a glimpse of our life: Jim Hodges Audio Books

The following CD was provided by Jim Hodges Productions for the purpose of this TOS Schoolhouse Crew review.

Many homeschool families have enjoyed Henty's educational classics; our family recently joined their ranks. Jim Hodges Productions provides unabridged recordings as Audio Books, mixing these classic books with modern technology. We received Henty Short Stories Collection which includes five stories. The last short story (The Plague Ship) is the longest (almost an hour) and is in two parts. The other four range from 23-49 minutes. The total time is three and one half hours. The recording is available as an MP3 CD for $25 or a digital download for $18. Most of the other titles also include an accompanying study guide.

Chapters include White Faced Dick, A Brush With the Chinese, A Frontier Girl, Surly Joe, and The Plague Ship (parts 1 and 2.)

Because these recordings follow the unabridged versions of the books, children can follow along with the books while listening to the audio books. In my opinion, this is one of the biggest benefits of these recordings. My son is now reading books above his grade level, but there are many words in Henty's books that are new to him. There are also vocabulary lessons using words from the stories available for purchase on Jim Hodges Productions' website.

Jim Hodges shared that one of the reasons he chose to record Henty's stories was because they portrayed such accurate history. They are filled with action, adventure, and excellent role models.

"His use of the English language is quite advanced and his vocabulary is vast. So much so that some paragraphs I've read turned out to be one sentence, and it seems every page has at least 5 to 10 upper level vocabulary words. I am pretty well read, and have encountered words used by Henty that I've never heard before and had to look up myself."

Stories range from elementary through high school (and beyond.) You can reference the scope and sequence shared on their website for specific levels recommended for each story. Most are not recommended for children under eight years old. My ten year old listened with the rest of us.

"My sincerest prayer is that all young men who read or listen to Henty historical novels will desire to become Mighty Men of Valor." ~ Jim Hodges

Our family is enjoying incorporating Henty's stories into our homeschool, and these audio versions make that even easier. Before this review I didn't know that Henty wrote short stories in addition to his famous historical tales. These recordings are straight from the pages of Henty's books, not a dramatization. Jim Hodges reads as narrator and as characters, his is the voice in the recording. As our family is now used to audio dramatizations of stories we love, listening to this was a bit of an adjustment.

Other members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew received one of the following selections as well as the accompanying Study Guide in PDF format. Click the link below to read their reviews.