By Steve McCrea



Education Specialist

Founder, CDsForParents.com

Welcome! Here are your easy how-to instructions

Step 1 -- Find an iPod or mp3 player.

Step 2 -- Connect the device to a computer.

Step 3 -- Insert the CD and transfer audio files to the ipod or mp3 device.

Step 4 -- Connect the headphones, give the iPod to your child and watch the faces. "Yuck!" and "whoa, where did you get THAT?" and "Who is this Churchill guy? He talks funny."

Your suggestions are invited.

Steve McCrea

Tutor and education specialist

SteveEnglishTeacher@yahoo.com

www.CDsForParents.com

It's all about putting data into your head. Electronic books (ebooks) are available at www.gutenberg.org and at www.CDsForParents.com NOTE: The iPod is a trademark of Apple Computers and mp3 player is the general term for a device that plays mp3 files.

Don't Panic, Parents!

Yes, your home has been invaded by a small item carried in your child's pocket. Strings dangle from your child's ears. What is going on in there?

Compare the Sony Walkman (for audio tape) or the CD player. Both require more battery power than an mp3 player, so your child is actually saving you money! The digital audio device uses fewer batteries each month.

The iPOD as a Teaching Tool

Take a moment and read the suggestions in ??For Teachers?? on this CD (in this booklet). You are a teacher, too, and you can extend your child??s education with interesting speeches and books on tape that you find on the Internet.

Set an example

-Listen to national public radio, not music, when in the car.

-Find interesting spoken work on audio mp3 files or on the radio.

-Use an ipod for your chores, listening to interesting interviews from sciencefriday.com

-Ask your child to show you how to use ipodder.com or ??Juice??, software that is used to download mp3 files.

For Teachers

Yes, your school probably has rules about the use of iPods and mp3 players. Most schools have decreed: No digital devices in the classroom!

Too bad.

It's a shame.

What a pity.

Such a waste of an opportunity.

For many students, learning by doing is a feature of their learning method. Through trial and error, many students learn how to transfer mp3 audio files to their mp3 players and how to shuffle the order of playing and select their favorite pieces. Most of these pieces are music files. What if teachers and parents gave students mp3 files that had educational merit and purpose?

To find podcasts related to travel, just search "podcasts travel download" and you will have the podcasts that you are looking for. Roadlovers will enjoy listening to podcasts about the next town that they will visit. If you are interested in the rainforest in Belize or Peru, I'm sure you will find podcasts. You can even get free english lessons or free language lessons on the Internet. It's even a way to reduce global warming, because you won't get lost looking for a tropical paradise, and you will go straight to the destination described in your podcasts.