Revolutionary War Video Series

Last week I wrote about Liberty's Kids; an animated Revolutionary War series for Kids. This week I'm recommending the History Channel Series The Revolution.

With a 9 year old and a 15 year old both studying American History, it's interesting to compare resources. The main difference between the series for children and the series for adults is the specific battle strategies and the violence. Being that my older daughter watched Liberty's Kids several years ago, the adult series was a good review.

This series is available at our local library. It was highly beneficial, but other American Revolution series could be substituted. The Revolution series contains thirteen 45 minute videos telling the complete story of the American Revolution. The last two videos in the series were a summary of the entire revolution.

Over the years, my 15 year old has read many historical fiction novels and the book This Country of Ours and has gained a very good understanding of American History. Now that she's in 10th grade, she has been documenting her knowledge in preparation for college by taking CLEP exams. American History is next on her list.

Over the next 6-8 weeks she plans to review American History and videos are one source of information. In addition to Revolutionary War History, she is watching a video PBS Documentary about Andrew Jackson, has been researching treaties and events and will continue to read.


Check out these great blog hops for more educational activity ideas.

Liberty's Kids - American History Videos for Kids

Liberty's Kids is an animated series for kids which covers the American Revolution.

It begins with the Boston Tea Party and ends with We the People. Each episode in the 40 episode series covers a major event of the Revolutionary time period such as The Battle of Bunker Hill, Paul Revere's Ride and The Intolerable Acts. The 20 minute long episodes are perfect for short attention spans and an easy introduction to American History.

William J. Bennett's Children's Book of America and Jean Fritz's American History Short Narrative Stories are nice companions for the videos.


Check out these great blog hops for more educational activity ideas. 

Mexican-American War

Did you study the Mexican-American War in your American History classes growing up? I didn't.

Mexican-American War - 90 minute Video Documentary from the History Channel

The most likely reason for this part of American history being skipped is because the war does not project the image of how we want to be viewed as Americans. In a nutshell, American president James K. Polk wanted to expand the American territory to the Pacific Ocean. So he offered to buy the land which today makes up the states of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of Texas and Colorado. When the Mexican government refused to sell, America declared war and took the land.


At first, the public was in great favor of the war and many young men signed up to fight. In what is today Texas, the Mexican government identified the Nueces River as the boundary between the two countries. The Americans however, recognized the Rio Grande River as the boundary despite the fact that the majority of people living in the disputed land identified themselves as Mexicans. Around the time the Americans put in their offer to purchase the Northern half of Mexico, the Mexican Army killed a handful of American soldiers and captured about 50 more on land in the disputed territory. The incident was widely publicized and the government had public support.

For nearly two years, the countries fought battle after battle. As the war lingered on, public support dwindled. The people began to realize the initial reason for the declaration of war was in great part presented to appear as if the Americans were defending their liberties, when in fact, they were fighting to take land they desired which was not for sale.




Check out these great blog hops for more educational activity ideas.

Native American Unit Study - Lesson 1: Tribes and Regions

Lesson 1: We labeled regions of a map of the United States showing where various Indian tribes lived before Europeans began settling North America.

Native American History tells a rather sad story. Amazingly, very similar events have taken place many times throughout the history of humanity. Unfortunately, when one nation wants something which another has sometimes the thought that all people are human is abandoned in favor of individual needs and desires. These difficult stories are important to understand as they can help us to prevent repeating the pattern yet again.

The video linked below, Native America Before Colonization, is a two part series. The first segment compares the ways Europeans lived to the ways in which the Native Americans lived. The second part details how contact between Europeans and Americans changed the lives of both peoples. Pigs, corn, wood, disease, horses and potatoes are only a few items which brought significant changes for the people. The video describes each one and the lifestyles of both cultures. It's an excellent overview for those beginning a middle or high-school level American History study.

Native America Before Colonization

America's Great Indian Nations, the next documentary linked below, describes the unique features of several Native American Tribes. Did you know the Iroquois were actually a peaceful confederation of several nations in New York? The Seminole tribe was a nation of people from varying backgrounds; runaway slaves, Native American refugees from the north and others banned together.

