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Product Review of Wulf The Saxon audiobook by Heirloom Audio Productions

Hey, homeschool moms! It's nice when you can take a break from reading and have someone else read out loud once in a while, isn't it? Yet sometimes, when we ask our children to read, one or two of them may use a monotone voice and not make the story as exciting as it could be and therefore the others do not listen as well. I found a way to get the story read by someone else and have it be entertaining at the same time! Check out my product review of Wulf the Saxon audiobook by Heirloom Audio Productions.

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Wulf the Saxon audio theater Product Review of Wulf The Saxon audiobook by Heirloom Audio Productions

This review was done 2/19/2018. Just bringing it back to the top as I am currently listening to it with my son Mason, who is age 11 currently.

About Wulf The Saxon

It is a physical, two CD audiobook set that you put into your CD player. This story is adapted from the book, Wulf The Saxon, by G.A. Henty. It takes place in the year 1065 when Edward the Confessor was King of England. Wulf is a young Saxon landholder, who quickly earns respect from others that he serves. He is a great example of loyalty, courage, and honor. Wulf and his devout Christian friend, Harold, end up shipwrecked on the shores of Normandy when a desperate struggle for the throne of England begins. On a battlefield outside of Hastings, the very course of history is decided. It is a story of brothers becoming enemies. A story of a boy becoming a man. A story of a nation being born. Here is a screen shot with more information:

I noticed on their website that this product can be purchased as a download as well. I personally prefer to use the physical CD because of how our living room is set up for listening to CDs going through our sound system. When we play things on an MP3, the sound just doesn't come out as good as we have not invested in the best speakers for the job.

How We Used It

I decided to use this physical CD audiobook program with my 7, 12 and 14 year old children. I had them sit in the living room. They are allowed to draw, do a puzzle or play with quiet toys while listening. I just put the CD in my player and turned it on. We listened for 30 minutes per day. I would occasionally pause and ask them questions to be sure they were listening.

Some Story Details (may be spoilers)

Wulf finds himself in a situation where he needs to fight in wars with more than one country and serve his country and King. In one part, the English were slaughtered and the body of King Harold was not recognizable to be found. Wulf had to relay this information to the King's wife, Lady Edith. Lady Edith was able to find him herself. Harold was then buried by order of Duke William The Conqueror, a Norseman. The brothers of the deceased King were not chosen to be the next King because of their poor relationship and betrayal. Instead, Duke William the Conqueror was offered to be King.

In this Christian audio drama, the romantic part is very pure, and Agnes was asked for her hand in marriage by Wulf. As part of her answer, which included asking him questions, she said, “I will be a true and loving wife.”

The voice actors are very experienced and do great work. There is Patrick Godfrey, who has voiced Les Miserables and Ever After. Also, Brian Blessed, who is an English actor, who provided the voice for the villain Clayton in the film Tarzan, Eduardo Enormomonster in Henry Hugglemonster and Boss Nass in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, for example.

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Miranda's Opinion (girl – age 7)

“It was okay. I would like more girls in it. All the boys and fighting stuff is not that fun to listen to.”

Maris' Opinion (boy – age 12)

“I really like the battle parts. It would make a great movie. It is definitely better than reading or hearing mom read a history book. It held my interest better than a book. Reading it myself would be boring, it would not be good like how they did it with different voices and emotion in their voices. I wish they did not include the girls and love part.”

Mercedes' Opinion (girl – age 14)

“I like to be taught in this way. The story was tragically sad in some ways, but otherwise good. This way of learning history is better to show you how things happened and help you get to know what the character's life was like and get to know the character better. I like that there were different voices for separate characters. If you are not fully paying attention, it's easy to miss something important, though. Where in a book, you can just re-read it, here you need to back up and find it again, which is a little hard to do with our CD player.”

Amy's Opinion (me – age 44, homeschooling since 2004)

For me, it was such a blessing to be able to sit and cuddle my two youngest children (ages 5 and 1) in the rocking chair and listen to this audio drama along with the children for a change, rather than read to them, help them to read aloud or listen to their reading and reminding them to enunciate, etc. I enjoyed the break and I also enjoyed listening to the story, which brought history alive for me. I was a little alarmed that they talked about lost limbs and how they “dealt with it” in the past, but I guess that is part of history so it needed to be said. My favorite thing about it was the high caliber voice actors that were chosen for reading. They were amazing! They really put emotion into their voices, which is something my children and I have a hard time doing when reading. There were also many sound effects like swords clanging, etc. that made the story more interesting. I look forward to “reading” or should I say “listening” to another story from Heirloom Audio in the future.