Teach me how to use more audio books, please.

[Mandylubug]

We are in the process of testing my daughters but it looks like we will be doing VT and more than likely will have a diagnosis of dyslexia by the end of it all as well.

 

I've been contemplating more audio and visual learning for them. We had paused on science and history for the most part and have focused on everything else. They are doing great with it all really. I think we have found our groove with everything but science. They love AAR, AAS, FLL and WWE. We use SOTW but I read it to them. Considering the MP3 download and having it on their tablets.

 

They each have their own tablet and have already learned how to search the internet using their voice instead of typing (hello, wonderful!)

 

I'd love some more audio or visual items, especially science, history and "free read" items. I know they zone out sometimes when just listening but they don't want to doodle all the time. They love to paint, maybe allow them to rotate which arts they do while listening? Hand embroidery, painting, legos, stuffed animal play, sculpting with clay?

 

I have tried the text to speech on kindle and it is too robotic for them and I see that they zone out and not read along.

 

I had read somewhere where you can link audible and kindle books? Are there any other programs I should research?

[OneStepAtATime]

A bit brain dead right now so I will probably come back with more later, but I will think about the audio books.  DVDs have been immensely helpful, though, if you are interested in those.  I do keep a lot of science DVD's on hand for easy visual reference.  Nova has some good ones.  Bill Nye the Science guy is fun, although a bit young for DD (she still enjoys him, though).  History Channel and Discovery Channel have some interesting ones.  We break the long ones up into two or three chunks.  

 

The Story of One is a really interesting video linking math and history.  We lost our copy when we lent it out last year and I had to get another one because we all loved it.

 

Kindle has Immersion Reading and some like that a lot better than the sound of text to speech, but it is only available for certain books and costs more, I believe.

 

Netflix and Amazon have a lot of streaming material that we use.

 

If you have the funds, Discovery Science has a lot of science videos and on-line activities

 

As for keeping hands and bodies occupied while listening, that is the only way my kids retain anything.  When we do read alouds or watch videos, etc. I always have plenty of options available for building with legos and other material, painting, creating with clay, using the loom to create bracelets with rubber bands, building with Popsicle sticks, wood burning (daughter loves lots of arts in many different mediums and wood burning is her latest passion), architecture kits, Spirograph math kits, sketching, etc. etc.  We bought a fairly deep metal lockable cabinet that we keep art supplies in.  As soon as stores have clearance sales I stock up on all kinds of items and keep them in the cabinet.  Works great for keeping it all organized and out of the way.

 

Hope that helps some.  I find videos coupled with discussion and a related hands on history or math or science activity really helps solidify concepts.

[Mandylubug]

Yes, I am open to many videos. We have been watching tons on Yosemite lately, they are obsessed with the show Monsters inside us from Animal Planet... Maybe I will continue that route and more of unschool science.

[Mandylubug]

Thanks for the ideas. I will research this immersion with kindle.

[OneStepAtATime]

Oh, one thing we are going to attempt this next week is for the kids to have the Mr. Q science lesson on their I-Pads and can follow along while I read with them off of my Kindle as we go through the lesson.  I have printed out the pages they need to write on, but the material they need to read we can read together.  At least I have heard this works well.  Haven't actually tried it yet.

 

I have noticed that DD does not do well with audio books, but if yours do, I recommend book series, instead of a lot of stand-alones.  When listening to a book being read, sometimes it is harder to catch on to everything that is happening but if it is a book series and you already are familiar with a lot of the characters and the "universe" it exists in, your brain isn't working so hard to anchor to the location and the people and can focus on the storyline.  Also, fact based audio books can be harder to follow without a visual reference, unless it is a more narrative form.

 

Memory research is showing that we tend to remember better if there is a "story" or a series of related "locations" to link everything together, if that makes any sense.

[Incognito]

My kids are younger, but we tend to repeat audiobooks.  They often like to listen to good ones 3x in a row.  I find that when the story is good, I generally really enjoy at least the second round too.

 

In the car is great.

 

[Berta]

We have all of Jim Weiss' audio book CD's that we listen to in the car. My daughter loves them.