Over the period of a few hundred years, most of the Native American tribes were reduced in population and confined to live on reservations. After highlighting the tribe the video explains how each was changed forever with colonization. Yes - there are many sad stories! Without going into too many details this video provides an overview of significant tribes, their territories and leaders. It's another video good for middle or high schoolers beginning American History studies.

America's Great Indian Nations

After watching the videos with my older daughter, all three of the kids and I read North American Indians (Pictureback(R)). While reading the book we wrote the names of some Indian tribes on the United States map showing where they used to live. Although they are all known as Native Americans, they were very different from each other. Each group had their own traditions, gods, and way of living. Clothing styles were different among tribes, as were diet and housing style. Many of the differences were due to the resources available where each tribe lived. For example, tribes on the plains ate buffalo and used all parts of the buffalo in their clothing and way of life. Where as tribes in the North West were dependent on salmon. This book provides an introduction to the differences which is very important. The Native people of America were people. They had their own, different ways of life, and few are around today who still follow their tribal traditions.

Over the coming weeks I will detail our family's Native American Unit study including read books and completed projects.

Last Great Ice Age - Evolution Unit Study

Evolution Unit Study

Lesson 10: The Last Great Ice Age


At the end of the last great ice age humans made an extraordinary journey which brought them to a new continent. Several theories explain how humans could have come to live in the Americas, but scientists and historians currently lack the evidence to know with certainty. Rather than explain how humans evolved, the video linked below describes how early humans lived. During the time when wooly mammoths roamed the planet, these early humans would have likely been the prey of saber toothed cats. 

Europeans and Asians in Pre-historic America - Journey to 10,000 BC

Around the end of the last ice age an extinction event occurred which wiped out the mammoths, saber toothed cats and other ice age creatures. It devastated human populations, but didn't destroy human life. Many scientists believe an asteroid hit the United States in the area of Ohio, but since impact was atop of a glacier, there is no crater evidence.

 We kept our hands-on activities in connection with our evolution study very simple. When studying the ice age, we simply added pictures of extinct ice age creatures to our timeline.

Teaching Kids About Evolution - Human Evolution

Evolution Unit Study

Lesson 9: Human Evolution


Becoming Human
Six million years ago chimps and humans shared a common ancestor. In the years in between then and today, numerous different human-like creatures lived on the planet. "Lucy," the name given to a 3.2 million year old fossil found in Africa was the species Austrolopitheaus Afarensis. From the waist down she was like a human, but from the waist up, her features were more ape-like. Living in a tropical rain forest, it is believed that some ape like creatures developed legs that enabled walking thus giving them an advantage over certain other apes.

The Becoming Human video from PBS describes several species of early humans which evolved from Austrolopitheaus Afarensis. Some of which lived only to evolve into other species and others of which died out. The traits common and unique between species closely related are explained in detail.
Unfortunately, this video may or may not be available on youtube. You will have to do a search.

Neanderthal were a species of early human which lived at the same time as Homo Sapiens, 35,000 years ago. They lived primarily in Europe and western Asia and were well adapted to survive in the cold climate of the period. 

Neanderthal: Episode 1 - Evolution History Documentary showed the species living their lives. Separated into small family groups of 7-20 people, they lived in caves and ate mostly meat. They were great hunters, cared about members of their clan and rarely lived to the age of 40. 

(Don't let the video preview image scare you away from this one.) It is worth watching.

Neanderthal: Episode 1 - Evolution History Documentary

The video From Ape to Man followed the discoveries of different human like species during the 1800s and 1900s. When Charles Darwin wrote about his evolution theory, the scientific world didn't pay much attention. Several years later his ideas gained popularity and anthropologists began searching for "the missing link." At first scientists believed they would discover one species which would be a transition between humans and apes, but after several different discoveries, their ideas changed. Then, discoveries of different species of human-like creatures were found which were thought to have coexisted. Different from the first video, the perspective of this video follows discoveries and is another one worth viewing.

 Ape to Man: Evolution Documentary History Channel 

Birth of Civilization was a video which served as a good transition between the human portion of the evolution study and ancient history unit studies as it explained how people began living together in groups.

Birth of Civilization 

Timeline

After learning about how humans evolved, the kids added pictures of ancient pre-historic species of human-like creatures to the timeline.

