So our first review of the year is here! The kids were thrilled to receive For the Temple from Heirloom Audio. This was one of the many books they had to read for history. Listening to the book, For the Temple by G. A. Henty on CD was much more appealing to them. Now that they are older, they no longer are huge fans of listening to anything on CD. When they were younger, they loved books on CD, but now they both tend to prefer to read them. However when you have to read 4 or 5 books for a history unit, listening to one of those books on CD is a wonderful idea. It breaks up the monotony and boredom. It also allowed them to get some work done while we were running errands. Car schooling~ it really is a thing!
What is Heirloom Audio?
Heirloom Audio is a company that produces high-quality books on CD. The books are filled with adventure, morals, and values that our children need to be exposed to. Listeners will get to experience history brought to life. They will hear stories about virtue and valor, while being exposed to characters that display tremendous courage and determination. Perfect role models for our children.
For this review, we received a physical CD copy of For the Temple. The 2 disc CD set is $29.97, plus shipping and handling. When ordering buyers will receive the CDs and instant access MP3 download. To go along with our historical adventure story, we received a wonderful study guide to further our learning.
"The time is coming when every Jew
who can bear arms will be needed
in the service of his country."
Your hope can not stop it."
For the Temple is a wonderful tale about the Roman occupation of Israel. John, the son of a wine maker, lives with his family along the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. We first meet John in the year 67 A.D. Nero is the Roman emperor. He is worried about the Palestine area. He chooses a trusted man named Josephus to deal with the conflict in Israel. Josephus runs into our main character John during a storm on the sea. John and his betrothed Mary are out at sea during a terrible storm. Josephus rescues them and is impressed with the calmness John portrayed during the ordeal. He encourages John to join him on the battle field. John, with the permission of his parents, heads off to battle.
“The first duty of any Jew is to protect the Temple.
I will fight that battle.”
His father has always taught him that it's their duty to protect the temple. He spends months learning under Josephus. As the battles rage, Roman occupation tightens its grip. John must decide for himself who and what he is fighting for. He must make a tough decision on one of the darkest days in Israel's history. Will John save the temple or destroy it? To find out how the story ends purchase a copy of For the Temple from Heirloom Audio Productions.
What Did We Think of For the Temple?
We enjoyed the story. It fit perfectly with our history lesson. As I mentioned before this story was on the kid's reading list. Listening to the story was a nice change for them. They've been complaining about ALL THE READING THEY'VE HAD TO DO THIS YEAR! Can you hear them groaning?
Michael loved listening to the characters. He loves trying to place the voices from other movies he's watched. He likes how the characters are interesting to listen to. He even suggested the company should create cartoon movies of the stories. He says kids would love them!
Therese thought the story was O.K. She's not a big fan of books on CD. She tends to zone out when listening to books on CD. She says she'll probably read the book to gain more from the story. I think the story CD has piqued her interest in the book a little. She does love to read.
So What About the Study Guide?
The study guide is impressive! It's filled with information and activities for all ages. The study guide was designed for parents who want to help their younger children understand the story-line and lessons. The guide also includes writing assignments for older students. The study guide is broken up into section. Each section covers about 4 to 8 minutes of the audio. Each set of questions has three section... Listening Well, Thinking Further, and Defining Words.
Listening Well~ These are questions to ask the students about the story. This is great for listening comprehension. They offer easy questions for younger students and a few harder questions for those older students. All the questions can be answered by listening intently to the story. Be sure to remind the little ones to have their listening ears on.
Thinking Further~ These are the questions to ask your students so they have to think a little. Yes, they have to use their brains. They may have to look something up, draw conclusions about a certain character. What were they thinking? Why did they do what they did? What were the consequences of their actions? These questions will help students think and hopefully increase their understanding of the story.
Defining Words~ Vocabulary words are given to increase the student's knowledge. They will need a dictionary or google for this one.
My favorite parts of the study guide are the Thinking Further and Defining Words. I assigned Michael and Therese the vocabulary words as a worksheet. I had them look up the words and write down their definitions. I figured this would be a great way to increase their vocabulary, especially since they both will be taking the SAT test in a few years. The Thinking Further questions provided me with a few written assignments for the to complete. These were perfect for reports and papers. For example and essay about how the Judeans and Galileans differ and how did they regard each other was a perfect writing assignment for them. It went along with history and religion! They weren't too thrilled with the writing assignments, but it was a wonderful bonus for me.
Want to learn more about For the Temple or Heirloom Audio? Check them out on social media.
Be sure to stop by and see what the other crew members had to say about For the Temple!
Till Next Time,
Monique
Thanks for sharing! My kids are young enough to still love the books on CD. I'll have to check out Heirloom Audio. :)
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