Need a Break From Family Movie Night? Give Audiobooks a Try! Here's One to Start With...

The entire family just finished listening to Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein which we downloaded using our Audible account, and I couldn't resist posting my review because we absolutely loved it. I figured, why reinvent the wheel when I (think I) already said nearly everything I had to say in the review I left on their website?

If you don't have an Audible account already and have any sort of device you can download audio books to, I highly recommend it as a valuable resource for home educating (and any) families. Audio books can be entertaining, educational, and excellent for keeping the kids (and parents) happy on road trips or during prolonged errand days.

Also, lately, Audible has been adding some awesome new content, such as many of courses from The Great Courses company...and they are all one credit each. Now that's an amazing deal for homeschoolers, especially high schoolers, and for the many dads (and/or moms) who have to commute to work each day, too.

They also have shorter books (as well as longer ones) which are on many of the commonly referenced homeschooling book lists, such as Paddle to the Sea, Tales from Shakespeare, and Parables from Nature.

If you are interested in giving Audible a try, why not try a fun and motivating book like Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein first? You can read on for my recent review of this enjoyable adventure...and please don't forget to check your favorite deal sites or do a Google search for free book or reduced cost promotions before signing up. It never hurts to save a bit of money. You can always turn around and invest it in buying more audio books!

*FYI: I am not trying to promote Audible for any personal gain. It simply happens to be the service we use. If you  know of any others that are good, please feel free to share in the comments below. Thank you!

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Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library

UNABRIDGED

• by Chris Grabenstein
• Narrated by Jesse Bernstein
Reviewed: 8/5/14

"The Most Fun We've Had Listening to an Audiobook in Ages"

Overall

Performance

Story

What did you love best about Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library?

The story line was riveting from the very beginning. The characters were varied and interesting. The plot was rollicking fun in the form of a mystery/game/scavenger hunt held in the most amazing library ever. It was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory meets The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankwieler wrapped up in a scavenger hunt and a game of Clue. Lots of fun all around. Most of my family, the children ages 3,5,8,10, and 16, plus my husband and I, all thoroughly enjoyed the story. In fact, the kids didn't want to get out of the car as we were running errands until we finished each chapter, and then we had to take the Kindle inside to finish off the story before bedtime.

What did you like best about this story?

I absolutely loved all of the literary and cultural references. The overriding message of the value and appeal of books and learning in general was well-integrated throughout the story in a way that drew my kids into wanting to read many of the titles that were mentioned. As a parent, I loved how it emphasized families and friends playing board games together, the pleasure derived from reading good books, the benefits of being friends with all types of different people, fair play, and teamwork. As a teacher, I can't wait to get a print copy for my older home educated kids to go through so they can highlight some of the books referenced that they have not already read and put them on their reading lists. I really hope that a few of the games mentioned in this book will actually be marketed. They sounded like a lot of fun!

Have you listened to any of Jesse Bernstein’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, I haven't listened to his other performances, but after hearing this one, I'd be glad to listen to another. The only performance I've heard that was better was Brendan Fraser's reading of Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke. That's our family's other favorite audio book (because his voices are hilarious). I don't know. This one might top it because the story is so much fun and a bit faster paced.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Twelve children. Twenty-four hours. One huge, state-of-the-art library. Who will solve the mystery and win the amazing prize?

Any additional comments?

Don't miss this book. I am not sure why some folks called this formulaic or accused it of copying other works...sure, it references many works of literature and uses traditional literary devices, but it is it's own excellent work of children's fiction (yes, as an adult, I figured out some of the clues ahead of my kids, but they sure had a blast and it didn't bother me one bit to have caught on more quickly). Teachers would do well to incorporate this one into their curriculum, or at least, their recommended reading list. It is excellent as a read aloud/audio book, and would be perfect to pass time on a road trip. Enjoy!

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On an additional note, other audio books we have greatly enjoyed together include: 

• Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke read by Brendan Fraser (also InkHeart, but it is darker and I only listened to it with my oldest two years ago)
• Urchin of the Riding Stars: Book One of the Mistmantle Chronicles (it is the only one available on audio, but it will get your kids jazzed to read the rest on their own) by Margaret McAllister. Great story.
• Ella Enchanted, The Fairy's Mistake, The Princess Test, Two Princesses of Baumarre, and any other books by Gail Carson Levine. Most of them are VERY amusing. A few have serious lessons they teach with the same engaging storylines.
• Eight Cousins by Lousia May Alcott...good classic with wonderful vocabulary. Even my boys liked it.
• The Boxcar Children books (1-3 are available as a set on Audible)
• The Magic Treehouse Books
• The Henry Huggins Collection by Beverly Cleary
• The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• And, of course, any of the Adventures in Odyssey stories, the entire Jonathan Park series, My Own Stories (most of them), and the Uncle Rick stories from the Boyers (not technically all audio stories...some are retellings of scripture, and wonderful for nighttime listening)...check CBD or Library and Educational Services for the best prices, though the My Own Stories collections are now available on Audible. Adventures in Odyssey and MOS can also be found online for free in limited quantities if you want to try them first.