The were surprised to see how close to the top of the timeline the human-like creatures lived.

Adding them also made it clear that humans did not live at the same time as the dinosaurs, but did live at the same time as early three-toed horses, wooly mammoths and other early mammals.

Check out these great blogs full of educational activity ideas.

Cenozoic Era Creatures

Evolution Unit Study

Lesson 8: Cenozoic Era Creatures

The first mammals evolved during the Mesozic Era, but after the mass extinction event which wiped out the dinosaurs, those mammals began to develop individual features. Horses, elephant, and hundreds of other mammals developed unique characteristics which enabled them to thrive. As the mammals continued to evolve, so did the reptiles and fish. Unique creatures such as turtles, lizards, and crocodiles became abundant. Grasslands spread across the land and with them mammals such as cattle and deer became equipped to survive in their new environment.

Timeline

During the Cenozoic Era lesson, the kids learned to use the photo copier in order to create images for the timeline. This time they learned to use the internet and printer to accomplish the same thing.

First they searched the internet for images of creatures they wanted to place onto the timeline. Then they copied the images and pasted them into the program Inkscape. Inkscape is a graphic editing program which can be downloaded for free from the internet. In Inkscape, they resized their photos to fit onto one sheet of paper and then printed them out.

Although they didn't do much graphic editing within Inkscape, this simple exercise gave them exposure to the program and they learned how to find relevant graphics on the internet.

Cenozoic Era Videos

The Cenozoic Era also gave rise to human evolution which will be the subject of the next lesson. The last great ice age when the wooly mammoths and saber toothed cats ran wild was part of the Cenozoic Era as well as modern humans living today.

The following list of videos provide a good overview of how creatures evolved during the Cenozoic Era.

And the Mammals Laid Eggs
For much of history the continent of Australia was separated from the rest of the Earth's land mass. Therefore, the creatures which evolved in Australia are the most unique on the planet. Poison, pouches and combinations of features found now where else (platypus)....This video describes several Australian animals and their history of evolution.

And the Mammals Laid Eggs

The Evolution of Humans 
Each creature alive today has unique features which has enabled it to survive. Hammerhead sharks have heads unlike other animals. This video explores how the shape of various creatures has given them an advantage which has ensured their survival.

  The Evolution of Humans

Mesozic Era Creatures

Evolution Unit Study

Lesson 6: We watched videos about pterosaurs, dinosaurs and Mesozic Era sea creatures of the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods and added Mesozic Era creatures to our timeline.

The Mesozic Era was the time of the dinosaurs. It can be broken into three time periods; Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous. The first flowering plants, marine reptiles, flying dinosaurs and first small dinosaurs evolved during the Triassic. During the Jurassic Pterosaurs were abundant. The Cretaceous gave rise to the first sharks, birds evolved and dinosaurs such as triceratops, and t-rex roamed the land. Mammals also made their first apearence during the Mesozic.

Miracle Planet Part 4, Extinction and Rebirth describes how volcano eruptions lead to a change in composition of the Earth's atmosphere. Among other elements, oxygen levels first rose and then fell dramatically to around 10%. The video explains how one change led to another such as the unique formation of mammal rib cages. In early species the rib cage completely surrounded the chest, but in later species, the ribs only surrounded the upper chest much like our ribs do today.

 Miracle Planet - Part IV: Extinction and Rebirth

This list of videos provides a good overview of the creatures which lived during the Mesozic Era.

Largest flying Creature Ever - Pterosaurs Documentary
Scientists try to replicate pterosaur flight in this National Geographic video. Full of computer animation, this video describes different types of pterosaurs, typical pterosaur characteristics such as huge a breast bone, and landing tactics.

Largest flying Creature Ever - Pterosaurs Documentary

Dinosaurs Part 1 Extreme Survivors (Full Documentary)
Sauroposeidon were a species of long necked dinosaur which laid numerous small eggs. It's believed that the parents abandoned their babies (500 per season) and let them fend for themselves. T-Rex dinosaurs, on the other hand, are believed to have been devoted parents. This video explores different species of dinosaurs and their behavior characteristics.

