We start putting on the miles when summer comes.  And that means restless kids in the car!  One thing that we do is listen to some old time radio shows.  The Erskines, homeschoolers in Kentucky, have almost become like friends in our house, although we have never met them and have only exchanged a couple brief business emails.  http://www.homeschoolradioshows.com/  They have some wonderful resources and once a week they send us a free mp3 download of a radio show.  Our favorites are the Great Gildersleeve, 5 minute mysteries, University Theater (they have dramatized classic literature, Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates,  Alice in Wonderland, Huck Finn, Moby Dick, Pride and Predjudice, etc) Adventures in Research (stories of scientific discoveries and advances like the hot air balloon, ice cream, glass, stop light) Burns & Allen, Amos & Andy and of course Mom's educational favorite...YOU ARE THERE  (CBS radio takes you to historic events Joan of Arc is still available NOW).  It is so fun to hear actors that are so familiar from a different era like Jimmy Stewart, Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny etc), Roddy McDowell, Judy Garland, Doris Day, Walt Disney, Edward Arnold, Shirley Temple, Loretta Young and many others.  Do you see what Mom does?  I'm trying to sneak some education in when they aren't paying attention.  Trouble is they tell me things and I say..."and how do you know that?"  " Oh it was on the story we listened to last nite."  I guess they sneak up on me too. 

So you see why they are like friends...We trust them to give us some great healthy stuff to listen to, sometimes together, sometimes a breather for mom, and we ususally learn something too. 

You too can recieve their weekly email.  Its free!  I know I'm a typing commercial....but we really do enjoy this resource.  And if you can't get enough this way or you have a specific era you're interested in you can purchase one of their collections.  Subjects cover Knights, Knaves & Kings,  Presidents, American Revolution, The Civil War, World War II, Black American History, Classic Literature,  Fairy Tales, Science and More.  We still have quite a few on our wish list, although we have purchased 4 cds.  And these are MP3s.  So it takes a cd player that plays MP3s (our car stereo has this capability) or converting the files to wav...but they even tell you how to do it all!  The kids download them to their palms and then hook it up to their stereo and listen at bedtime.  Right now we hear fire bells down the hall way...My son loves the fireman shows....but not so great for setttling down to sleep,  much too exciting.  There are many others more conducive to sweet dreams.

They're also working on some Virginia history as well!   http://www.chirotoons.com/Virginia/   We're looking forward to this...

Yes we are still working on our postcards...the kids just haven't been able to finish posting.   You see how often I have to post!

So Thanks and hats off the Erskines!

Too Cool!  Surf around their sites and you'll find some treasures.