Teaching History with Jim Hodges Audio Books
I have wanted to try out some G.A Henty books in our homeschool for several years. I kept hearing about them among homeschoolers, but I was a bit concerned about the “old English” that I heard they were full of. I wondered if my children would be able to pay attention to the harder words that they’re not accustomed to hearing as often. The size of the book also intimidated me a bit, as they are L-O-N-G. Imagine my delight, when I discovered that there is a company who produces these books as audio books. I’m so glad to have found Jim Hodges Audio Books! {Stay tuned for a freebie & a giveaway at the end of this post!}
Why I Like Using Audio Books
- We can listen while we’re on the go. I can load them up on my MP3 player and enjoy them wherever we are. Please keep in mind you must have an MP3 capable playing device.
- We can listen while we’re working with our hands. From knitting to doing dishes to folding laundry…. whatever you need to do, you can be learning while you’re doing it! [I prefer folding laundry....it makes me feel accomplished to have a huge stack folded while listening to the book]
- I can save my voice! Have you ever had a time when you were reading one of those extra long books and you were nearly hoarse by the end of it? I know I have! When you’ve got an audio book, you let someone else do the reading for you, so that doesn’t happen.
- We can listen to it again and again throughout the years. I love having curriculum that works for many children throughout the years. When I’m able to reuse something, I feel like it was well worth the investment!
- If I’m too busy to read aloud to my children, they don’t have to miss out on some living books. I just pull out an audio book and let them have at it.
Jim Hodges Audio Books Makes History Come Alive
When we first began listening to our new audio book, True to the Old Flag, we were captivated as we heard Mr. Hodges change his voice in so many ways. Whatever character he was reading about, he would become. Voice inflections, accents and all! We knew that we would NOT get bored! He has a way of making the story so interesting & the listener feels as if he or she is right there with the characters of the book. My 15 year old son is always asking if we can listen to one more chapter, when it’s time for our listening session to end.
One of my hesitations to picking up a Henty book was because of the “old English”. Well, Jim Hodges Audio books has helped me out with that one, too! They have vocabulary guides to go with many of the Henty books that are available on their site. When we don’t know what a word means, we look it up in the vocab guide. Talk about a time saver!
Features at a Glance
- Henty audio books last about 10-14 hours
- Most audio cd’s cost $25 or MP3 downloads are $18 (very affordable for the amount of listening time you get!)
- Many Henty CD’s have Vocabulary Guides available for purchase in order to help your children with the hard words.
- Listen to this audio file for more information on How Henty Helps with History, Geography, Vocabulary and Character.
- Other audio CD’s and MP3′s are also available. Things like Old Time Radio, Yesterday’s Classics, WWII, DL Moody Sermons, Richard “Little Bear” Wheeler stories and more!
If you are interested in weaving historical fiction into your homeschool days AND making your life easier, head on over to Jim Hodges Audio Books to see what book will match up with your school studies! We absolutely love our new audio books! The next one we will be listening to is St Bartholmew’s Eve. I let my 12 year old daughter pick out a book to listen to just for the fun of it! I love it that my children consider history fun!
What are others saying?
Free Gift, Just for You!
I have an awesome gift that Jim Hodges Audio Books is sharing with my readers! Anyone reading this post is eligible to receive a free audio book download of Stories of the Pilgrims. Once you click on the link, you will need to enter your email address and enter download code IHSPilgrims.
Giveaway
One reader is also a winner! Enter below in the Rafflecopter widget (must click through to my site if you’re reading on email) for your chance to win your choice of any 2 CD’s that can be shipped worldwide. Once the contest ends, I will contact the winner by email and if the winner hasn’t claimed the prize within 48 hours, we will choose another winner.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Disclosure: I received the two audio books for free, and was compensated for the time invested to do the review. All opinions are my own and I was not required to do a positive review. This review was coordinated by theiHomeschool Network.
I would choose The Cat of Bubastes!
These look absolutely wonderful! Just tweeted and entered a few!!! Thank you!
I like the amy puetz line
Uncover Exciting History by Amy Puetz looks like it has a wide variety, and I do not know what I would pick first of Henty's!
Wow, so many great ones hard to choose! Thanks for offering the giveaway.
I'd start with _The Cat of Bubastes_.
It is difficult to choose. I think "In Freedom's Cause" is the first one we would choose. Thank you for a wonderful resource!
We love audio books!
Something of the Elementary level.
God's Mighty Hand looks wonderful!
First, I must thank you for your wonderful blog! I discovered you on Pinterest a month (or so ago) and have been enjoying your posts ever since. As for your post on Henty Audio Books, I've always wanted to try them, but just haven't yet. "101 Henty Tiles" would be awesome to own, but it's only text… not audio. My oldest loves books about WWII, but I thought either of the following audios might strike his curiosity: "True to the Old Flag" and "With Lee in Virginia".
Thanks for all that you do for others!
You're so sweet Kristen!
Thanks for the nice words!
Captain Bayley's Heir and In Freedom's Cause. We love listening to Stories of the Pilgrims every Thanksgiving!
–Gena at ichoosejoy.org
So many choices! I think I'd pick the Pilgrim's stories first! I am so glad you posted a reminder. This is one giveaway I really want to enter! And I'm really glad you blogged on this because I didn't know about these and Ella loves audio stories! Thank-you!!
Lynn
I like: Uncover Exciting History & Ten Girls from History. Thanks for hosting this giveaway. I got kind of sidetracked(and my name is also Sara(without the "h") as I was browsing your page. I'm going to follow your weight loss journey. I'm a mom of 7, and need to lose weight, so it will be neat to watch another mom of many.
I'm glad to have you follow us on the weight loss journey. I'm so happy to be finally doing this. It took me long enough to get busy and commit to it!
Thank You, I have always wanted to try one of these audio books but never knew if we would like the voice ect… This is the perfect chance plus so far what I am listening to I really enjoy.
I forgot to say that if I had the choice I would pick The Cat of Bumbastes and The Dragon and the Raven.
I'm so glad to hear that you like it so far. We really like ours!