Jump to content

Menu

So using audiobooks really isn't cheating?


Recommended Posts

Not to me. I listen to maybe three audiobooks a week, in addition to school books. There's no way I could read that many books. I work audiobooks into our curriculum as much as possible.

 

Favorites here (for school and extra curricular):

 

SOTW (already mentioned)

Diana Waring

America the Last Great Hope

Apologia high school science books are available in audio form

Adventures in Odyssey

The Bible

Plus, of course, tons of great literature

Dave Ramsey (podcast)

Clark Howard (podcast, more financial advice)

 

I will admit, my dh thinks audiobooks are cheating (for school)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It depends on your goal for reading the book. If you are reading the book for the information content or for enjoying a wonderful story, then no it is not cheating. In fact audiobooks can be a wonderful way to read more books, learning vocabulary and pronunciation and learning proper enunciation.

 

On the other hand if your goal is for a child to learn grammar or spelling or to gain fluency in reading, then audiobooks may not serve the purpose. With physical books you can also read a passage over and over again and ruminate over it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It does feel like cheating, I agree.

 

BUT for audio learners and busy moms with toddlers it's like drive-thru learning!

 

My kids LOVE audio books. Books that I can't get them to sit and listen to me I try to find on cd. Once I get them hooked on the audio books I try them on the hard cover books. It works! They're reading the rest of the Unfortunate series by Lemony Snickett to each other at night in their room. :D

 

My kids retain so much more information from the SOTW cds too. They listen to them over and over and over, just for fun! The other day we history was about Charles the 8th and my dd quipped, "Divorced, Be-headed, Died, Divorced, Be-headed, survived!" The number of wives and how he disposed of them. Where did she learn it, "SOTW CD's mom." :D

 

Love audiobooks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think a healthy balance is always good....in most things...this included. My daughter especially LOVES her audiobooks....mostly because she can craft, draw, clean her room, etc AND listen to a book....but she also has no problems sitting down and READING a book too. I think if all she did was audio, I would have a problem. We do alot of read alouds here, so the occasional audio book is just one more way to do it. Nice change of pace.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not to me. I listen to maybe three audiobooks a week, in addition to school books. There's no way I could read that many books. I work audiobooks into our curriculum as much as possible.

 

Favorites here (for school and extra curricular):

 

SOTW (already mentioned)

Diana Waring

America the Last Great Hope

Apologia high school science books are available in audio form

Adventures in Odyssey

The Bible

Plus, of course, tons of great literature

Dave Ramsey (podcast)

Clark Howard (podcast, more financial advice)

 

I will admit, my dh thinks audiobooks are cheating (for school)

 

May I ask where you find them? My library has some but I've been looking into audiobooks. I joined the gym and think it would be great to have some on my ipod. Also, I like Booksshouldbefree dot com for free audiobooks.

 

Also, where do you listen to them? On an ipod, CD player, etc.? I am listening to Outliers now in the car but don't seem to be taking long enough trips to finish the audiobook.

Edited by Frontier Mom
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was absolutely aghast when one of my high school-aged tutorees told me that they don't have books in lit classes. He was trying to write a report on a book so I asked him to take the book out, and he told me that they listen to audio books in class and if an audio book doesn't exist they don't do the book. I understand the appeal of audio books but I love the feel of a book in my hand, and have trouble getting into audio books sometimes because I can tune them out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My Dh is a non-reader, meaning he doesn't not read for pleasure, ever. he managed to get through high school (honors classes 3.8 GPA) and earn a BS in Mechanical Engineering having only read one book (Of Mice and Men.)

 

He has a long commute, so I get him the audiobooks of whatever the kids are reading for school. He has done American & British Lit with our highschoolers. He has heard dramatizations of almost every Shakespeare play. He listens to the things I am reading aloud or just things he is interested in. He listened to the entire Harry Potter series. We love Jim Dale.

 

We are raising the kids to be readers and this is a way for him to join in with the conversations we are having. Cheating? No way.

 

For the kids, it depends on the subject matter. If they can listen with enough attention to hold a conversation about the book or answer comprehension questions then I might let them occasionally listen to the book instead of reading it. Very occasionally.

 

Amber in SJ

Link to comment
Share on other sites

SOTW (already mentioned)

Diana Waring

America the Last Great Hope

Apologia high school science books are available in audio form

Adventures in Odyssey

The Bible

Plus, of course, tons of great literature

Dave Ramsey (podcast)

Clark Howard (podcast, more financial advice)

 

May I ask where you find them?

 

SOTW and Diana Waring -- I bought the CDs.

 

America the Last Great Hope, which we are using along with American History this year (9th grade), I bought from iTunes (as a download).

 

Apologia high school science books I bought from Apologia as an MP3 file. They are not expensive! I want to say under $20. Terrific bargain. (For science, this is in addition to reading the textbook, not instead. It does help with pronunciation.)

 

Adventures in Odyssey is available online for free. Here.

 

The Bible -- my library has individual CDs of each of the books. Plus, it is online in many places. Try Blueletterbible.org.

 

Dave Ramsey and Clark Howard -- I subscribe to their podcasts for free via iTunes.

 

Pleasure reading and great literature -- for years I checked out cassettes from the library, then CDs; but now I download these. Ask your library if they don't have some sort of digital download. The three libraries I have access to all subscribe to the same services. One is called Ebsco and one is called Overdrive. If your library subscribes to either of these, you are home free!! It's so convenient and wonderful. (OK, yes, there is some learning curve; but after that -- !)

 

If my library didn't have Epsco or Overdrive, I'd probably consider something like Audible.com or some other subscription service.

 

Happy listening!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It depends on your goal for reading the book. If you are reading the book for the information content or for enjoying a wonderful story, then no it is not cheating. In fact audiobooks can be a wonderful way to read more books, learning vocabulary and pronunciation and learning proper enunciation.

 

On the other hand if your goal is for a child to learn grammar or spelling or to gain fluency in reading, then audiobooks may not serve the purpose. With physical books you can also read a passage over and over again and ruminate over it.

 

This is my take on it, totally. I didn't know that people might consider audiobooks cheating! Where is this original thread? Now I need to find out what I missed!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My kids beg for adiobooks in the car as we drive to and from activities. It helps them absorb new ideas, improve car behavior :D and gives us points to discuss in the car. Even my 3 yo enjoys the same stories as the older ones. Right now we are on The Trumpet of the Swan read by the author- so great!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...