Category Archives: L.E.D. Resources

Just sharing a bit from my heart today. I have been slowly working on the new Freedom & Simplicity™ resources that are nearing completion, but having some struggles in staying focused on one, or even deciding which one I should be staying focused on completing first. That’s a problem for a writer.

In fact, I’ve had some stirring in my soul. Seeking rest. Sensing greater need to pull in closer to God and His Word. Seeking Him even more intensely than usual. I recognize the stirrings well enough to know that it is time to put aside the “things” I’m trying to figure out, and just seek God and His Kingdom. And He will add all things. That’s what I’ve had to do. I’ve wanted to complete resources, but won’t do it at the expense of seeking Him.

My Father is always faithful, and Sunday a.m. I awoke with fresh insight. I cried as I read His Word. I cried in the shower. I cried throughout church worship. I am in awe of our Creator, our Savior, our Master, my Abba. He is GOD! He is worthy, just because He is!

But my Heavenly Father goes beyond. He not only let me see HIM clearer. He not only drew me closer to Him. But He also gave me a greater insight and direction for Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™ – which, at least in my case, nearly always goes back to the foundations He gave me long ago, and making sure I am staying on that path. Not trying to broaden it beyond its bounds to the left or to the right, which could, if taken too far, cause me to stray in a whole other direction. He keeps me headed where He has directed – in Freedom & Simplicity™.

I covet your prayers, as I prepare for my seminar session for Ultimate Homeschool Expo next week, and Freedom & Simplicity™ of Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™ ~ The Seminar LIVE! 2008 in June, and in the completing of new L.E.D. Freedom & Simplicity™ resources. I continue on, renewed in faith that I am following the path that God would have for Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™. May God grant me grace to share that in clarity with those He desires to hear it.

Some of you may be gearing down for the summer, allowing for a lot of outdoor play time while the weather is good. This is great and just as needed as indoor book time. But I hope you aren’t gearing down and allowing your children to sit in front of the TV or video games and turn their brains to mush.

Whether it be for days when it’s too hot or stormy to play outdoors, or for while doing indoor chores, or for long trips in the car, when mom’s voice is worn out or she’s busy elsewhere, stories on CD are a great choice for an enriching pastime.

Our whole family loves listening to all of the recommendations below, but I’ve divided them into target age groups to help you choose. Links are given for those that are not available through our website. For others just browse our catalog pages. The ones in bold print are available through us, others may be.

Some of our favorites for the younger children are Your Story Hour and Patch the Pirate. There have been several others over the years – Jungle Jam and the older Adventures in Odyssey. We also have several audio books. We especially love the ones by produced by Blackstone Audiobooks. You can buy these on tape or CD or download many of them in mp3 format from Audible. Just a few of our favorite ones for little ones are Beatrix Potter’s stories, Winnie the Pooh, and Charlotte’s Web. And I can’t leave out the Elsie Dinsmore series, the favorite of our 7 yo for a couple of years now. For just plain music listening they love Judy Rogers’ CD’s, Go to the Ant and others, the children’s worship CD’s from Sovereign Grace ministries, the old Tiny Tot Pwaise series (are they still available?), as well as the music on Patch the Pirate.

Middle age children love Jonathan Park, the Kingdom series audio books, and Radio Theatre‘s Ben Hur, Squanto, and the Luke Reports. But my 5 yo loves Jonathan Park, Ben Hur, and Squanto as well. He likes the others, they just don’t hold his interest as long.

We think of the Radio Theater series and other advanced books for youth and adults, but my just turned 7 yo has loved and listened to Silas Marner and Les Miserables for 2 or 3 years. Others we have include the Hiding Place, and we just got Amazing Grace.

Just a few other audio books we enjoy as a family are Pilgrim’s Progress, Ivanhoe, Swiss Family Robinson, the Henty books, A Basket of Flowers, Robinson Crusoe, and there are many, many more. We listen to many of the classics, both literature and historical Christian great books on audio.

Also we belong to 2 email lists that send an audio story for children each week: Jim Erskin’s Living Books for the Ears and Robert Green’s You Need a Story.

Have a great time listening!

See our other posts on Audio Books – Part 1 and Part 2.

Just a short note – during a short break – to let you know I’m working on getting my books and audios formatted for electronic delivery.

You can now order Sorting it Out and Pulling it Together (book), and Choose ye this Day… – An Introduction to L.E.D. (audio w/ powerpoint presentation) and download them to your computer.

Back to work 🙂

My children love audio books. They love to listen as they go to bed each night. All from the youngest ones to the oldest ones. I’m not sure if my “all grown up” ones still do. I know one of my married daughters recently told me that it bothered her husband, so she quit, but she misses it. (I told her to try headphones; that’s what I do – making sure the cord is tucked up out of the way.)

My older children, (the “all grown up” ones,) started with cassette tapes, things like Jungle Jam, Adventures in Odyssey, Your Story Hour, and other Bible Stories. Since then we’ve added the Jonathan Parks series, and many classic books, like Les Miserables, The Christmas Carol, Silas Marner, Pilgrim’s Progress, books by G.A. Henty, etc. and of course we have the Bible itself. For me, in addition to the Bible, I listen to teaching tapes on home education, various Christian teaching and sermon tapes, and classics – my favorite, Pilgrim’s Progress.

Audio books have “grown up” over the years too. As I said, we started with cassettes and moved on to CD’s, but now we have even more options. We can download (both for free and for pay) books and sermons to listen to on the computer, or to burn to CD, or to transfer to our Palm or ipod. Or we can purchase “chips” to play on a small digital player, or Palm, or computer.

I subscribe to several podcasts of sermons, and my ipod is usually loaded with sermons. I put some of these and books on my Palm. My children still have “old fashioned” CD players. But I am seriously thinking about getting them the digital chip players. The books seem to be a bit more expensive, but NO scratching and breaking!

One more avenue is available in in the digital realm of books, that is books read by a digital voice. This is one I just can’t get used to. I simply cannot listen to them. Of course, that is how many of the “free” ones are able to be free, by not using hours of a human’s time to read them. I’ll pay for the person, thank you.

Me and My House (that’s us) has over 3000 audio books available including Blackstone, Adventures in Odyssey, Radio Theatre, the Bible on CD, Classic Literature, through our Afflicate with CBD. Most of these are at a discount. If the series/book you’re looking for isn’t linked here, you can enter the title your interested in in the search box for CBD in our sidebar.
Here’s some we don’t have yet, but we’ve read the books and the audios are on our wishlist – you might consider them too: Peter Marshall’s Light and the Glory series, Basket of Flowers, America’s Godly Heritage and others by Wallbuilders, The Swiss Family Robinson, and I could go on and on.

Stay tuned tomorrow for more on Audiobooks – AND more links to other resources – including FREE downloads!