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I was looking at Julie's week in review and the notes that her son takes while listening to the You are There selections. I was curious as to how this typically flows. First is the listening spread out over more than one day? Second do the dc end up jumping around from box to box with their notes as something comes up? Do your dc pause the CD often to take the notes? I am just trying to brainstorm how this will work for my ds next year. He normally types notes, but not sure how that will work if he is having to jump from box to box as things about that particular person come up. Right now when he takes notes from the video in WG he pauses it some and just scribbles on a notebook page and then he reads it off to me so I can scribe it in his notebook for him. It isn't ideal as I would rather him be totally independent and so would he. Just trying to figure out how to make that happen for this activity next year without it taking double the time, which it will if he writes and then has to type it.

Lynn, I've wondered if something like "dragon speak" would work for him. Maybe as he pauses the CD he can speak his thoughts and they are typed for him? Then he could edit later. But you may have already found/used this type of program. I could see this being a great tool for him.

We have tried dragon speak, but ran into 2 problems. First it didn't do a great job of understanding his voice. He talks a little slow and has mild articulation issues. The other issue is that he does a much better job processing things if he is typing it verses if he is trying to speak it. This is evident when he tries to orally narrate while I type it. This is very, very difficult for him. He is experimenting with different note taking apps, but if he has to jump around from character to character I don't know if those will work for him.

Lynn,

The listening sessions are scheduled to be completed within one day. Usually a character speaks or is interviewed at one time and then the session moves on to a new character. The characters are all listed in separate boxes meaning that there is jumping from box to box as the next character is introduced. Typically, the characters are listed in the order that they appear in the listening session (to make things a bit easier for the students). Not all characters require note-taking though, as some minor characters are omitted.

At times, other commentators in the audio provide further details about the characters, but this is typically at the very beginning of the session or right before or after the person is interviewed. Pausing and relistening, or pausing to write is a necessary component of the lesson. So, plan for that before you begin.

Also, some of the audios are more easily heard than others, so be sure that your son knows he is not meant to catch everything (as otherwise he will quickly become frustrated with the activity). Think of this more as an activity meant to provide a "feel for the times" as well as helping kiddos generally become a bit more familiar with the key players in each scenario. The audios are actually reproductions of the CBD old-time radio shows, and as such they do not have the stellar quality we are used to in listening to audios today. Listening on the computer with headphones seems to best at our house. Although, when I listen I just listen directly from my computer without headphones.

Also, each listening session is approximately 30 min., and by the time kiddos pause/write/relisten if needed it can take 45 min. or to complete (with the opinion box included). My oldest son used to listen to his sessions in the evening as he found it was quieter then. My next oldest son just does his in the school day when it comes up.

In your son's case I think the least frustration might come from the following two choices: Either you or your husband could listen along with your son and take notes as he dicates them to you. Or, you could instead just have your son listen to the entire session without stopping, and then share whatever he happens to remember from each character for you to scribe for him in his notebook after the session is over. At that juncture, if he doesn't remember much about each character you would have to be alright with that, as listening will have provided him with a fuller, richer picture of the time and at least an introduction to the key players. Either way, at the end he will have to give his opinion about the event and characters, which is actually is an important skill that will stretch him (and is a goal that can be accomplished whether you listen along with him or not.) Just be sure he gives his own opinion rather than formulating one he thinks he should have. Giving one's opinion can be difficult when asked to support it.

With your son's needs in mind, it can be interesting to sort through the most important goal in each assignment for him. I applaude your amazing efforts! (and his)!

Blessings,
Carrie

Carrie thank you so much for giving me insight into this activity. I will have to think on it and ask him which way he prefers to try it. I will make sure to let him know that he won't catch everything and that is ok. He does need work on formulating his opinions on things and then being able to back those up. I am very excited that this is a skill he will work on next year, so I will just make this my main goal for that activity and anything else he accomplishes will be icing on the cake . He is pretty good at formulating opinions, just not so great at backing them up yet. I know he needs practice taking notes while listening, but we are addressing this now by having him type notes on his Ipad during sermons. He just started doing this and is experimenting to see what app he likes best. If he starts doing very well with this then I might work him up to trying it during the You are There audios. I can always cut and paste his notes into the notebook if I need to.

Since it is just the 2 of us here during the day now it is pretty quiet so hopefully he can hear it well enough without headphones. I purchased a collection of these many years ago and downloaded them and we have listened to some of them so I know what you mean about the audio quality being different than what we have today.