Why use audiobooks in your homeschool? It is because they’re awesome! And when it comes to The Mystery of History Audiobooks, they rank as a top-seller. I view audiobooks as a multi-functional tool in the “tool box” of homeschool that will help meet real needs of real homeschool families. If you’re interested in maximizing your time and resources, keep reading for eleven ways to use The Mystery of History Audiobooks.
#11. Grandparents! One way to effectively use The Mystery of History Audiobooks is to get them in the hands of grandparents. First, grandparents love history, because they learned it better than most of us to begin with! Second, this gives grandparents common ground to discuss what their grandchildren are studying. Third, it brings grandparents into the inner circle of what you’re doing. (Hopefully, they will appreciate you all the more!)
#10. Commute! Give the working parent (who isn’t at home during school time) The Mystery of History Audiobook to listen to on their way home. Be it in the car, train, or subway, a parent can maximize his or her commute so they arrive home ready to talk about the Trojan War, the Battle of Hastings, or the Cuban Missile Crisis! The truth is, most parents have gaps in their knowledge of world history. With audiobooks, both parents can learn right alongside their children and be ready for meaty conversations over dinner!
#9. Pronunciations! One obvious benefit and reason why to use audiobooks in your homeschool, is that it gives you the pronunciations of difficult words! The Mystery of History Audiobooks especially assists you in those “hard-to-pronounce” names in world history! Basically, I’ve done the research for you and rolled out those names to the best of my ability (with a wee bit of a Texas accent.) Hearing the names will greatly help you and your students handle history with more ease, confidence, and sense of accomplishment. (You can always replay the really hard names and practice them yourself!)
#8. Save your voice! Plain and simple, you can use The Mystery of History Audiobooks to save your voice and scale back on your words! Research states that humans speak 5,000-20,000 words a day. I suspect that homeschool teachers with multiple kids in multiple subjects use more than that! I can’t help you with all those words, but I can provide 1,000-5,000 words of narration for you through an audio book, depending on what volume you are in. By the way, I didn’t narrate those recordings perfectly straight through the first time! My husband heavily edits them so that you get the “best takes” of those 1,000-5,000 word lessons. (Thank you Ron Hobar!)
#7. Road Trip? If you need to pass the time on a long road trip, a Mystery of History Audiobook is for you. Many a family has shared with me that the drive to grandma’s house, or vacation, or to camp, or to “fill-in-the-blank,” was pleasantly filled with world history. Be it ancient times, medieval times, the Renaissance, or modern history—you can chunk out an entire time period in 10-20 hours of driving! (Of course, stopping for meals and potty breaks is on you.)
#6. Night-Night! I’ve had numerous parents tell me that they have one of “those kids” —as in one of those kids who will listen over and over again to a Mystery of History Audiobook at bedtime. I know it’s not for everyone, but for those curious ones that love to listen and learn, world history at bedtime is a great way to add to the knowledge base of your child. (And you don’t have to be there!)
#5. Skip through time! I am frequently asked how to solve the following problem: “My coop is going to teach The Mystery of History, but they’re on a different volume than we are. Can I skip a volume and still be fine?” The answer is yes—you can skip or jump volumes of The Mystery of History because each volume is a stand-alone. But since history is “best” learned in chronological order (to clearly see “cause and effect”), I recommend that you listen to the audiobook of the volume you’d otherwise be missing. For example, if you studied Volume I at home and learned your co-op is offering Volume III next year, I would encourage you to listen to Volume II via audiobook and take advantage of the coop class. (While listening, students who prefer hands-on work can add coloring pages, timeline figures, or Folderbooks.) It’s a win-win and easy to finish an audio book in a few weeks of listening. You may want to call it “summer school.
#4. Crises! Unfortunately, we are all subject to crises. Big or small, public or private, crises can throw us out of our usual rhythms and routines. So another reason why to use audiobooks in your homeschool, is that you can use them easily when regular school is difficult to continue. When you have those times of crisis, I hope you would consider The Mystery of History Audiobooks to give your children a sense of stability, security, and accomplishment in the midst of the storm. You tend to the crisis—let me take care of world history until the dark clouds have passed.
#3. Sick and Tired? We all have those days—days when we are worn out, worn thin, and “sick and tired” of homeschooling. (I know; I homeschooled for 17 years!) I hope on those days that a Mystery of History Audiobook would allow you some much-needed rest. Let me do the reading . . . while you rest, re-group, and rekindle the love of learning that led you to begin this journey. (It is a wonderful journey! Hang in there!)
#2. Special needs? Some children need a little more help than others in reading and comprehension. The Mystery of History Audiobooks, which are word for word in sync with the textbooks, offer struggling learners a second chance to absorb the information by hearing it and reading it at the same time. Scientifically, we do well when we have more than one form of input in our learning, which is another reason why it’s great to use audiobooks in your homeschool. Or, the audiobook may replace the printed words altogether. Either way, audio books offer you another tool in the toolbox of learning. And if you didn’t know, we have tracks “without music” for sensitive learners that might find the music a distraction.
#1. Car school. Our lives are full and sometimes we just need to make the most of hidden moments. For that reason, hundreds of families tell me that they listen to The Mystery of History Audiobooks when they’re in the car going to dance, soccer, karate, the dentist, etc. “Car school” is not ideal—but it is real! Now, we hope at some point you can use all the trimmings that come with our program, like timeline figures, mapping exercises, activities, and quizzes, but when time won’t allow, add world history to your car schooling and enjoy the ride.
I hope you have been inspired by these 11 reasons why I would encourage you to use audiobooks in your homeschool. Have you found them helpful in your schooling? I would love to hear about it!
If you’re interested in an easy way to add historically accurate, Christ-centered world history to your homeschool, get The Mystery of History Audiobooks!
For the Sake of the Mystery,
Linda Lacour Hobar