Dinosaurs Part 1 Extreme Survivors (Full Documentary)

Extreme Dinosaurs
Long neck dinosaurs, abounded during the Jurassic. During the Cretaceous the t-rex preyed upon creatures. It is believed that these two species didn't live at the same time. This video explores the possibility of a dinosaur even bigger than t-rex discovered in South America - giganatosaurus, living at the same time as the giant Argentinosaurus, the largest plant eater. While exploring the theory, scientists examine evidence that suggests these species of large dinosaurs may have lived in family groups.

BBC Documentary - Extreme Dinosaurs

Sea Monsters - A Prehistoric Adventure
While dinosaurs roamed the land, the seas teamed with life. This National Geographic video gives a historical fiction account of a dolichorhynchops (a pre-historic dolfin which lived during the late Cretaceous.) Following the dolichorhynchops and her brother as they journey through life, the video introduces several other sea creatures of the late Cretaceous.

Sea Monsters - A Prehistoric Adventure

Timeline

After learning about different Mesozic Era creatures the kids added images to the timeline.

 Searching through books, they located creatures and sketched them for the timeline.

 They also photocopied creatures and cut them out for the timeline.

(cutting out a dinosaur for the timeline)

 

To see more of our evolution lessons, please visit our Science Page.



Check out these great blogs full of educational activity ideas. 

Prehistoric Creatures Unit Study - Lesson 5: Paleozoic Mass Extinction Event

Lesson 5: End of the Paleozoic Era.

After creating a basic timeline of Earth's history and learning about the wealth of life which flourished during the Paleozoic Era, we learned what brought the Paleozoic Era to its end.

The Paleozoic period of evolution was brought to a close with a mass extinction event which lasted over 100,000 years. Massive volcanic eruptions, known as flood basalt eruptions, took place in Siberia. The eruptions released sulfur dioxide gas into the atmosphere which mixed with water causing acid rain. The acid rain lead to a series of volcanic winters which caused the food system to collapse. As if that wasn't bad enough, the carbon dioxide released by the volcanoes then caused the Earth to warm. The warming resulted in altered global weather patterns. In addition, the warm air caused the ocean temperatures to rise eventually causing them to stop circulating. This created a lack of oxygen in the seas which in turn resulted in numerous creatures becoming extinct.

Catastrophe - Episode 3: Planet of Fire

Catastrophe, is a video series which focuses on mass extinction events. Episode 3 focuses on the extinction which occurred at the end of the Paleozoic Era described above.

To see our earlier Evolution Unit Study Lessons please visit our Science Page.



Check out these great blogs full of educational activity ideas. 
 

Prehistoric Creatures Unit Study - Lesson 4: Paleozoic Era

We watched several videos to learn about significant evolutionary changes which took place during the Paleozoic Era.

Time Periods in the Paleozoic Era; Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous and Permian.

Cambrian
The Cambrian Period was the first time of widespread life on Earth. While the land was barren, the seas saw an explosion of life. The single celled organisms of the Precambrian developed into multi celled creatures. At first creatures had soft bodies, but during the Cambrian Period, the first shells were developed.

Cambrian Explosion

Ordovician
During the Ordovician Period the warm shallow seas were filled with trilobites, sea scorpions and coral. Nautiloids evolved and after 25 million years of volcanic eruptions, the atmosphere was filled with carbon dioxide. The major evolutionary advancement of the backbone led to the evolution of the first fish.

Sea Monsters - A Walking With Dinosaurs Trilogy

The above video was my children's favorite as it featured Nigel, who traveled back in time to venture into the ancient seas. In addition to featuring the Ordovician Seas, Nigel explored other prehistoric environments.

Silurian
The Silurian Period gave rise to the first land based plants. The evolution of jaws was a major event as predators became much more dangerous.

Evolution of Jaws

Devonian
During the Devonian Period large armored fish ruled the seas and the first sharks evolved. The air was rich with oxygen, and the first creatures developed the capabilities of breathing air and walking on land. Plants which had evolved during earlier periods became numerous upon the land. Forests began to grow and the shade proved by the trees provided shelter for land animals.

Evolution - Link to Our Past

The above video explores the links between prehistoric creatures in search of the first tetrapods.

