“You shouldn’t say you read a book if you only listened to it.” Or so said a somewhat snarky lady in a homeschool group I was in when we were discussing reading vs listening to books. I swear my eyes rolled so far back in my head that they almost fell out! It’s time we shake off these nonsense negative ideas about audiobooks and learn to embrace them. Back a the start of COVID we introduced one of our kids to audiobooks. I was amazed as I watched him flourish and learn all sorts of things. Now my only regret is that I didn’t discover them sooner!
Audiobooks Do the Same As Reading
You should embrace audiobooks because they do the exact same thing as reading a print book. One of my biggest pet peeves about audiobooks is that people somehow think they are ‘cheating’. For some reason people have this odd idea that it only counts as ‘real’ learning if you look at a page and read something, which is just plain nonsense!
Our Experience Proves it Wrong
Have you ever read to your kids? Of course you have! Sometimes we do it just for fun and bonding, but we also do it for our kids to learn things. As homeschoolers we’ve definitely read lessons out loud to our little ones, right? If kids didn’t learn just as well from hearing information read to them, why would we do it? We do it because we know it works!
Science Proves It
You don’t have to take my word for it that audiobooks are just as good as reading. Science proves it! There are neuroscientists out there who are literally tracking how our brains respond to written texts and how they respond to audio texts. They did scans and found that the same parts of people’s brains light up during both activities. So, can this please be an end to the (somewhat snobbish) notion that audiobooks are somehow ‘less worthy’ than reading books?
Audiobooks Allow for Learning While You’re Busy
Think of audiobooks like a good quality rotisserie chicken. They’re enjoyable, convenient, and help save us when times are busy! Nobody would call a rotisserie chicken junk food. We certainly wouldn’t say that it didn’t count as eating because you didn’t cook it from scratch. Nope, that chicken is equal parts delicious and helpful, just like audiobooks!
Multitaksing
I know so many moms who love to listen to audiobooks while completing chores around the house. They allow them to learn new things or enjoy stories while doing things that might be slightly less enjoyable, like washing the dishes. The same is true for our kids. I have one child who likes to listen to audiobooks while trying to fall asleep (not a time of day she usually enjoys) and another who likes to listen to them while tidying up his room.
On the Go
I know people seem to think we homeschoolers stay closed up in our homes like a bunch of antisocial hermits, but you and I know that’s not true! We’re on the go allllll the time (or at least it feels that way some weeks, am I right). I once saw a guy driving down the freeway in Los Angeles with a book open across the steering wheel. Scary! Since that’s neither safe nor legal, audiobooks make a great alternative. Your kids (or you) can learn on the go while staying safe!
Audiobooks Make Learning Accessible
I’m a big believer in making learning (and life) equally accessible to everyone. That’s why I write allergy-friendly recipes and why I made Journey Through the USA and Journey Around the World highly adaptable curriculum options. Audiobooks are a great tool for making learning more accessible for many people!
Different Learning Styles
Not everyone learns best by reading or writing. While that tends to be the most common format used for teaching and assessing, it just doesn’t work well for everyone. There are actually several common learning styles and reading/writing is just one of them. People who lean more towards the auditory learning styles benefit greatly from audiobooks because they can take in all the information through listening. I never cease to be amazed at how many things I go to teach my kids and my son says, “I already know that. I learned it in an audiobook!”
Physical and Learning Disabilities
Don’t we want to give children with visual impairments every opportunity to learn? What about children with reading disabilities like Dyslexia? When we embrace audiobooks we show these children that we care about their needs. We teach them that their struggles don’t stop them from succeeding, they just mean that they have to find different ways of doing things. Not only do we give kids the tools to learn, we can help inspire them to find new ways to make life and learning work for them.
Let’s Embrace Something New
Audiobooks may seem like just another tech trend or a new way for kids to ‘get out of working hard’, but the idea has been around for ages. It’s no different than using read aloud time or class lectures to teach kids. Instead of dismissing audiobooks as somehow less worthy, let’s all embrace the opportunities they bring to our world!