[OneStepAtATime]

We have all of the Little House on the Prairie, Chronicles of Narnia, Percy Jackson, Misty of Chincoteague series, and biographies on John Adams, George Washington, Abigail Adams, etc. on audio CD.  Also, Chocolate Fever and Judy Moody series.

 

There are the Young Indiana Jones DVD's for history, but some are a little mature content wise (depending on your comfort level).  Also, Liberty's Kids.  Driving Thru History series on DVD is also very popular here.

 

The kids have also liked shows like American Pickers as long as I am there to read the history text to them as it flashes on the screen.   We do a lot of rabbit trails based on this show and the kids really appreciate their stuff more and are far less likely to just toss something.  They want to find new homes for things that they don't use anymore and see things from a less disposable viewpoint now.

[Incognito]

We have all of Jim Weiss' audio book CD's that we listen to in the car. My daughter loves them.

 

Ah - we have his Sherlock Holmes audio book and have listened to it about 10x (maybe more?).  It's only a half hour or so.  The kids have a lot of it memorized (I do too, but they have it better than I do).  :)  They even do accents.

[FairProspects]

Do they have Kindle Fires or just regular Kindles? Immersion Reading is only available on Kindle Fires on books that have Whispersync. Not all books are Whispersync but Audible does have a pretty decent sized catalog and is adding more all the time. We have the highest subscription to Audible and I pay attention to all the sales to increase our bookshelf.

 

The other option is Learning Ally. Once you get a diagnosis of dyslexia, you will be able to access Learning Ally for $119 per year (sometimes less on HSBC) and the majority of books there are digital with audio linked by highlighting. The books are read by volunteers and not voice actors, which sometimes makes a difference to my boys but is still far better than the digital voice. Learning Ally only runs on iOS and Android tablets though, not Kindles.

 

We make extensive use of audio and audio-digitally linked books for the boys, probably upwards of 3 hours per day. I'm so grateful that we have the option to use this type of technology. My kids are far more literate as a result.

[Mandylubug]

Do they have Kindle Fires or just regular Kindles? Immersion Reading is only available on Kindle Fires on books that have Whispersync. Not all books are Whispersync but Audible does have a pretty decent sized catalog and is adding more all the time. We have the highest subscription to Audible and I pay attention to all the sales to increase our bookshelf.

 

The other option is Learning Ally. Once you get a diagnosis of dyslexia, you will be able to access Learning Ally for $119 per year (sometimes less on HSBC) and the majority of books there are digital with audio linked by highlighting. The books are read by volunteers and not voice actors, which sometimes makes a difference to my boys but is still far better than the digital voice. Learning Ally only runs on iOS and Android tablets though, not Kindles.

 

We make extensive use of audio and audio-digitally linked books for the boys, probably upwards of 3 hours per day. I'm so grateful that we have the option to use this type of technology. My kids are far more literate as a result.

they have Galaxy 3 tablets. So not fires but android tablets. I will research the learning ally. Thanks for all the info.

[Χά�ων]

Kindle has Immersion Reading and some like that a lot better than the sound of text to speech, but it is only available for certain books and costs more, I believe.

 

 

This. I wish I had known before I bought my kindle. I would have gotten a compatible Kindle in a heart beat. 

 

Check and see if your state (not sure if you live in the US or not) had a lending library for the blind. I got a note from the doctor and DS is allowed to participate with his dyslexia. They will convert his texts to audio and even have an app where it highlights the texts so he can see and hear it. They also loan listening equipment. :)

 

I have a cheap boom box style CD player on the island between my kitchen and living room. When we are home and DS is playing I have audio books on. DS likes the background noise and I like that he is exposed to literature that is beyond his reading level. Except Hank the Cowdog. I am not a fan of Hank. BUT BUT BUT it was the first every audio book he would listen to and it sparked a love of books and for that I will forever be grateful. 

 

I borrow audio books from the library to listen to in the car. We always have some book or other going in the car. We drive a lot so that is helpful. 

[ondreeuh]

My son has a kindle touch, and it plays audible files as well. I am 99% sure he was able to start the audiobook, go back to the library, and load up the kindle book and read along. It won't highlight the text like the full immersion reading thing, but you can still read along. Sometimes he also played the audiobook through an MP3 player while he read along (either on the kindle book or a paper book).

