Getting HELP on my History Project

When I decided to go to work on a rather ambitious project, I did what I often do - what I have learned to do over years of facing challenges - I asked for help. And I asked for help from one of my favorite sources...the homeschool community.

I sent the following email out to the local homeschool information yahoo group that I moderate, along with a large list of homeschoolers that attended a family oriented college play that I helped organize.

Hello all,

I am working on a homeschool resource business project. It involves recording a historical narrative that is now public domain (the copyright is no longer in effect). Kind of like G.A. Henty except more of a narrative rather than an historical fiction story. I am also working on a resource packet to go with it that so far includes vocabulary words, a timeline, an outline, etc. I am hoping that the finished audio will be 6 to 8 hours in length. I am working on Chapter one now and it is taking some practice to get it right. I am not striving for perfection but rather, a pleasant and interesting listening experience. I have done some audio recording but this is my first try at a whole book.

I will need some help and I am recruiting now. :-)
I need 3 to 5 local families who enjoy history (who have at least one member who loves history) and who would be willing to listen and review the set when I get it finished in a timely fashion (like a week to 10 days after I get it to you). It will be a wait, wait, wait, and then hurry kind of thing as I don't know how long it is going to take me to finish. I have to record when A) the house is relatively quiet and B) I am relatively awake. As you can easily imagine, having these two conditions coincide doesn't happen for all that long each day!

It does not have to be the mom or the whole family as long as at least one member will listen to it all. The mom/dad can just review the resources and listen to enough to get the idea if they do not have the time or interest to listen to the whole thing. The commitment is what is important to me - that you can make it a high priority to get it done. Obviously, I understand that the week I may need it may be impossible - you can just tell me that at the time and I will go on to the next family on my list. Just if you do accept the job at the time, commit to doing the best you can to get it done asap.

The set you review will be what I can do with materials available. If the feedback is positive enough, I will be trying to find ways to "produce" the various parts in an economical but attractive manner. I hope to end up with a finished product that can be sold at a very reasonable cost - returning a small profit to me per set while (hopefully) blessing a lot of families with another history resource. If I can do that, there are a lot more where this came from.

Other help or suggestions that I need:

**Some way to make sure that I am pronouncing Russian names correctly - anyone know anyone who speaks fluent Russian?

**Some way to reproduce audio CDs economically from a master recording CD

That is all I can think of right now. Please email me directly if you are interested in helping and tell me a little about why you are interested. This isn't a contest, it would just help me to know. If I can't find enough help locally, I will go statewide and then national but I would rather keep it here. Please feel free to forward this to local support group lists or to individuals who may be interested.

~Karen

Well, what goes around comes around; I was not disappointed. I received just the right amount of offers of help and a large welcome dose of encouragement.

So far, my trickiest problem has been getting help with the Russian names as they are English versions of archaic Russian names. I have yet to exhaust all the help offered, however, and I am confident that I will get past that obstacle so that I can begin the actual audio recording very soon.