peacefully Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 We live in a fairly rural county in California. We have to drive at least twenty minutes to get anywhere, and frequently the car travel time is more like 40 minutes, just one way. I'm realizing that I'd really like to use this time more productively. So I've already figured out that I can use audio resources. I'll download stories from Story Nory, Great Hall Productions, and audiobooks. We'll listen to music, of course. I'll probably follow the musical selections from Core Knowledge and whatever other music we happen to enjoy at the moment. But I'm all out of ideas and resources after that. I'm wondering if the wonderful and all-knowing Hive might recommend other audio resources, "educational" travel games," mathy stuff that we could do in the car, etc. My kids are almost 6 and 3, but I imagine listing resources for any age would ultimately be helpful as our travel dilemma is going to be with us for a long while. Thanks! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyofsixreboot Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 You might look at some of the ideas on the carschooling blog http://www.carschooling.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaKinVA Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 If you have an MP3 player (and/or adapter), or can copy to CDs, you can have a "Memory Time" in the car. Verses, memory songs, Latin Chants, some fun songs, etc. My husband is putting together our Memory Time MP3 casts for me (enough for about 40 minutes... which is our standard round-trip). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jilly Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 I would get SOTW volume 1 on CD. My kids loved to listen to that in the car when they were younger. I would also get a skip counting CD to let them listen to. When my kids were little we would play a game of phonics. I would give them a sound, and then they would have to find something out the window that began with that sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birchbark Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 http://www.singnlearn.org/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wy_kid_wrangler04 Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 We are in a similar situation, but we are an hour and a half (one way) away from anything. We do a TON of audio books in the van! My dc use that time to read for school (sometimes a textbook, sometimes supplemental reading) that sorta thing works great for us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peacefully Posted July 30, 2010 Author Share Posted July 30, 2010 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 There are memory tapes that set history, geography, math facts, etc. to song. However, after using some of these many years ago, I've read more recently that memories set to music are stored in a different part of the brain than other memorization and are more quicky forgotten - OR, if learned really well, you'll have to sing it to recall it forever, like the alphabet song..... I'm sure there are more up to date ways to do this, but I just bought a $5 tape recorder at Wal-mart and recorded stuff I wanted to go over while in the car. I'd talk to my son just as if I were doing the lesson with him, pausing for his replies. He could then turn off the tape to answer me, ask a question, etc. and then go on. I taped myself reading books to him; I taped memory work; I taped all kinds of things. We listened to Spanish and Latin tapes in the car. He would practice his spelling in the car. He listened to Wee Sing tapes of all types when he was younger. We've listened to music from various countries and time periods of history. We've listened to the Great Composers series of tapes. A Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra has a CD with it; Peter and the Wolf and other musical performances also have tapes or CD's to go along with them oftentimes. We listened to all sorts of books on tape. He's sometimes watched movies in the car. Mine don't get carsick, so they have also always read their own books and even done some written work in the car if we're on the freeway. If you don't have to concentrate on the road exclusively, then you can always also play games with them about the things that are going by. Name the first thing you see that starts with the letter "R", etc. Name a noun that you see out the window. Name a verb that noun can do. Discuss different types of architecture that you see. Talk about the weather, seasons, nature as you drive through it. Look for animals and birds. Once they can write, they can make a running list. Count how many xxxx you see in the next 5 minutes. See if you can find an xxxxx within the next five minutes...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cindyg Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 Well, you certainly need a lap tray for each child. Get one that has a storage container under the writing surface, and keep markers, paper, round-tip scissors, puzzles, etc., in the tray. My son often does crafts or design work in the car. Often an idea will occur to him, and he'll grap the clip board and get to work. He has often done worksheets in the car. In fact, for years, some of his best work was done in the car. Once he was strapped in and had nothing else to do and nothing to distract him, he'd settle right down to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peacefully Posted July 31, 2010 Author Share Posted July 31, 2010 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 Sometimes, if we're going on a long trip, like up to the USAF Museum or somewhere else a couple of hours away, he does complete a whole day of school work in the car, LOL! And then folks wonder why I don't want to carpool. When we do that, the entire day gets wasted and we have a ton of stuff to make up..