Professional Book Narration for a Song!

This will work only if you have a Kindle or Kindle app and device capable of installing the Audible app, which are available on both the Apple and Android platforms.  It is a really great way to get very cheap audiobooks and you don't have to have an Audible account to get them.

Amazon has a neat feature for some books called Whispersync for Voice that allows you to synchronize your visual book with you audiobook.  Let's say you are reading a book on your Kindle at bedtime.  The next day, when you go off in the car, you can synchronize your audiobook to wherever you left off reading.  That night, when you want to read more, you can synchronize to where the audio left off.  It works really well!


What's even better is that some books in the public domain--the kind homeschoolers are often reading--offer both the visual and audio books for incredibly cheap prices.  For example, Great Expectations Kindle edition is free and you can add on the professionally-narrated audiobook for a mere $0.99!  (Anyone that has listened to a poorly-narrated book will appreciate the benefit of professional narration.)  Once you buy it, just open the Audible app and it will show in the library for you to download onto your device.  It is very simple to use and I have found it very handy!

Homeschooling with eReaders

I bought a Kindle just before Christmas, and Ds#1 received one as a gift. I planned to integrate them into our homeschooling and they have been very useful. To get the most use out of an eReader you need to understand the difference between a scanned book and a digital book.

Scanned book are just pictures of each page of a book; the actual words on the page have not been "digitized."  These are the books you get from Google Books and Open Library.  These two sources have the most books, and they can be used on eReaders that can read pdf, but they are a bit trickier to use.

Manybooks.net

First, do not convert them to an ebook format.  A program tries to "read" the picture and digitize the words but they are filled with spelling errors.

Another option I use is to put the scanned book on the Kindle, though the print is rather small in the portrait (upright) position.  Because it is a scanned book you can't enlarge the font; but you can change the display to landscape (sideways) and the scanned page enlarges enough to make it easily legible.  The pages are sluggish to turn, and to can't use the bookmarks, dictionary or highlighter, but you do have access to a large library of free books that you don't have to read on a computer screen.

Digital books are for what eReaders were made, and the number of free digital books is growing.  Project Gutenberg and Many Books are two great sources (Many Books gets all their digital books from Project Gutenberg and audio books from Librivox but it is easier to use, IMHO.)  You can download books in a variety of formats to read on whatever eReader you have.  Selections from Tappan, Eggleston, Marshall (check both H.E. and Henrietta Elizabeth), Fabre, Colum, Chesterton, Belloc, and several of the titles I discuss on A Private Eye Nature are available.  While not quite free, Heritage History offers their eBooks, many of which are not available elsewhere, for only $1.99 each.

If you have a Kindle you can also order free books directly from the Free eBooks Collection at the Amazon.com Kindle store.  (Interestingly, Amazon lists the same sources I mention here, though I used them long before Kindles hit the market.) Some of these are formatted so badly that it is distracting.  If you are thinking about buying an inexpensive older book that has been converted to the Kindle format, I suggest downloading a sample and check the formatting first.

As for eBooks for which I actually pay, I have had a mixed experience.  Kindle prices are far better than any hardcover price, especially new-releases.  I have purchased a number of Catholic titles that I have long wanted to read because of the cost savings, like the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament for only $9.99.  As for paperbacks, sometimes the Kindle price is only marginally less, or even more expensive, so used paperbacks are often cheaper.  This gives rise to the dilemma of buying cheaper, used paperbacks that don't really hold up well or an eBook that requires no storage and will not fall apart?

Buying eBooks for my pre-teen kids is even more limited.  Any picture book is out of the question unless they have black-and-white line drawings.  The vast majority of popular books are pure twaddle (I'll get them from the library I must) or worse if they are morally corrupting. Many of the small Catholic presses do not offer digital versions of their books.  This may change soon, though, as evidenced by Bethlehem Books releasing some of their offerings as eBooks. (Note that this link goes to an eBook search for Bethlehem Books; while all the books they publish are on the list, other books not from them will also appear as you scroll through the pages.)  Also Sophia Institute Press has some books available and plans to expand their Kindle offerings.

While a variety of eReaders are on the market, I prefer the e-ink technology (like a Kindle) to the backlit readers (color Nook or tabets.) Intensely reading and illuminated computer screen is hard on the eyes and the light can interfere with sleep patterns.  Having to find an external lighting source at night is fine with me, and I can read in bright sunlight easily.