**Please let me know of any of your favorites in the comments below...especially ones you have found for free download or on Audible or another downloadable audio book service. 

And, of course, if your budget is limited, please don't forget one of my favorite sites, My Audio School (MAS), which for a VERY minimal yearly subscription rate provides links to quality stories and audio productions that are available online for free (and many lovely pictures to complement each selection). 

Quite a few of the selections MAS suggests are difficult to find on your own, plus they categorize them for you, which saves tons of time. Most of them are on homeschool (and some other schools') recommended reading lists. This excellent method of "reading" quality books works very well for children with special needs (such as reading delays or autism), as well as expanding the options for early readers to books which are good for them, but beyond their ability to read independently.

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Lately I've noticed lately that Amazon is providing low cost narrations for many of the books you may choose to download to your Kindle (including free ones, which are numerous). This gives you a much nicer option to listen to than the text-to-speech voices. This feature has really been great for my one struggling reader who loves to read harder books, but benefits from following along as someone pronounces the more difficult words for her. The text-to-speech voice often mispronounces the same words she would (such as reading the word read the incorrect way), so having the option to purchase the narrated audio copy for a few dollars if I already own the book is something I find especially advantageous (and Audible keeps track of what you own on your Kindle and will make you offers based on your purchases). 

You are also able to sync your devices, so you can start listening on one device in the car (such as the cell phone), then pick up with reading and listening on the Kindle or computer later on at the same place. That's awesome. It's especially good when we've run out the battery on the phone listening to the book in the car, and the kids are insisting that we MUST finish the book before bedtime, so we pull up our Audible account on my computer, snuggle on the bed and chairs in my room, and have a bedtime story all together. 

I love family time. 

I love good books. 

Family time + good books = priceless.

Well, that's much more than I planned to say, but I am excited about all these new options for appreciating literature using technology (it can do so much more than be a tool for playing video games). 

I am not saying I will ever give up my many beloved REAL books (no way, not ever!), but I think I am finally ready to embrace the various new ways to get the content of those books into the hearts and minds of myself and my family (and it's not bad to be able to give your own voice a rest once in a while and just sit back and enjoy the experience of listening to a good book, either, is it?).

Have fun exploring the options!

Many blessings to you,

Heather

Snuggle Puppy and Other Favorites

This is one of the kids' favorite bedtime books. They think all of the books by Sandra Boynton are hilarious. I noticed that it is the Storytime book of the month at Barnes and Noble (click on the link to hear the author read the story to you). I have to admit, I like the song better than just reading the book. We wind up singing along whenever we read it since we found one of the Sandra Boynton sing-along books with a cd at the thrift store one day. It's a fun one. Have you heard the 15 Animals song? It is hysterical. I couldn't find it on you tube. Another favorite is Barnyard Dance.



Here is Pajama Time. We like to rock to this one before bedtime.



And last, but not least, here is Moo, Baa, La La La!, a perennial favorite of all the kids (especially the youngest ones). My Aunt Grace gave us our first Sandra Boynton board book years ago. It is thanks to her that we've had years of fun reading them as a family at bedtime. The first time we read this book with Ladybug we all cracked up over it because when we got to the last page which says, "What do you say?" Ladybug tooted (she was a baby)...hahahahaha! Everyone was rolling on the floor laughing like crazy, even Aunt Grace, who was sick with cancer (she's with Jesus now). It remains a special memory of a special person...especially since she was just a little bit like that: cute and sweet with a tiny bit of very silly! >smile<



If you've never thought about YouTube as being a place to find quality children's videos, think again! With a little bit of hunting you can find lots of favorite children's books either read aloud by loving parents (we love these versions of Going on a Bear Hunt and The Very Hungry Caterpillar) or even the classic professional recordings of the books (like Dr. Seuss). You can set up a free account, make playlists (such as children's books and sewing videos) and VOILA!, you have an excellent FREE teaching resource that is quite a lot of fun.

What are your family's favorite children's books? How do you use YouTube to supplement your learning? Please leave a comment and share your ideas. 

Blessings,

Heather

Menu Plan Monday (and a Good Read Aloud)

See other delicious posts at Organizing Junkie.