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TengoFive Posted August 1, 2010 Share Posted August 1, 2010 I've found the exact same thing. We carpooled to swimming this summer and I feel like we didn't get ANY school accomplished! We do as much as we possibly can in the car, as we're in it at least 1.5 hours per day on the way to and from swimming. I like to make up a cd or a playlist on my Ipod of what we're working on that week. So, we have each of their memory work from First Language Lessons, Skip Counting from Math U See, Latin vocabulary, the Story of the World chapter, any science songs pertinent to what we're studying, and then I'll throw in my 3 year olds favorite songs, like Twinkle, Twinkle, ABC, etc. I like to intersperse it a little with fun songs, so we get a break. A side benefit I've found is my 5 year old knows all the poetry from FLL 1-3, skip counting, states & capitols, parts of speech, and much more. What's more, she actually likes those kinds of songs! Sometimes, if we're going on a long trip, like up to the USAF Museum or somewhere else a couple of hours away, he does complete a whole day of school work in the car, LOL! And then folks wonder why I don't want to carpool. When we do that, the entire day gets wasted and we have a ton of stuff to make up..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted August 1, 2010 Share Posted August 1, 2010 Lots of good audio downloads here, read by excellent actors/readers -- and free as the material is all from old kids' vinyl records (copyright expired, I presume) http://www.artsreformation.com/records/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted August 1, 2010 Share Posted August 1, 2010 There are memory tapes that set history, geography, math facts, etc. to song. However, after using some of these many years ago, I've read more recently that memories set to music are stored in a different part of the brain than other memorization and are more quicky forgotten - OR, if learned really well, you'll have to sing it to recall it forever, like the alphabet song..... Musical memory is actually very long-lasting, and is one of the last areas that is lost in dementia or Alzheimer's disease. I do agree that it will led to recall as songs, not as facts-but that's not necessarily bad. My favorite story on this comes from my younger brother, who was a 2x Citizen Bee National Finalist. On one of the final, top 15 in the USA written rounds, a question was on the Preamble of the constitution. He commented that you could tell exactly when each of the kids made it to that question, because invariably they'd start humming the song from Schoohouse Rock! If this method works and was used by the top US History/Government students, I figure it will work for my 5 yr old-and if she has to sing to remember the US states and capitals in alphabetical order, I don't really care. We also use an ipod and playlist each week, and I have a playlist on Napster for streaming audio at home which I don't bother to download (for example, there's a whole CD of songs on ancient Egypt that we listened to a bunch when we were doing that unit). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hannah Posted August 1, 2010 Share Posted August 1, 2010 This is a copy-paste of a list I have saved. Some may have been mentioned before. Geography *Geography Songs by Troxel. There's also an mp3 download available *Lyrical Earth Science Volume 1 Science *Singing Science Records This is a free resource *Singing Science Records Volumes 1, 2 &3 ) *Schoolhouse rock – Science rock History *Gombrich's A Little History of the World CD *The Story of the World volumes on CD *The CDs from Classical Conversations *Veritas Press History Cards and CDs History –Audio resources for Logic Ancients * Egyptian Gods and Pharaohs by Robert Swindells * Egyptian Treasures: Mummies and Myths by Jim Weiss * The Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis McGraw * The golden fleece and the heroes who lived before Achilles by Padraic Colum (cd on order) * Atticus the Storyteller by Lucy Coats * Greek Myths by Geraldine McCaughrean (CD in blue folder) * Tales of the Greek Heroes by Roger Lancelyn Green (optional extra) * The Children’s Homer by Padraic Colum * Tales from the Odyssey by Rosemary Pope Osborne * Famous Men of Rome by Librivox * The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare * Outcast by Rosemary Sutcliff * Julius Ceasar (Tales from Shakespeare) by Lamb Maths * http://www.amazon.com/Schoolhouse-Rock-Multiplication-Various-Artists/dp/B0000033XL/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1280675390&sr=1-1"]Schoolhouse rock – Multiplication rock Music Appreciation *Classical music selections from our composer of the month list *Classical Kids Collection (Beethoven Lives Upstairs and others) *Themes to Remember *The story of Classical Music by Darren Henley read by Marin Alsop *Vox Music Masters The Story of... CDs * Bernstein Children's Classics including Peter and the Wolf, Carnival of the Animals, Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. Poetry *The Nation’s Favourite Children’s Poems Collection (BBC Radio Collection) narrated by Ronald Pickup, Tim Pigott-Smith, Andrew Sachs and Rosalind Shanks *Listen and Color: Favorite Poems for Children by Dover and Thea Kliros *Poetry Speaks to Children by Elise Paschen, Dominique Raccah, Nikki Giovanni, and X.J. Kennedy *Developing Linguistic Patterns Through Poetry Memorization (from Excellence in Writing) *A Child's Introduction to Poetry by Michael Driscoll and Meredith Hamilton Grammar *Grammar Songs by Troxel *Schoolhouse rock - Grammar rock *First Language Lessons Audio Copmanion Literature *Free audiobooks from Librivox.com or Storynory.com *Audiobooks for Sonlight 3 Myths and Legends *King Arthur read by Sean Bean (Naxos) *The Iliad read by Derek Jacobi (Naxos) *The Aeneid read by Simon Callow (Naxos) *D'Aulaire's Greek Myths on CD Shakespeare *Stories from Shakespeare (BBC Radio Collection) by Geraldine McCaughrean Phonics *Letterland CD’s) Foreign Language: * Prima Latina CD (Memoria Press) * Lingua Angelica CDs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmrich Posted August 1, 2010 Share Posted August 1, 2010 Do you have a laptop? I download the Spanish classes from Discovery Video on to my laptop and my youngest watches them and completes the worksheets in the car. We also vote for the Jim Weiss stories. I have them on my iphone so they are always there for me. Story of the World is enjoyed by all over and over again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blessedwith6 Posted August 1, 2010 Share Posted August 1, 2010 Wrap Ups. We got the Johnathon Park CD's and they are awesome! We also got the Story Hour cds. We don't have much luck with doing written work, but they do love to draw in the van. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted August 2, 2010 Share Posted August 2, 2010 We mostly listen to audio books. SOTW and anything Jim Weiss are favorites. My ds gets carsick so we're limited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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