Carboniferous
This was the age of giant insects as 80% of the atmosphere was filled with oxygen. The mass of trees led to the first dirt. Creatures developed the capability to produce hard shelled and amniotic eggs which led to the evolution of mammals and reptiles. Hearing developed and the relationship between carnivores and herbivores was established.

Permian
During the Permian Period mammals and reptiles continued to evolve on land.

Paleozoic Era
Overall the Paleozoic Era saw major changes in life on Earth. From single celled organisms to shells, backbones, jaws, limbs, lungs and eggs - specialization was beginning to take place. The video linked below covers the entire era.

Miracle Planet - New Frontiers - Episode 3

Song
To remember the major events of the Paleozoic Era, we created a song to the tune of Little Bunny Fu-Fu.

5-4-3-2-1 Boom
4.5 billion years ago the Earth was formed
Single celled bacteria lived in blue-green water

5-4-3-2-1 Frozen
Carbon dioxide levels fell and Earth became a snowball
Volcanoes warmed the Earth after 25 million years

C-O-S-D-C-P Cambrian
Multi-celled creatures evolved in the seas
First they had soft bodies, then some developed shells

C-O-S-D-C-P Ordovician
Shallow seas, warm water, lots of carbon dioxide
The first fish developed without any jaws

C-O-S-D-C-P  Silurian
Creatures developed backbones and fish got jaws
Plants began to grow upon the land

C-O-S-D-C-P Devonian
The air was full of oxygen and forest began to grow
Tetrapods with four limbs walked upon the land

C-O-S-D-C-P Carboniferous
Giant insects flew about in oxygen rich air
Reptiles evolved with shelled eggs and hard scales

C-O-S-D-C-P Permian
The first mammals evolved and they could hear
Reptiles ruled the land until..............

5-4-3-2-1 Boom
Volcanoes erupted for hundreds of thousands of years
Acid rain, volcanic winters, the food chain collapsed

But-That-Was-Not-All
Carbon dioxide in the air warmed the Earth and sea
95% of species died but some survived

Timeline

Creatures which lived during the Paleozoic Era were added to our timeline.

Check out these great blogs full of educational activity ideas. 

Prehistoric Creatures Unit Study - Lesson 3: Pre-Cambrian Period

We studied the pre-Cambrian period of scientific history.

Surprisingly, it was a mass extinction event which gave rise to life on the planet during the Cambrian period of history. Before the Cambrian the only known life was single celled organisms. The seas were filled with a type of blue-green algae known as scienobacteria. Then a series of events took place which caused the Earth to freeze. It was the devastating ice age which caused the bacteria to evolve by surviving the harsh conditions.

Catastrophe: Miracle Planet is a series of videos which focuses on mass extinction events throughout the history of our planet. The first two episodes detail the ice age which took place between the pre-Cambrian and Cambrian periods of evolution.

Miracle Planet: Snowball Earth

Scientists believe the Earth was completely covered with ice at least two times since it was formed, hence the title of the video "Snowball Earth". At one time the air was filled with methane gas giving the atmosphere a reddish hue. Then one celled organisms which produced oxygen began to thrive changing the red to blue. The abundance of oxygen then caused the planet to freeze. Although the surface was frozen, forces beneath were still very active. Plates continued to move and volcanoes continued to erupt. Volcanoes erupting on the surface spilled carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. After years of eruptions, the carbon dioxide built up and rewarmed the planet. The increased temperature caused the ice to melt and life to once again thrive.

Miracle Planet: Snowball Earth - Episode 2

Episode 2 of Miracle Planet, Snowball Earth continued discussions of how the Earth was once completely covered by ice. 650 million years ago, there were no plants and animals to balance the carbon dioxide, oxygen and other gases within the atmosphere. Scienobacteria, one of the only living creatures, absorbed carbon dioxide. After years of carbon dioxide use, the gas became depleted in the atmosphere. Since carbon dioxide keeps the Earth warm, the lack of carbon dioxide allowed the planet to freeze. In addition to exploring how the Earth froze and later thawed, scientists explored winter caves to see how single celled organisms may have survived when the Earth was frozen and explained how they had altered DNA which enabled them to survive. It was this mass extinction event between the Pre-Cambrian and Cambrian period that was the turning point for life to thrive.


