Diane
Flynn Keith
Diane Flynn Keith has homeschooled her two sons for nine years. She is also the
Editor of HomeFires - a homeschooling periodical. She is a popular speaker at
homeschool events and conferences and is a writer.
I
have been homeschooling my two sons in the San Francisco Bay Area for 9 years.
When I began home schooling I essentially tried to create an alternative school
in my home. After a few weeks, my kids rebelled. They didn't like the way I taught,
they didn't like the subjects I had chosen to teach to them, and they flat out
refused to engage in the "school game" any longer. What was I going to do? I had
spent a good sum of money preparing our little classroom and had toiled away the
wee hours of the night organizing the semester, pouring myself into this new job
of teaching my kids. Their impudent response to my efforts was disheartening.
They clearly didn't appreciate the sacrifices I had made to educate them!
Thoroughly frustrated, I asked a homeschooling friend for advice. She
said she finally gave up trying to enforce a curriculum and just read to her daughter
for the entire year. They found that they particularly enjoyed historical fiction.
Her daughter learned to read cuddled in her mother's lap. She received the benefit
of her mother's undivided attention, increased her vocabulary, and learned all
about the American Revolution, among other things.
What she said
made sense to me. I put away my "teacher's manual" deciding that I had learned
an expensive lesson. I took the kids to the library. They chose some books and
I chose a few. We spent the rest of our first year of homeschooling reading.
 IT
WORKS!
BOOKS AS WINDOWS ON THE WORLD: Sometimes the boys would build with blocks or Legos
while we read. Sometimes a game described in a story would take shape in our living
room. When a character in a book talked about going to the art museum - my kids
wanted to go too. So I took them. A character in a book was interested in rock
collecting and as a result we discovered precious gems and minerals. Characters
in another book used metal detectors to discover clues to a mystery, so we bought
a metal detector and spent hours sifting sand along the Pacific Coast in search
of our own clues to unsolved mysteries. A book about the solar system led to an
exploration of astronomy coupled with frequent visits to planetariums. A book
about dinosaurs led to the discovery of archaeology and spawned field trips to
see robotic dinosaurs. We visited many foreign countries in our readings. I kept
a world globe handy and made a habit of pointing out (and later having my kids
locate) countries on the globe as we read about them. We made a prolonged visit
to Egypt amid the book stacks at the library. That "trip" evolved into our own
experiments in creating fossils, pyramids, and hieroglyphics. A book about time-travel
was the catalyst for our development of a timeline (which is still scotch-taped
to the hallway wall) and we added historical events and characters from history
to it as we learned about them. We also extended our reading experiences by seeing
plays and occasionally movies based on books we had read. My kids have always
concluded that the books were better than the director's interpretation of them.
IT
WORKS!
Like many homeschool parents, I have spent a lot of time in the car shuttling
my sons to and from the library, to co-op classes, music lessons, friend's houses,
and to homeschool park days for recreation and socialization. I have taken them
on numerous field trips to distant points of interest. On long car trips the boys
would sometimes get antsy -in order to distract them I would put on a story tape
-- it was amazing how it settled them right down. The subjects in the stories
would lead to many wonderful discussions in the car as we drove from one destination
to another. Audio books have enhanced my sons' education while on the road. I
call what we do " Car Schooling".
I began to collect many titles
of audiobooks, and expanded our "Car Schooling" to include resources for subjects
that included math, history, music, and even science! I compiled these resources
to share with other parents in a column titled "Car Schooling" in my magazine,
Homefires~The Journal of
Homeschooling (www.Homefires.com). I was surprised at the overwhelming
reception the column received, as many parents wrote to me with their ideas for
learning while on the road. I recently accepted the post of "Car Schooling" Advisor
at www.Homeschool.com,
where I try to answer questions about resources for learning while traveling in
the car. I am in the process of writing a book titled "Car Schooling" that will
include a listing of varied resources for learning in the car. It will also include
my family's favorite audiobooks, many of which are from Audio Bookshelf. Among
the many titles we have listened to and learned from are:
ELEANOR
By Barbara Cooney
-
This is the biography of Eleanor Roosevelt as a young girl. It convinces
me that biographies on tape may be the simplest, and most kid-friendly way to
study history.
LIVES OF THE MUSICIANS - Good
Times, Bad Times (And What the Neighbors Thought) By Kathleen Krull
-
Getting your kids interested in classical music is easy when you tell them that
most of the old-time composers were homeschooled. Not only that, but this book
provides the inside scoop on what these musical geniuses were really like.
LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS - Fame, Shame (And What the
Neighbors Thought) By Kathleen Krull -
American history comes alive
as you listen to the tell-all accounts about the interesting and sometimes shocking
conduct and behavior of Presidents and First Ladies. My sons were eager to research
further several Presidents who piqued their interest from the audiobook.
RACHEL CARSON - VOICE FOR THE EARTH By Ginger Wadsworth-
This biography of the author of Silent Spring, details the life of the woman scientist
and author who wrote the quintessential book on the use of pesticides and their
effect on our environment.
WHIRLIGIG By Paul
Fleischman -
The story of a young boy whose deadly error in judgment
takes him on a journey of atonement through which he discovers the preciousness
of life.
BULL RUN By Paul Fleischman
-
The history of the Civil War through the eyes of 16 characters from the
North and South. NIGHT
By Elie Wiesel
-
The painful story of the Holocaust as told through the eyes of a young
Jewish boy.
TIPS:
 | AGE
SPAN:
Of course, Car Schooling is not the only use for audiobooks.
I have had a number of home educators tell me that they use audiobooks to manage
lesson times in homeschools where there is a wide age range among siblings. While
mom coaches one child in math, siblings can sit quietly and listen to a story
tape.
| | ENHANCE
INTERESTS:
Many homeschooling parents have discovered that listening
to audiobooks with their children helps them gain insight to their children's
specific interests. It then becomes the homeschool parent's job to be a resource
consultant to their kids. They help their children find information or activities
that further their understanding of the subjects they discover through books.
| | LEARNING
TOGETHER:
I cherish the intimacy with my children fostered through
reading to them and listening to audiobooks. Whenever I get those little anxiety
pangs that many homeschoolers get about not teaching my kids in the traditional
mode - it helps to sit down with them and read or listen to a good book.
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Diane Flynn Keith
Homeschool Mom
Writer & Speaker
Email: Editor@Homefires.com
Visit Website: www.Homefires.com
Join the Car Schooling Email Loop: CarSchooling-subscribe@egroups.com
 EDUCATORS:
If you make good use of audiobooks in your approach
to education and feel you have some good tips and inspiration to pass on to others,
would you like to be considered for our Educator of the Month feature?
If so, contact Heather Frederick, Publisher at Audio Bookshelf at 1-800-234-1713
or audiobooks@prexar.com
We want to honor you!
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