Uses and Benefits of Audio Books

I am sometimes torn when I see my guys listening to books on tape or CD, especially when I have to set time limits on their use when it begins to infringe on time that should be spent on other things – like school work.

I wonder if I’m letting them take the easy way out from reading books through their own efforts by passively listening as someone else reads the text for them. But, how can you object when they are listening to the Odyssey over and over again or The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings series? These books use vivid description and complex sentence structure with an expansive vocabulary.

I feel less guilty about the use of these audio books when I use them in context of our school and the subjects or time period we are studying. For instance, as we studied the Middle Ages, we listened to a number of G. A. Henty stories from MP3 files I had purchased on CD-ROM. We also enjoyed the Librivox recordings of the Famous Men of the Middle Ages. There are so many other valuable selections here to listen to as well.

We are presently studying the Renaissance and are enjoying the stories of Shakespeare, occasionally listening to some of them at My Audio School. This site has other time periods and types of recordings for your listening pleasure.

Just to throw in another resource for free MP3 files, you can sign up to receive notice of daily freebies at Wholesome Childhood. Some days are dedicated to free e-books, others to sound recordings. You can also sign up for the Livingbooks for the Ears newsletter to receive notice of the latest story recording at Homeschool Radio Shows.

Now, back to the question at hand. Am I promoting my children to read less and thus diminishing their literary skills in reading comprehension, writing, and vocabulary? I was contemplating this dilemma lately when my younger son decided to write his own novel during his free time. I glanced at it one night as it sat open on his desk in his room when I was saying “goodnight.”

I was astonished at what I read. After listening to CD’s of the Lord of the Rings series, my newly turned 10 year old was writing his own fantasy story in the same fashion as the Lord of the Rings and Narnia series, complete with vivid description and complex sentence structure.

He was naturally emulating these writers after having listened to and growing accustomed to this style of writing. I was pleasantly surprised and exceedingly pleased!

I still plan to watch the amount of time spent listening to these audio favorites, because I noticed their falling asleep time has been getting later when they find the stories “too interesting.” But I find it is definitely a nice complement to the audios I build into our formal learning time at home and offers benefits that occur naturally and not planned by mom. This type of learning can sometimes be the best type of all.