If I go into the adventure library I'm able to access the study guide, we can listen online, we can read the e-book, hear the musical soundtrack and many other options. In the kid activities & games section there are coloring pages, word searches and fun activities. Here are a few of the activities that your child can do.
Under the Educational Treasures section there are also many additional freebies that come with your access to the Live the Adventure Club.
There are also many additional extras, such as a recipe for Hangtown Fry, that can be found in the Resources & Articles section.
One thing that I've really enjoyed with these audio stories is that they are one story within a story. When Captain Bayley's Heir starts we have Mr.George writing a letter about his adventure so far in America. Mr. George is doing research for a book and that research takes him to the gold mines of California. He meets a young man, Frank, who is also on his own journey. He is headed to Sutter's Fort and talks about a young lady, Alice, that he hopes to marry one day. The problem he sees is that she is a "christian girl" and he can't see that. He doesn't believe he could "ever be good enough for God!" Mr. George tells him it's all about the "gift of grace." Mr. George starts to tell Frank about the story he is writing. As the story starts we learn of a young man, Harry, that has a love of music and learning, but suffers from a physical handicap. He and his dog, Flossy, go out because his mother feels he shouldn't just stay home alone. His dog falls into iced water and a stranger rescues him. This stranger, Frank, showed no regard for his own safety, but instead jumped straight in to save Flossy. Frank is from a world that is completely opposite of the one that Harry lives in. Frank and his cousin, Fred, were best friends and spent much of their time with another dear friend, Alice. She was considered to be a cousin, but there was no blood relation. Frank and Alice lived with the famous Captain Bayley. Harry is so thankful to Frank for saving his dog that when he runs into him later he invites him to his home to be thanked by his parent. The two start a friendship that others might consider unlikely. While the friendship is blossoming Alice learns that Captain Bayley has a daughter that he hasn't seen or heard from in years. Frank is a very impulsive young man as we saw when he jumped in the water to save Flossy. One day Frank's life choices put him in a very complicated situation. He went off school grounds when he shouldn't have. Someone tried to bribe him and he's not sure how he'll get out of the situation. Out of the blue an envelope appears in his room with the money he needed with a note included that said "from a friend." Frank assumed one of his friends was helping him until he's later charged with stealing the money from a teacher's desk. Frank is believed by no one and is about to be expelled from school. He reaches out to Captain Bayley, but receives no word back. He is devastated and has nowhere to turn. Fred gives him money and suggests he leave for America immediately! He can't believe that Captain Bayley and Alice didn't believe him, but with no answer he feels he has no choice, but to leave. Frank heads to America on board a clipper ship. Frank is used to a life of riches, but realizes his new life will be different. He felt deep down that he would never again see England. He was now dependent upon himself and he was quite capable on the ship. As Frank journeys on he meets many men that help shape him. His quick thinking saves a ship and his mates. As a thank you for his part in saving the ship the owner decides to pay to help Frank get out west. On Frank's journey he meets Abe, Rube and Dickens. They teach him the ways of weapons, horses and life in the west. Frank hopes that he won't have to draw his weapon, but at one point in his travels he runs into an Indian attack and it's a fight for your life situation. While Frank is struggling to believe that his uncle and Alice really didn't believe him Captain Bayley has learned some news of his own. He learns that his daughter has passed away. He is distraught at the thought that his daughter passed without knowing that he loved her and accepted her marriage. There are ultimately many twists and turns in this audio adventure. Captain Bayley learns that Harry is actually the son of his beloved daughter. He learns about the letter that Frank sent, but Captain Bayley never received. While Harry is adjusting to his new life as Captain Bayley's grandchild Frank is making is way in gold country. He and some friends work together to try and strike it rich. Even after hitting gold Frank still isn't quite content because he can't truly believe that Alice wouldn't have believed him. As a friend was heading to England he asked him to stop in on Alice and mention his name. Captain Bayley, Harry and Alice were on an extended trip and it took them some time to find out about Frank. In the meantime Frank is in the fight for his life and is badly injured. Captain Bayley is devastated at the thought of losing Frank and especially for Frank to have thought he didn't believe him. Ultimately there is a happy ending for this audio drama and I was hanging on the edge of my seat right to the end. This story was yet another quality story with good morals. I think that's what most of us prefer our children to listen too. Heirloom Audio Productions has brought us yet another wonderful and family friendly audio story.
While my initial plan was to have the kids and I to listen to the audio story on our trip and my daughter read the questions from the guide to my son that didn't happen! We listened to the story, but my daughter was working on her own work. I figured we could always listen to the story the first time without the guide and later go back through again. We enjoyed listening to the entire story that day and later we went back and worked through a chapter at a time. What I've realized is that while the study guide is great the questions and vocabulary are just a little too detailed for my son. He's in fifth grade, but still struggles some with comprehension and often times attention. While he enjoyed the story he struggled with being able to answer most of the questions. The way I chose to approach it was to skim through the questions and ask him the ones I thought he could answer. I found that he was able to answer a few more in the "listening well" section compared to the "thinking further." The "thinking further" questions required more thought and understanding about the story than he was able to muster. That said for us personally I don't think the study guides would really be able to be fully completed on his own for several years. I think he'd need to be higher in middle school to be able to focus on the small details that were required to answer the questions. He didn't seem to know any of the vocabulary words, so I looked those up and we read the definitions together. While he seemed to enjoy the action of the audio stories, he didn't seem as excited about the study guide. I think it required that he actively listen more to the story than he's currently capable of doing. I do feel that most older boys could easily listen to the audio story and answer the questions. These would be great to add in as part of their literature program. I've enclosed a few parts of the first few pages of the study guide. There are very thought provoking questions, but they are just too thought provoking for my child at this moment.
I have really been impressed with Heirloom Audio Productions and I think the audio story of Captain Bayley's Heir is my favorite so far. I'm looking forward to being able to listen to many more of these audio stories with my son. I highly recommend you check out their social media sites: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google+ as well as read what my fellow crew members thought.
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