Monday: Stromboli and green salad

Tuesday: French Dips (easy recipe=1 London Broil bought on sale, 3-4 bouillon cubes, 4 cups water in a crock pot on high for 6 hours, then pull apart with a fork, serve on hoagie rolls and top with melted provolone with au jus on the side...yum!!), pasta salad, carrots and celery

Wednesday: Dinner and Awana at church
                      Breakfast for dinner

Thursday: Chicken Enchilladas
                  Spanish rice and refried beans

Friday: Pizza and a movie (Secretariat)

Saturday: Daddy's cookin'!
                 Grilled something...?? Surprise!!

Sunday: Tuna Casserole, applesauce, fluffy biscuits

One of our favorite recipes: Campbell's Creamy Chicken Enchilladas from Allrecipes.com
(I double this)

Ingredients

• 1 (10.75 ounce) can Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup or Campbell's® Condensed 98% Fat Free Cream of Chicken Soup
• 1 (8 ounce) container sour cream
• 1 cup Pace® Picante Sauce
• 2 teaspoons chili powder (or taco seasoning)
• 2 cups chopped cooked chicken
• 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 10 Mission® Fajita Size Flour Tortillas, warmed
• 1 medium tomato, chopped
• 1 green onion, sliced

Directions

1. Mix soup, sour cream, picante sauce and chili powder.
2. Mix 1 cup picante sauce mixture, chicken and cheese.
3. Spread about 1/4 cup chicken mixture down center of each tortilla. Roll up and place seam-side down in 3-quart shallow baking dish. Pour remaining picante sauce mixture over enchiladas. Cover.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes or until hot. Top with tomato and onion.

Read aloud of the week: Andi's Pony Trouble by Susan K. Marlow.
Check out the author's website...the author offers lots of fun and adorable free printables...from coloring pages to puzzles to activities. These books are very cute for kids, and Andi learns good lessons throughout each one. Both girls and boys love them because Andi (who is a girl) has brothers and a friend who is a boy. My grandmother bought the six book series for us for Christmas. We found the best price at Library and Educational Resources. So far, books as a Christmas gift is a big hit here!! Thank you so much, Grandma and Grandpa.

Blessings,

Heather

Flat Stanley Visits the Library

Stanley discovers one of his books at our local library. Hooray!!

He was even more excited to discover that while this was the only one

on the shelf, our library does carry others, and if they are not on the shelf then

that means that kids are reading them. Awesome!

The other day we took a trip to our local library. The kids had worked hard helping me clean our (horrendously messy and over-stuffed) garage for a large portion of the day, and I promised them a reward of a trip to the llibrary for their efforts. I love it when the lure of books and libraries are ample rewards for hard work...

Firefly is getting to be good buddies with Flat Stanley.

She asked if he could be an honorary Amigo the other day, 

and we all agreed he could.

Of course, I headed straight back to the children's section with the younger kids and Stanley, while Tex headed to the conference room to give the Chess Club a try (which he wound up loving, even if he lost quite a bit. After all, you have to start somewhere...). Fortunately for us, the Children's area was nearly deserted, so the kids had free rein over what activities they chose to do. 

The Three Amigos chose to try some of the educational computer games (Ladybug loved the DK History Explorer game...she visited the Incans, the Greeks, the Egyptians, and the Romans. She was completely disgusted to learn that the Romans ate songbirds...eeyeuw!), while Boo ran around trying a bit of everything, from some nifty I Spy blocks to the large magnetic letter board, from the wooden castle to the huge foam building blocks. Each of the other Amigos stopped their computer explorations from time to time to play with Boo and do whatever he was doing. They built several large forts and Ladybug made a play for him using the wooden Royal Family who lives in the castle.

Boo had to pose with Stanley, too. Too bad it's a bit blurry.

Stanley and Boo helped me pick out a stack of Easy Readers for the Amigos to read this week for their Reading Challenge. All summer they have been earning prizes by reading ten books at a time independently, which they record using these bookmarks we found on Enchanted Learning. Ladybug has favored using the pencil or the ice cream cone bookmark (each one has about ten lines to write on), while Cowboy has used the rocket. Firefly has the pencil, but she gets prizes according to which books I, or one of the other kids, reads aloud to her.

For each ten books, I've offered a prize. The first ten earned a full-sized candy bar for each successful participant (this is not something they usually get). The second ten eared their choice of a new book each (again, new books are not the norm around here...we usually buy used). The third ten earned a trip to get an ice cream cone. Maybe the fourth ten will earn them an I Spy game for their computer. I actually already have one I am hiding (don't tell them!) that I got on sale, and that would be a nifty way to give it to them.

My Royal Readers...gallant Prince Cowboy, lovely Princess Ladybug, 

and sweet Princess Firefly.

Our library offered an interesting summer program this year, revolving around "One World, Many Stories." This actually tied in well with our goal of studying World History this year, especially since they offered the Flat Stanley Worldwide Adventure kit bags all summer (each bag was stocked with a Flat Stanley book, several books along the same theme, an activity or two, and perhaps some sort of manipulative, such as puppets, an instrument, a cd of music, or a thematic Viewmaster set). 