To gain a better understanding of how the Earth and Universe were formed, please refer to our earlier Earth Science study.



Check out these great blogs full of educational activity ideas. 

Ancient Greece History Co-op - Books

We enjoyed many books and videos in conjunction with our study of Ancient Greece. Here are our favorites.

The Story of Greece by Mary MacGregor
Our young folk's Plutarch - This is a book of biographies of famous Greeks and Romans. We read several different chapters while studying the Greeks.

Minoan Civilization
The Story of the World:Volume 1 by Susan Wise Bauer – ch 18

Our young folk's Plutarch - Theseus

The Minotaurs Island – 1 hr 30 min video on youtube

Jason and the Argonauts – 2 hr 50 min production video on youtube (PG-13)

Mycenaeans and Trojan War

The Trojan Horse: How the Greeks Won the War - Beginning reader book good for K-3rd grade.
Odysseus And The Cyclops by Warwick Hutton - Picture book good for K-3rd grade.

The Odyssey by Adrian Mitchell - DK picture book of the Odyssey. Good for 2nd-4th grade.

Tales from the Odyssey series by Mary Pope Osborne - Simple chapter book good for 2nd-4th grade.

The Children's Homer by Padriac Column - Written with rich language this book is good for 4th-8th grade.

The Iliad for Boys and Girls by Alfred J Church - Detailed retelling good for 4th-8th grade.

The Story of the World:Volume 1 by Susan Wise Bauer  – Ch 19

The Story of the World:Volume 1 by Susan Wise Bauer  -  Ch 20 – Greek Alphabet

The Story of the World:Volume 1 by Susan Wise Bauer  – Ch 23 – Greek Gods & How War with Troy Began – Golden Apple
The Story of Greece by Mary MacGregor

Mycenaeans: The Civilization of Heroes – 23 min

The Truth of Troy – 50 minutes

Ancient Mysteries – The Odyssey of Troy – 45 min (20 min)

Odysseus - 3 hr film of the Odyssey, recommended for ages 13 and up

Atlantis

Atlantis, The Lost City by Andrew Donkin

Natgeo – Finding Atlantis2011 – There are many different theories regarding Atlantis. We enjoyed learning about this one. 

Greek Gods
D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths
My son really struggled with Greek Mythology until he watched this series of videos. He is a very visual learner and could tell me about each god after watching. We then went back and reread the myths.

Greek Gods (1 of 4)

Greek Gods (2 of 4)

Greek Gods (3 of 4)

Greek Gods (4 of 4)

The Olympics and the First Temples

Run With Me, Nike! by Cassandra Case

The Story of Greece by Mary MacGregor

The Spartans

The Story of the World:Volume 1 by Susan Wise Bauer  - Ch 22 – Athens vs Sparta

The Story of the World:Volume 1 by Susan Wise Bauer  – ch 24 – Greek Wars

The Story of Greece by Mary MacGregor

Ancient Warriors - The Spartans
Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

History Channel – The Rise and Fall of Sparta Part 1 – 1 hr, 30 min - This video contains everything in the Ancient Warriors - The Spartans and so much more.

History Channel – Battle of Thermopoly – 22 min

Athens
Athens: Ancient Greek Supercity - This video focuses on Pericles and the Parthanon.

The Librarian Who Measured the Earth (Erastosthenes) 276 bc

Theatre
Sophocles - The Complete Plays
Aristophanes - The Eleven Comedies 

Alexander the Great
There are several youtube videos from the History Channel on Alexander the Great. I would highly recommend checking them out.

Please visit our History Page to see the activities we did to go along with these books.

Educational Videos

Most of the time my children are playing, reading, doing science experiments, building, crafting or creating something. They do however occasionally watch movies. A question I often read on homeschool group websites is "what educational DVD's do you recommend?"

Here are our favorites:

Phonics


These Leap Frog videos are excellent. The first one starts by introducing children to letters and their sounds, the second one progresses to reading three letter words, and the thrid is about more complex words. They are entertaining and educational.

