on it so we could easily tell what card our opponent was asking for. I will admit that saying, “Do you have an afterlife card?” did sound weird–lol. My kids enjoyed playing this game and it was a great way to review many of the pharohs and artifacts we had learned in our history lessons.

I also picked up Battle cards: Military Jets. I knew this would be perfect for my son and husband.

The cards are wonderful! They contain a photograph of the airplane, the name, and information about the airplane.

There are several ways to play this game (listed in the information booklet.) We choose to play the Old Maid version. You can see from the picture that my son was enjoying this! Across the table sat his sisters who loved the game just as much as he did. I was glad I played because I started learning the names of some of the planes my son and husband talk about. Now I feel like I have a reference point when the conversation turns to planes.

So what do I think?
I think Birdcage Press has produced quality, educational games that can easily be added to various unit studies and curriculum. Birdcage Press has card games available in the following categories: Art, Wildlife and Nature, Air and Space, and History. The cards are durable and very informative. I’m impressed with the quality of the booklet and the cards. It’s a great way to sneak a little learning while having fun.

If you can’t wait and want to order now, Birdcage Press has a free shipping code good through 3/31/12

Use IN12

I’m giving away one set of cards from Birdcage Press. The winner will get to choose either the Ancient Egypt set of cards or Battle Cards: Military Jets (be sure to check below for giveaways for other card sets from my blogging friends.) I am using Rafflecopter to run this giveaway. You can enter either with Facebook or by using your email address. This is just in order to have a way to contact the winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Check out these blogs for more giveaway options!
Spell Outloud — Choice of Egyptian Art Cards or Battle Cards-Military Jets
Finding Joy — Choice of Wild Cards – North American Birds or Art Ditto Game.
Jimmie’s Collage –Choice of Impressionist or Renaissance Art Game
Mama’s Learning Corner — Renaissance Art Game
Handbook of Nature Study — Wild Cards-Backyard Birds
Harmony Art Mom — Choice of Go Fish for Art or Art Close-Up Cards
The Curriculum Choice — Art Ditto Memory Game
Hodgepodge — Go Fish for Wildlife – Sea Creatures
The Traveling Praters — Choice of Go Fish for Van Gogh and Friends or 52 Amazing Places-National Parks
Get Along Home — Choice of Wild Cards, Backyard Birds or Renaissance Art Game