This shows the contents for the kit that went with The Amazing Mayan Secret book from Flat Stanley. Not only did the kids love the story (and it had a good lesson in it, which they still talk about..."It's not what you have, it is how you use it,"), but Tex and I enjoyed watching a few movies on the Mayans and their language and customs on Netflix that week. I've always thought they were kind of gory (they are), and so never studied them, but now I find at least the language kind of interesting. Even old dogs can learn new tricks!

The kids loved reading the Flat Stanley books, then when he actually showed up in our mailbox (courtesy of homeschooling friends), they really got motivated! Unfortunately, the usual prizes of free books for reading were not offered this year. Tickets toward a bike drawing were the prize instead, and my kids did not need a bike, and frankly, even if a new bike might have been nice, I didn't feel right having them compete against kids who might actually need one and didn't already have one. That is why we started our own set of motivational rewards.

They have no problem getting through most books now.

What one doesn't quite get, the other fills in. Cooperation is great!

 In any case, the goal of interesting the kids in reading on their own daily (instead of relying on me to read out loud to them, or merely looking at the pictures), has been accomplished, and for that I am very grateful and excited! It is wonderful to see them sitting on the couch ( or my cedar chest) with piles of books in their laps, knowing that they are really reading them word for word now. Many doors to new worlds are opened to them now. What an adventure awaits!!

The kids enjoyed this visit to the library. We will have to do it again soon. We wound up toting home over forty books and one movie. Stanley insisted we see if any of his books were available before we left, and we found a copy of Flat Stanley's Worldwide Adventures: The Mount Rushmore Calamity. Of course, he insisted on posing with it (see top pictures).

"Stanley! What are you doing? Stop jumping on the furniture!"

 Overall, Stanley has been very well-behaved, as I would expect, but once I did catch him jumping on the furniture (see above). He had to have a brief time-out for that infraction, but he didn't mind too much since I made him sit in such an interesting and unusual chair...he said the chair reminds him of Dr. Seuss books, and he told me he loves Dr. Seuss. 

It's hard to be upset by having a time out when the chair 

is like something out of The Cat in the Hat...

Stanley will be with us for a few more weeks, so keep checking back here for more of his adventures!

Blessings,

Heather

We linked to The Reading Aloud Challenge at Footprints in the Butter. Check it out!!

We love to read!!

Read Aloud Thursday---Days on the Farm With Annette and Samuel

Our read-aloud for the last two weeks has been

Days on the Farm With Annette and Samuel

by Teresa Morgan

 with artist Edith Burkholder

published by Rod and Staff Publishers, Inc.

I really like the books published by Rod and Staff. They are always so sweet, simple (in a good way), and God-honoring. The children are respectful to their parents, and the parents are involved with their children. The families are generally interested in nature and interact with it in some way in most of the stories. I ordered a bunch of these when I was on limited activity with Baby Boo, and we have been reading through them ever since.

This book has forty-one chapters and 196 pages. Each story can easily be read in a young child's sitting (ie. five-ten minutes), and each has at least one charming black and white illustration with it. The stories center around life on a farm for two of the younger children in a Christian family. Annette and Samuel are sweet children who want to do right, but they have the insatiable curiosity of young children and are sometimes tempted to go outside the boundaries of what they think they ought to do. Sometimes they choose to do the right thing, and their choice is rewarded. Sometimes, their choices are not so good, and the consequences and discipline are both fair and swift. The topics of each chapter revolve around family life and simple events within their household.

For example, in the story we read last night, Samuel had been having so much fun building a farm for his play animals before dinner, that when he was finished eating, he forgot to ask to be excused from the table, and rushed off to return to his playing. Father corrected him, and he promised to remember to ask the next time he wanted to get down before everyone was finished. (We deal with this issue at our house from time to time. How about you?) The next night, the same issue popped up again, when he left the table early to return to the zoo he was making out of paper cutouts. (I love that the children are imaginative in their play, and use simple materials, not lots of fancy and expensive toys). This time, instead of calling him back to the table, Father waits until Samuel notices the rest of the family is staying seated and each is receiving a slice of delicious homemade pie. Yum! Samuel jumps up and asks for pie, only to be reprimanded by Father, who tells him he may continue to play, but he has already left the table, so no pie for him. How's that for natural consequences? I'll bet Samuel never forgets to ask to be excused again!!

So, if you are looking for stories that teach a lesson and are understandable and interesting to even the youngest children (my just-turned-three-years-old, Firefly, likes them a lot), then give Days on the Farm With Annette and Samuel a try.

Blessings,

Heather