In the videos the children visit factories that make letters or words. In the Letter Factory they visit each letter stored in its room. Each letter is doing something that has to do with its sound. For example the C is /c/ /c/ /c/ cold.  This was one of the major learning resources I used in teaching my children to read. It really works!

History



Animated Hero Classics Biographies by NEST Entertainment are a set of 20 thirty-minute videos each featuring a different hero. They provide a good introduction to different historical heros.

Here is the list of heros in the set:
Pocahontas, George Washington, Galileo, Marco Polo, Benjamin Franklin, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Edison, Harriet Tubman, Helen Keller, The Wright Brothers, Alexander Graham Bell, Marie Curie, The Maccabees, Beethoven, Louis Pasteur, Joan of Arc, Abraham Lincoln, William Bradford, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Christopher Columbus
 
It looks like some of them can be found on amazon or they can be purchased directly from Nest Entertainment.

Language

Muzzy is a language learning program that people either tend to love or hate. You can see a portion of the video on youtube in English to determine if you would like it. Although it has worked well for our family I wouldn't recommend it for children under 8 years old due to the story-line.

The Muzzy program includes books, audio CDs and DVD or VHS. The video portion is broken into Level I, parts 1-6 and Level II, parts 1-6. Each part lasts about 15 minutes so there is around 3 hours of total video. We have not really used the audio or book portions of the the program.

The entertaining cartoon begins with very simple language in the native tongue, which in conjunction with the visual component is easily understood. Each progressive part increases slightly in difficulty. Upon viewing each part repeatedly, language comprehension grows and at the end of the program a decent introductory vocabulary is learned.

Muzzy is available in several languages and many Muzzy products are available on amazon. Unfortunately the packaging of the Muzzy languange program seems to have changed several times. It has changed so much in fact that it is difficult to know what you are ordering. We have Spanish Muzzy in the yellow and orange packaging, and German Muzzy in the blue packaging. It has been offered on DVD with all languages included. Muzzy can also be purchased direct from Early Advantage.

German

After Muzzy we have continued learning German using the following videos produced for German children.

Der Maus - there is a little on youtube

Sesamstrasse - also on youtube

Die Kleine Hexe - also on youtube

Der Kleine Eisbar - also on youtube

Lauras Stern - also on youtube

Benjamin Blumchen - clips available on youtube

Spanish

We have also continued learning Spanish in the same fashion as German although with different videos. Some of them are available free on the internet or in portions on youtube.

Salsa Spanish - Free on the internet

Pororo – Spanish Penguin on youtube

Pocoyo – Spanish Boy, Duck and Elephant on youtube
We also were able to download Pocoyo to the ipad.
Plaza Sesamo - also on youtube

What educational videos do you like? Feel free to grab a Highhill Homeschool button, leave a text link back here in your post, or just leave a comment.

* I did not receive any compensation for this recommendation. I'm just a homeschooling mom who has found many products that I like. If you're interested in the products I recommend on this blog I want to make it easy for you to find them. 
** I am an Amazon associate and receive a small portion of the sales on orders made after clicking in from this site, which I promptly spend on homeschooling books and supplies for my children.

Science Experiment Curriculum

Science is both fun and entertaining with the Discover & Do Video Series. The kids watch a short video of a young (high school) science guy which explains and does a simple science experiment. Then the kids repeat the experiment. I like it because we usually have everything required to do the experiments and the experiments take a relatively short time to complete. Plus it is all explained so the kids can do most of it on their own.

Some of the videos are available used on amazon. (Although they are very new, I believe the names have changed slightly from Volume 1 to Level K, etc.)
Discover & Do Level K DVD: Air, in the Kitchen, Plants
Discover & Do Level 1 DVD: Water, Magnets, Light and Mirrors
Discover & Do Level 2 DVD: Batteries, Your Body, Weather

The videos are also available through
Sonlight
On the Sonlight website you can see Sample Videos from the DVD's.

* I did not receive any compensation for this recommendation. I'm just a homeschooling mom who has found many products that I like. If you're interested in the products I recommend on this blog I want to make it easy for you to find them. 
** I am an Amazon associate and receive a small portion of the sales on orders made after clicking in from this site, which I promptly spend on homeschooling books and supplies for my children.