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SeaStar
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| Posted: June 21 2011 at 6:34am | IP Logged
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OK- so I know there are a TON of great educational dvds out there to enhance learning.
We have not really tapped into this much at my house. I am wondering... how does it work at yours?
Specifically....
When do you watch these programs...
At night as a family?
As part of school hours?
Afternoon?
On average, how much time do you spend watching school dvds in a typical week?
And does watching dvds spur your dc into wanting to watch more TV?
I could see that happening at my house... mom getting badgered to watch more and more "school shows" and then regular school not seeming very interesting after that.
My dc in general don't watch much TV. "Martha Speaks" on PBS is about it these days, which is fine with me. Not sure if I want to rock this boat by adding more into the mix....
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
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JennGM
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| Posted: June 21 2011 at 7:28am | IP Logged
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We don't watch TV, only videos here. I do find if we watch anything, there's always wanting more.
During the main school year, educational videos are used on sick days, bad weather days, or down times, like cooking dinner.
Now that we are only doing a few things during the summer, I do allow more videos. This is the second summer we are watching "Liberty's Kids". We also are going through the "How the States Got Their Shapes".
But we have non-educational sprinkled throughout, like VeggieTales and cartoons like Pink Panther and Rocky and Bullwinkle.
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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cathhsmom
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| Posted: June 21 2011 at 7:53am | IP Logged
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We use a LOT of TV and videos here - I'd never get anything done otherwise. DD is the type who needs audio, visual and sensory input all at the same time to understand it best, so videos and TV work very well for her.
I take my lesson plans {CHC} and plan ahead for videos that cover the topic in more detail. We cover the textbook first and then the video normally, unless I think she may have trouble understanding the text, in which case we swap and do video first. It's been a HUGE help with her on history and science as well as bible stories. She just gets it better.
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Grace&Chaos
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| Posted: June 21 2011 at 8:44am | IP Logged
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I purposefully make our Fridays light. This is when our homeschool groups meet for park days or special events. We are usually so wiped out from the mid day outing that the later afternoon is perfect for just relaxing and watching a dvd. Thus, Friday becomes our educational dvd day too and sometimes on sick days. We went through the Liberty Kids series last year and also watched a Lewis and Clark dvd, the disney version of Johnny Tremain, Glory and my mother in law would bring us history or science related dvds from the library. (these kept the older kids attention)
The little ones usually don't pay attention to those titles but from the library will get the animated picture book dvds or they spent many days on the LeapFrog abc dvd. This I'll put when they're becoming a distratction to the older ones doing school work and I need to work with them. Always only one dvd per day. If it is a longer dvd/movie, I break it up into two or even three days. Everyone has to be sick for it to become a marathon. 
This summer we started watching the BBC's Shakespeare: Animated. And I've already lined up some titles we will watch when we start our Ancients in the fall.
Usually if I think that there has been to much tv time, once the program ends I'll send them outside. This usually helps get them moving and forget about the tv.
All this said about educational type dvds. Weekends and Friday nights we are pretty generous with watching dvd's just for fun during down times. We are not big on regular tv programming.
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Jenny
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JennGM
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| Posted: June 21 2011 at 8:47am | IP Logged
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Oh, good ideas, Jenny. And I forgot about those exhausted after outings time. I'm more worn out than they are!
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Family in Feast and Feria
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KackyK
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| Posted: June 21 2011 at 10:17am | IP Logged
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Jenny those animated Shakespeares intrigue me...are they on Netflix? And I'd love to know your titles for your Ancients if you don't mind sharing??
We are huge Magic School Bus watchers and also we watch the Planet Earth, Blue Planet dvds. I just ask them to draw a picture of something from what they watched. They are always more than happy to do that. Makes feel like it was a "real" learning experience then Veggie Tales are good too for when the littlests are most cranky.
When they watch are those times that I have to be out of the house. It helps the teens I leave behind in that they don't have to be on top of them (I'm talking about specifically by 2, 6, & 9 yr old) while they are trying to do their own work. Makes it easier for them to stay in the school room, next to the tv room and know that everyone is in one place.
During the summer our watching times tend to be during the hottest parts of the day.
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KackyK
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JennGM
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| Posted: June 21 2011 at 10:24am | IP Logged
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Kacky, I had similar questions -- I'm intrigued with your list, Jenny! I just requested our library to try and carry the Shakespeare. Nothing lost to ask!
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to & ds1 '03 & ds2 '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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Grace&Chaos
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| Posted: June 21 2011 at 10:53am | IP Logged
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Kacky, this is the Shakespeare set and it looks like Netflix carries it  .
So far on my ancients list are:
Joseph King of Dreams and Prince of Egypt
Mummies Secrets of the Pharoahs IMAX
Secrets of Egypt's Lost Queen
Time Life's: Lost Civilizations (this one will use for the 3 terms)
For fun but have to preview I'm thinking about Mummy Animated Series
This should take us through the first term. I'm still researching Greek and Roman (although the Lost Civilizations has discs dedicated to this and China, Mesopotamia, Aegean). Once we start I can usually tell if it will keep their interest or if we just skip it. I'm still at a learn as I go stage  .
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Jenny
Mom to dds(00,03) and dss(05,06,08,09)
Grace in Loving Chaos
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Angel
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| Posted: June 21 2011 at 1:40pm | IP Logged
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We use the DVR more than DVDs. I have it set to record NOVA and Nature plus more shows like Mutant Planet, Meteorite Men, How the Universe Works, Magic School Bus, Greatest Tank Battles (I have boys)... pretty much anything that catches our eye. We mainly watch recorded shows and fast forward through commercials.
We don't watch these during "school" time, but only after about 4 in the afternoon or at night as a family. The little boys will sometimes watch Magic School Bus, Curious George, or Dinosaur Train in the morning when they get up.
TV/DVDs are sort of what I think of as "strewing". I try to keep an eye out for interesting topics, but I don't plan them... they're definitely a free choice kind of thing.
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Angela
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cathhomeschool
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| Posted: June 21 2011 at 3:51pm | IP Logged
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We have gone through spurts of using videos for school. I love using them but don't always think of it. When I am good at planning ahead, I try to incorporate videos that are related to the unit or period in history we are studying. We don't have netflix, so I rely on what is available at the library, which naturally limits how many videos we watch. My ds who most loves to be "plugged in" will request school videos if he thinks it's that or nothing, but I don't think that it has made him ask for tv more than he would naturally. 
At times when we've been sick or when I know I'm going to be tied up a lot (moving, post-pregnancy, tax season or de-cluttering), we switch gears and rely heavily on videos and books on tape as the majority of schooling. The transition back to reality hasn't been rough like at times when they were watching cartoons or playing xbox all day.
At times when there have been a show on tv that the kids really looked forward to (educational or not), I've told them that they can watch if they get their school done in time. It's been a bonus for me when that was something like Liberty Kids or Magic School Bus!
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Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Incorporating dvds into living learning
