A Slice of Sky

I have been looking for audio books for our family. Well, maybe not Abel who think they are cure-alls for insomnia. I love audio books -ones that are well read, with expression and no drawl- and prefer them to movies. I like having that space to conjure images up myself.

I trawled several pages of the web and came up with this list of audio books, free and not-free:

Free audio books
www.storynory.com ( for kids, excellent, good English used)
www.librivox ( for everyone, but goodness, you really have to ferret out the good ones. Some of the readings put me to sleep. While others, like one of Beatrix Potter’s “The tailor of Gloucester” , are good.)
www.freeclassicaudiobooks.com ( monotonous, the scene here seems to be dominated by one reader.)
www. booksshouldbefree.com ( the ones here are actually librivox recordings.)

Not-free audio books
www.blackstone.com ( expensive, looks interesting)
www.talking-book-store-com (excellent recordings, excellent readings, moderately priced)
www.audible.com ( excellent recordings, a range of prices )
www.audiobookscorner.com (good , a range of prices )

Now, to sit back , relax and let the words flow over me…hah, easier said than done with two lively kids!

Here is an idea for making colored rice.
1.Mix quarter cup of water and several drops of food coloring in a jar.
2. Add the rice in.
3.Stir the mixture.
4. Let the rice sit for 5 minutes.
5. Then, pour out extra water with a sieve.
6. Spread rice out to dry on a newspaper.
7. Repeat the steps for each colour.

We’ll be doing this activity this week as we learn about how people in the past and in different cultures dye fabric and make paint.

Last month we made Sumerian clay tablets from dough. The four of us trudged to the pond near nearby where there are reeds a plenty. We pulled some reeds, cut them and the kids did some cuneiform writing on the tablets. Then we baked them in the oven.