Feb. 10, 2009 - Audio books, stories and other listenables

        I know most of us know about the Erskine Family's website Homeschool Radio Shows offers a free weekly radio show.  But there are MANY other sites out there offering free downloads.  Some of great quality, some of dubious. But it is worth checking out.  We use the mp3s we find as bedtime stories while we're summering in Alaska.  The laptop lives in our kids' room and I just make up a playlist and let it go.  We also bought inexpensive Sansa Shakers for about $11 (including shipping) on ebay for each of them.

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        Ok, so, on to the links:

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        www.wiredforbooks.org/mp3/ has author interviews, several Shakesperean plays, poems, fables and a couple classic children's titles.  There is a portion of the Aeneid read in Latin and the Iliad in Greek.  I know that some of you classical style homeschoolers will geek out over that.  I grabbed Walt Whitman's poems, several plays, a couple novels and a lecture on African American Oral History.

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        http://wiredforbooks.org/kids.htm has Beatrix Potter's stories read in English,  French, German and Japanese.  These are RealAudio presentations rather than mp3.  I don't know if they can be downloaded for later use.

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        The main site has a HUGE assortment of things you can listen to online, though I don't think they can be saved like the mp3 files can.  I have not listened to any of these yet.

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        The CurioSoft site has several fairytales, Alice In Wonderland, Peter Rabbit and Twas the Night Before Christmas to download.

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        Learn Out Loud has many free and cheap downloads.  You'll need to scroll down a bit to see the list.  There are several podcasts that look good too.  There is a LOT of "spiritual" junk on it, so be careful with what you grab.  But there are many things worth checking out.  One in particular I thought was cool was a series of Art History  "talks" about great paintings.  There is a pdf to download of the paintings too.  So those of you doing Art Study ala Charlotte Mason (or otherwise) may find these very worthwhile.   Several are linked to other sites (which is how I found the ones above) but several can be downloaded directing from LOL.  I grabbed Aesops Fables  (scroll down for the mp3 links) and the Art podcast I mentioned above.  There is so much on this site, I'm going to have to pace myself.  Too easy to sit downloading "important" stuff only to ignore your family!  Not all the links go directly to something downloadble.  Many are simply free listening, not free saving! 

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        If you know of a site that has great audio downloads, let me know!  I've also been successful finding stories on music sources like Rhapsody and emusic.  You have to get creative with your searching, but we've found Bible stories, ethnic tales, fairy tales and such and often in other languages.  Lots of good stuff for adults too - humor and such.  While emusic and rhapsody are "free", many have unlimited download subscriptions or trials and it is worth taking the time to find some good stuff for your money's worth.  Sort of like a buffet, except you get to keep the leftovers!