I don't know how I would homeschool without Librivox, it has been such a huge part of our learning.
If you are not familiar with Librivox, it is an online catalog of public domain audio books, recorded by volunteers, and completely FREE! It is a gold-mine for home educators who want their kids to fall in love with the classics.
My son has listened to countless hours of audio books from Librivox in the past few years. He gets favorites and listens to them over and over and over again, some as many as a dozen times or more.
I love the learning and connections he makes from all these classics.
When I asked him what he liked about homeschooling, he quoted from Understood Betsy, "Why should you read books that are too easy for you just because you don't know your multiplication tables?"
That is him to a "T".
If he was only allowed to experience books at his "reading level", he would have missed so many classics that have become a part of who he is. He is not yet a fluent reader, but he has been able to experience great classics, which have helped to shape his character, because of audio books.
Here is his list of favorites in no particular order (click on a title to go directly to the download page on Librivox):
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher - Such an outstanding book, a must read (or listen) for anyone who homeschools.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
The Children of Odin by Pádraic Colum - A wonderful child-firiendly tale of the Norse myths
My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett - Read by a boy, and very well done too.
The Book of Dragons by Edith Nesbit
The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit - One of the all-time classics in our home, which is constantly quoted.
The Jungle Books by Rudyard Kipling - Not my favorite reader, but my son enjoys it none the less.
The Adventures of Johnny Chuck by Thornton W. Burgess - There are many in this series by the same author. They are like Nature Science in a story format.
Robin Hood by J. Walker McSpadden
The Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy by Padraic Colum - A great telling of the Greek myths in a child appropriate way.
The Wonderful Wizard of OZ by L. Frank Baum - There are many more of the OZ stories available as well.
I'd love to know your children's favorite audio books. Please leave a comment and let me know!
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How to get the audio books please
My son loves the Wizard of Oz series on librivox.