The Homeschool Review Crew got the privilege of reviewing eight titles from The Familyman this month and part of last. We received The Familyman’s Christmas Treasury – Audio Collection and Digital Downloads to review. With Christmas rapidly approaching, the kids enjoyed jumping in and celebrating the season, even if it is a wee bit early!
First off, my eight children are HUGE fans of the story on CD. We’ve met missionaries and heroes, fairy tale characters and a plethora of everyday folk via the audio compact disc, and these characters have become much loved in our house – and put my children to sleep with the sweetest of dreams on a very regular basis.
That said, I can’t say no to more stories. We’ve heard so many, but fresh (unscratched!) CD’s are still a thrill around here. (The fact that these I have on Digital Download – and can re-burn the CD when the inevitable scratching from small hands attempting to start a story for themselves happens – this is the best of every world. I received Cootie McKay’s Nativity on CD in the mail, but also received that story, and seven others, via Digital Download. All told, I received the following eight stories:
- Cootie McKay’s Nativity
- It’s Called Christmas
- Captain Chaos and the Manger Blaster
- Gladys Remembers Christmas
- Harold Grubbs and the Christmas Vest
- The Bishop’s Dream
- The Stranger
- The Secret of Snow Village
The stories vary in length from about eighteen to thirty minutes long. It’s the perfect length for a bedtime story in our house, and all of the kids give these a thumbs up, having enjoyed listening thoroughly. I burned several discs to get them all on CD for the kids, and those CD’s got passed between the girls and boys bedrooms often. Everyone had reservations with It’s Called Christmas – it’s the future, and apparently the future is a confusing place. With very concrete thinkers in this house, that one wasn’t their favorite, and I heard about Captain Chaos as one that raised questions about what things meant too. They enjoyed the story, but found it hard to follow a bit. Fun enough, Cootie McKay’s Nativity was everyone’s favorite – that’s the one we got on disc from The Familyman!
Originally from beloved books and now told by “Master Storyteller” Jim Hodges, each of these stories from The Familyman’s Christmas Treasury reinforce the true meaning of Christmas. Highly skilled in storytelling, Jim Hodges has my kids impressed at his talent to change his voice to fit the characters remarkably well. They are simply told, with minimal sound effects or dramatic flair, but grabbed the kids’ attention and entertained and taught well. They’ve been added to the rotation of beloved stories to listen and enjoy here! With Christmas looming, I’m sure these will be well on their way to memorized (and scratched up, in this crazy world… Good news! I’ll burn another!) by Christmas.
The Digital Downloads are $3.99-$4.99 each. The six-CD Audio Collection is $25.00.
The Familyman is all over the web! Find them at the links below.
Check out what the rest of the Crew thought of The Familyman and his Christmas stories! Fifty of us were on this review.
