SOTW - Read-aloud or listen to CDs?

[Catwoman]

I'm thinking of starting to use Story of the World Volume 1 and the Activity Book with ds9, and I'm not sure whether it would be best to read it aloud, or to buy the CDs and just listen along. I don't mind doing the reading, but the CDs would be a nice break for me, so I could go either way with it.

 

Any opinions?

 

Thanks!

 

Cat

[King Alfred Academy]

I hate reading aloud, so we go the audio cd route. We listen to them in the car over and over and over.

 

Some people have strong opinions of the narrator: Barbara Johnson vs. Jim Weiss. We have cds by both and the boys prefer Jim. It really does not matter to me as long as I am not reading! They both do a great job.

[Elisabeth in IL]

We also listen to them in the car...over and over again. The boys will often ask me to turn on History especially for longer car rides.

[Julie in MN]

If you're using them for your history lessons, I'd get the book either way. The book has maps & pictures to look at as you read.

 

We've listened to the audios for a few years now & I appreciate having that change of pace.

 

Julie

[Suzannah]

I use both. I bought the book 5 years ago and I don't know whether the audio was available at that time. Then when we did the rotations again, a friend offered to let me borrow the CDs. I think most of the time I read aloud. Occasionally DS reads the lesson himself, but since DD is joining us more regularly this year I don't usually have him do that.

 

Maybe 1/3 of the time we listen to the CD. Sometimes we listen during lunch or in the car. The drawback with the CD is that sometimes one or all of us will get distracted and miss things. I guess that happens when I read aloud too, but I'm more likely to catch it I think and will go back and re-read a paragraph to make sure they're following.

 

Bottom line, I would recommend definitely getting the book. If you have some extra money & want to be able to listen in the car, get the CD as well. I would not recommend getting the CD alone. You can't easily flip back through the CD to find something later.

[abreakfromlife]

We listen to the cd's, but I have the books, too. Ds likes to read them, and I use them b/c I schedule chapters out of order and I like skimming to see what's going to be covered and what I want to focus on.

[Laurel]

I prefer to read-aloud and then listen to the audio CD later for reinforcement. I feel that more "sinks in" when I can stop and talk about the last paragraph, ask questions, etc.

[Chris in VA]

We don't do any cd's in the car, not even music, really--I don't know why!

I think they would be excellent for reinforcing the material.

I do like reading the book aloud, tho, and it's important for us to have it so that my dd can look back thru during her narrations.

[Catwoman]

Thanks for all of your opinions -- I really appreciate them!

 

I already have the book and the activity book, so maybe I'll start reading aloud and see how it goes. Suzannah's comment about getting distracted while listening to the CDs could definitely be an issue here, so I have to consider that possibility. If I'm doing the reading, I can do as Suzannah and Laurel suggested -- ask questions about what I've read and then go back and re-read paragraphs if necessary. Chris had a good idea about using the book for narrations, and Sally made an excellent point about skimming through the book ahead of time to see what she wanted to cover

 

OTOH, it looks like a lot of reading aloud time for me, which can sometimes start to wear thin, so maybe the suggestions to use the CDs sometimes and do the reading myself at other times, could be a good compromise. We can still use the book for the pictures and maps, as Julie suggested. And we do take some long car rides here and there, so Elisabeth's idea could work well for us, especially since I get queasy if I try to read in the car!

 

I wasn't going to use SOTW this year, but as I looked through the activity book, I started thinking that my ds9 will be too old for the activity pages soon, and I'd like to use them while I still can.

 

Thanks again for all of the great advice and ideas! :001_smile:

 

Cat

 

PS. Thanks, Brittney, for the input on the two different narrators -- I was wondering which to choose, but it sounds like the Jim Weiss version is good (and more readily available,) so that's what I'll probably choose.

Edited May 6, 2009 by Catwoman
typos everywhere!

[Guest eluj]

I put on the CD's in the car or when we are doing coloring pages, building time. It saves me so much time! And my chiildren really remember the facts! Julie

[momtolgd]

We use the book, but I don't read aloud much (I use the book for myself to follow along mostly and so that I can easily go back and answer questions the kids have easily.) We really like the cd's, and play them often at night for the kids to fall asleep to. :001_smile:

[Veritaserum]

I love the CDs. We also listen in the car. We did SOTW1 with me reading aloud: I got tired and the kids tended to be noiser. The CDs are hit around here. My almost-9yo had me load SOTW3 onto her iPod so she could listen to it by herself. :)

[Mom-ninja.]

love love love the cds!

[Alana in Canada]

We do the CD's at lunch time. If the kids "miss" anything from the CD, (when we do the review questiuons and our narrations) they have to read the relevant paragraph(s) in the book.