Guest HeatherTristan Posted January 31, 2013 Posted January 31, 2013 I'm reading The Well Trained Mind in preparation for my kindergartener's beginning homeschool in earnest next fall (although some moms and I are planning a preparatory summer-school program to ease them in to it) and I came across the recommendation for preschoolers in Chapter 4 to "Get an infant-proof tape recorder so that she can listen to you reading, singing, talking, telling stories, and reciting poems while she plays in her crib." I have an 18-month old as well, and this sounds like a great way to work around the fatigue that sometimes comes from reading the same three or four books in endless rotation that is happening right now. I also love that when I am working with my older child and can't sit down with the little one to read, she could still hear my voice reading stories. The question is, does a device like this still exist? I did a quick search but came up with fidgety digital recording devices (for college students or journalists) that look as though they would just be played with and broken or recorded over immediately, and tape recording devices designed for professional musicians. Does anyone know of a device similar to the kind universally available when we were children that could stand up to some rough treatment by a toddler? We live overseas on a military installation, so something that can be purchased online and shipped to an APO address (e.g. available at Amazon.com) would be preferable, but we do have some family in the US that could go and pick up something that was only available at a brick-and-mortar source and forward it to us if absolutely necessary. What has worked for you? Quote
reign Posted January 31, 2013 Posted January 31, 2013 We just got a cheap boom box from target. Has a CD player, tape player, and radio. At 18 months I wouldn't let my girls have free access to it because pushing buttons would have been too much fun. So it was on a shelf. Now we kept it easily accessible so they can change stations/tapes. Quote
Guest HeatherTristan Posted February 1, 2013 Posted February 1, 2013 Thanks for your response. I couldn't imagine a use for a boom box for our family (all our music is digital, and we live in Korea where there is only one English-language radio station) so I just went to Amazon and purchased a "shoebox style" tape recorder - the kind I remember using in first grade. We'll just have to keep it up out of reach until the kids can be trusted not to unwind all the tapes or otherwise abuse it. Heaven knows we abused the heck out of our old tape players and cassette tapes when I was a kid. I still can't help wondering what other families have chosen to do since tape players are an endangered species these days. Quote
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