My Audio School

My Audio School is a wonderful new site operated by a homeschooling mother :

"My Audio School exists to give children safe and easy access to classic books, interesting educational radio drama, and television and radio broadcasts of historic events. Each of the over 150 full-length books on My Audio School is displayed in such a way that the child can download the book to Mp3, read it for free online, stream the book at the touch of a button, or listen to individual chapters according to a given day’s assignment. Each book is thoughtfully “illustrated” with beautiful fine art or appropriate photos.

My Audio School also offers a large collection of over 200 radio and television broadcasts, from old-time radio theater performances based on classic books and historic events to newscasts of unforgettable moments in history.

Originally created as an aid for dyslexic students seeking self-accommodation, My Audio School has proven to be a help and a delight to students of all ages and abilities. From the emerging reader to the excelling high school student, My Audio School delivers informative, enjoyable audio content on a large variety of school subjects."

About 25% of the content on My Audio School is free with the rest available at a small yearly subscription. This beautifully done, helpful, timesaving resource is one I am greatly looking forward to using!

Holling C. Holling Homeschooling Helps: Paddle to the Sea

If you are looking for a good study on the Great Lakes, Paddle-to-the-Sea by Holling C. Holling is a treasure. Paddle-to-the-Sea is a little wooden Indian in a canoe, carved by a young boy up north in Canada. Paddle is sent on a journey to the ocean and the story follows him as he travels through each of the Great Lakes (and has many adventures along the way!). Full of wonderful details, drawings and information on the areas surrounding each lake, this book was much enjoyed in our home. Though it's been a year since we read it, the children have still retained quite a bit of what they learned.

Here are a few free online resources to go along with the book:

Paddle-to-the-Sea with Google Earth: "An exciting new program that uses the travels of Paddle to link real-time Great Lakes data to Google Earth’s mapping application. Tracing the path of Paddle's journey to the sea, it includes themes, key words, and Web sites for each chapter of the book." Click here for more information and to download

Paddle-to-the-Sea Film on YouTube: I saved this old film until we finished the book. While it did leave out many details it was still enjoyable, and it was neat for the children to see little Paddle on the big lakes.

Geography and Paddle-to-the-Sea: This is a helpful post from a homeschooling mother on how she used Paddle with her children.