My children thoroughly enjoyed the Liberty's Kids DVDs. They thought they were entertainment but they learned a lot too. Funny that this was even before we had considered home education.
A few years back, I wanted to have my kids watch them in order, and keep a notebook where they summarized the important person/event of each one. I still think it's a great idea, but it didn't work out, because I couldn't get the one I wanted when I wanted it.
We got them from Netflix at the time. I see that they are also on Amazon now but the price has jumped. Knowing how good they are, I will still purchase them somewhere if the price is right..
We got them from Netflix at the time. I am pretty sure they are now on Amazon, but the price has jumped! Knowing how good they are, I would still purchase them if the price was right.
I used movies. For the revolutionary war, "The Patroit." For the civil war, The Disney movie, " The Great locomotive chase." You can find good movies to train your little guys, and they love it.
In my opinion, The Great Locomotive Chase covers one of the most under-covered events of the Civil War! My 6th grade teacher read us a fiction story based on it. I can still remember how frustrated we were at every turn when something else went wrong! Other movies we used included The Alamo and The Cowboys, both with John Wayne. My brother in San Antonio was SO disgusted that we were showing The Alamo for history, lol! And for World History, Kingdom of Heaven was absolutely awesome for the crusades!!!
Jackie, W were in for evaluation,and the principal was reputed to be a horrible fellow toward Hschool. He asked my son a "random" question. "When did the telegraph enter common use?" Based on the Locomotive chase, my son said, "Before the Civil war." We had no more problems with this man. Score one for the good guys.
I tried to initiate interest in eras by getting them into the movie first. I got them reading Tolkien before the movies were out, but today, I would do movies then books. I have a real gem. For the Napoleonic era, Sharpes rifles." It's a Brit series based on war in 1808 in Spin. Fascinating for boys and girls. Here's the gem, it's on youtube, and here is the best part, its got 14 episodes and each is 147 minutes long. Watch them first. Its not bad. # 4 sharpes enemy is the one to view and judge. It has romance! Yeah, that's odd for a war tale. It's British, so its pretty clean and just a tad racy. Bernard Cornwell wrote about 20 books. Sean Bean meets a woman, Teresa, (leader of the Spanish guerilla force) and eventually (in later episodes) marries her and has a baby! All while waging a war! Cool. 5 star entertainment. Beware. There is a (1 min.) bit of kissing (at the 1.39 minut mark) end. Also Teresa was said to be raped by the enemy.
LOVED the Sharp series (movies, never read the books)!!! We all the way through them! As for Tolkien, I'm not particularly impressed with the movies (though we own all three of LOTR!). Two things in particular I take exception to, no, three. 1) When Aragorn came in the boats, he was flying the banner created for him by Arwyn. They should have kept that. 2) When Frodo and Sam ran into Eomer in the book,he (Eomer) made a point to NOT try and take the ring from Frodo. In the movie, Eomer wanted to take the ring back to Gondor. In my mind, that was a major change, as it totally changed Eomer's character. 3) I would have liked to see the Hobbits take back the Shire like they did in the book. And don't EVEN get me started on The Hobbit!!!
Looks as if you know your Tolkien. Luckily mine read the LOTR books. Good work and very impressive. Good on you.
Faramir was who I meant. He was one of my favorite characters; he refused to take the ring, and sent Frodo and Sam on their way. In the movie, he wanted to use the movie for Gondor, like his brother.
I've been busy, but I'm back. I suggest Defiance (WW 2) also Enemy at the gates and soldiers and saints. All good for WW 2. Interesting fact, one of the Soviet snipers at Stalingrad was an American Jewish female! She was also the "love" interest for the hero. And it's all a true story.
I have to buy some good DVDs for my kids soon.It is good to learn all about history from an early age.