Ultimately, my children are the ones that have made our Kindle experience a good one.  They definitely prefer digital books to scanned books, but they prefer the eReader to the computer screen (usually); they even prefer digital books to paper books, but would rather have paper than scanned.   The portability is excellent, especially if you are concurrently reading multiple books; and you always have your bible with you.  You can quickly check the meaning of words you don't know (so the kids may actually do this every now and again if asked).  You can add notes, too, using the somewhat cumbersome but functional keyboard; I often share annotated highlights on Facebook and Twitter right from my Kindle.  And I have saved a lot of money and time by not printing out books too long to read on the computer.

If you are really dedicated to your eReader, you can convert scanned images and then correct the spelling errors before converting it to an eReader format.  If ever I do that I'll be sure to post them.

Colonial History

Our family will be studying Colonial History for the next eleven weeks and I put together our reading schedule based on Eva March Tappan books along with a few others.  Here are the spines linked to their full text at Google Books or Open Library:

An Elementary History of Our Country by Tappan
This is a straight-forward chronological history of the United States.  It's good for dates and facts.

Letters from Colonial Children by Tappan
As I mentioned in the last blog, this lovely historical fiction is a series of letters written by colonial children to their families and friends in the Old World.

American Hero Stories by Tappan
This is a book of biographical sketches that is great for younger children.

Builders of Our Country Vol. 1 by Gertrude Van Duyn Southwick.  I'm not sure where I found this, but I had it in my Google library.  It is also a series of biographical sketches, many of which are colony founders, so it filled in a lot of gaps I had.  This will be a read aloud.

The Catholic Pioneers of America by John O'Kane Murray
This is another series of biographical sketches dedicated to American Catholics.  It has over 80 biographies, written more as stories than a factual retelling, arranged by date of death.  I found sorting through this book fascinating.  This will also be a read aloud in preference to Builders when they both cover the same person.

I have two stories about South Carolina in Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans by Edward Eggleston.

You can download the entire 11-week schedule as a PDF.

Now to search through For the Love of Literature and Let the Authors Speak for some good historical fiction to go along with this reading schedule!

F. N. Monjo History Books

I love library books sales and I have been to many since adopting a Charlotte Mason educational philosophy. I am no children's literature expert so I rely on a lot of Internet sources for suggestions. I don't stick to those lists, though, especially for non-fiction. I take risks on those 25 to fifty cent books that, judging by the cover, may be good.

Recently I happen to come across several books by F. N. Monjo. I first picked up Vicksburg Veteran, but I have not read it because we have not covered the Civil War yet (later this year.) Later I picked up Me and Willie and Pa, and The One Bad Thing About Father. They all look really good, but I have yet to read them.

Now we are studying the Industrial Revolution. As I mentioned, Ds#2 researched Slater's Mill, so when I saw the book by Monjo during a library search I borrowed it--and I read it.

What a fabulous historical fiction account of Samuel Slater coming to Pawtucket to rebuild Moses Brown's mill! Into the story Monjo worked in Rhode Island's reluctance to ratify the Constitution, positive descriptions of Quakers, every day life during that time, and, of course, the building of the mill. This author is wonderful for elementary students!

His books are fairly common and several have paperback reprints, so they are easy enough to pick up on the used book market for a reasonable price. You can probably get them through your library, too.

Westward Expansion: Santa Fe Trail

We finished up Lewis and Clark and began reading about the Santa Fe Trail. Of course we are reading aloud the Holling C. Holling classic book, The Tree in the Trail. Holling books are among our family's favorites. We read this a couple of years ago, but now that Ds#3 is "official" this is well worth reading again. The story is from the perspective of a cottonwood tree, so begins long before the "trail" that American settlers established.

We found several other interesting picture books about the subject. One is A Right Fine Life: Kit Carson on the Santa Fe Trail by Andrew Glass. Apparently Kit Carson struck out on his own along the Santa Fe Trail and went on to have a life intertwined with the country's westward expansion. (I'll be looking for some appropriate biographies to add on to our list.) The kids get a kick out of the vernacular; they were talking like Kit after we read it.