 

He's been using his iPad for the last year, and while it doesn't have immersion reading, the whispersync feature keeps the audiobook and kindle books lined up. He just runs the audible app and kindle app at he same time. No problems.

[FairProspects]

My son has a kindle touch, and it plays audible files as well. I am 99% sure he was able to start the audiobook, go back to the library, and load up the kindle book and read along. It won't highlight the text like the full immersion reading thing, but you can still read along. Sometimes he also played the audiobook through an MP3 player while he read along (either on the kindle book or a paper book).

 

He's been using his iPad for the last year, and while it doesn't have immersion reading, the whispersync feature keeps the audiobook and kindle books lined up. He just runs the audible app and kindle app at he same time. No problems.

 

I hadn't even thought of that but I'm sure it would work as well. Great find! I'll have to remember that as the boys get older. Right now they are young enough that they really need the highlighting to focus their attention but as they get older I'm sure they could just read along independently too.

[nerdybird]

I use a lot of audio resources with my two oldest (DS is 10 and is a spectrum kid with visual processing issues, DD is 7 and an auditory/kinetic type.)

 

I get a lot of audiobooks from the library. I save them to iTunes and load a few chapters at a time onto my DS's iPod Touch. I make playlists for him and keep a few books at a time on there so he can have some variety. He likes to listen to the same books over and over again. Right now, he is stuck on "The Last Olympian" from the Heroes of Olympus series. He has been listening to the series for over a year now. :001_smile:

 

I purchased the SOTW on CDs last year when we started doing it for history. It is also available as mp3 downloads, but I wanted the hard copies for school time just in case our master computer crashes again. (We had to replace everything during the summer of 2012 thanks to such a crash.) Having SOTW on audio resources is nice, as it cuts down on the amount of reading aloud I have to do for the older kids.

 

As far as keeping hands busy during audiobook time, Legos are pretty popular around here. DS received a Ninjago kit for Christmas that he has been working on lately. He and DH also work on a huge Star Wars build together in the evenings. DS built a lot of small pieces and he and DH worked on the centerpiece together while listening to an old Star Wars radio drama from NPR that DH bought from Amazon. Currently, they have been listening to Clone Wars audiobooks that we checked out from the library during this time.

 

DD has "pony storytime". We keep a special box of My Little Ponies that only come out to play during pony storytime. Generally, we listen to selections from SOTW during this time, or maybe something from the "Ramona" series or Pony Scouts or Pinkalicious books. I have toyed with the idea of teaching her cross-stitch, but decided against it since I have 3 boys 5 and under running around. I fear that someone might get a needle in the eye from their big sister. Paper dolls were a big thing last year, but she lost interest after a little while. Dot-to-dots, Kumon workbooks, Melissa and Doug puzzles, color-by-numbers, fidgit toys, Play-dough, Lincoln Logs...DD and the younger boys love them all. I keep those in a bin in the school room especially for reading time.

 

You can also do background listening. This is great for penmanship time (imo) or art class. Listening in the car never works well with my kids. The little ones listen to audiobooks during nap time/quiet time, but the older ones generally prefer to watch tv so I have been forced to get creative as they've gotten older.

 

Hope this helps.

[Quiver0f10]

Do they have Kindle Fires or just regular Kindles? Immersion Reading is only available on Kindle Fires on books that have Whispersync. Not all books are Whispersync but Audible does have a pretty decent sized catalog and is adding more all the time. We have the highest subscription to Audible and I pay attention to all the sales to increase our bookshelf.

 

The other option is Learning Ally. Once you get a diagnosis of dyslexia, you will be able to access Learning Ally for $119 per year (sometimes less on HSBC) and the majority of books there are digital with audio linked by highlighting. The books are read by volunteers and not voice actors, which sometimes makes a difference to my boys but is still far better than the digital voice. Learning Ally only runs on iOS and Android tablets though, not Kindles.

 

We make extensive use of audio and audio-digitally linked books for the boys, probably upwards of 3 hours per day. I'm so grateful that we have the option to use this type of technology. My kids are far more literate as a result.

 

we have been loving Kindle Books with whisper sync! A lot of the books we buy are free or under $1 and then the Whisper Sync book is only a few dollars. My son's comprehension has really improved with immersion reading.