Another biography adapted for children is Along the Santa Fe Trail: Marion Russell's Own Story by Marion Russell, adapted by Ginger Wadsworth. The book details a lot of the difficulties and dangers of these times. James Watling's pictures are beautiful and moving, and a great part of this book's appeal.

I found a couple of historical fiction books relating to either the Santa Fe Trail specifically or Westward Expansion in general. The first is the highly recommended title Brave Buffalo Fighter by John D. Fitzgerald. Ds#1 is really enjoying this book even though, again, it shows a lot of the difficulties encountered by families migrating west. All of the fabulous historical fiction from Bethlehem Books are family favorites as well.

We also found a Dear America book about this time period called All the Stars in the Sky: The Santa Fe Trail Diary of Florrie Mack Ryder by Megan McDonald. For those of you unfamiliar with these series, Dear America has fictional young women writing diaries while My Name is America has fictional young men. Our library owns all of both series, and I even saw a few about world history though the series name escapes me. I'm interested to see if Ds#1 likes the Dear America version as much as the My Name is America one. I hope so!

Here are a few good non-fiction selections with wonderful pictures and enough text for the 8 to 14 year olds to read. The Library of Western Expansion: The Santa Fe Trail by Ryan Randolph is short yet informative, great for younger kids. (The book is OOP and very expensive used, so hopefully you can get it from your library like we did.)

David Lavender has written longer works about the Santa Fe Trail, yet also has wonderful 64 page, picture-laden, narrative-style book great for this age group. The Santa Fe Trail by David Lavender makes great reading for this period.

Finally, we also have by Melvin Bacon and Daniel Blegen. Bent's Fort: Crossroads of Cultures on the Santa Fe TrailThis 72 page book is full of details about life on the Trail, including a few references to various faith beliefs and comments, Christian and Native alike. It also contains a fair amount of photographs and drawings.

William Bicknell opened the Santa Fe Trail in 1821 and its use ended, as did many westward routes, with the 1870's completion of the transcontinental railroad. The Trail of Tears is another topic that fits well into this one, as well as the early Mission Trails.

Here are a few web resources that I found though we have not used much yet:

• The Interactive Santa Fe Trail
• The Santa Fe Trail Association
• Santa Fe trail Research Site
• Santa Fe National Historic Trail
  

Book Sale Manager web site

Because the Charlotte Mason philosophy relies on living books, and because most of us do not have an endless budget for books, we rely on library book sales for cheap, great books, especially durable hardcovers. The trouble is finding out when they are happening.

Because I have blogged about these sales before, I received an email from the folks at Book Sale Manager lettimg me know they offer a free web site that I might like. I was impressed!

I have used Book Sale Finder for a few years, but that site cannot be tailored in any way, and lists only library and "sponsored" sales on a site that shouts with advertisements. Book Sale Manager first has fewer, more subtle ads--that alone makes it easier to navigate. Next it lists all manner of books sales, including those by church and other organizations. Third, it has a great calendar feature to which I can add sales and from which are generated reminder emails. Fourth, I can search for sales by distance from my zip code rather than by state only, which is great for someone like me who is close to so many states here in New England.

It is certainly an improvement over that other site. Thank you Book Sale Manager for letting me know you are out there!

Heritage History

I found Heritage History, another great online book site with all kinds of old children's history books. It works a lot like The Baldwin Project; in fact a link to "Baldwin" appears in books that are on both sites. The Heritage History collection is not as extensive as Baldwin and is more focused on history in a broad sense to include legends and fiction. I especially like that it has more Catholic offerings than Baldwin, making the two great Christian companion sites.

For example History of the Catholic Church by Rev. James McCaffrey, complete with an Imprimi Potest, is available. The site also has quotes at the top of the page, several of which are from G.K. Chesterton (though none of his works appear on the site, probably because they are readily available elsewhere on the Internet.)

I've added the link to my Book Sites section. So much to read and so little time!

Quotable Saints for copywork

I just bought this affordable title from CHC and it is almost perfect for copywork. The print is very small, and on newsprint-type paper so it can be difficult to read. Ds#2 can use it fine but I know ds#1, who struggles a lot with copying of any kind, would likely need the quotes retyped and enlarged.

The quotes are grouped by theme; you can also use the index to find all the quotes from a particular saint. I'll be using this book a lot for cursive practice and dictation, too.