Are The Great Courses DVDs worth buying?

[Chez J]

There is a huge sale this weekend only for 70% off some DVDs from The Great Courses. I am thinking of math and science especially. Anyone have experience with these DVDs? Are they worth buying?

[Susan C.]

Check with your library, they tend to have a lot of them.

 

I have found we don't have a lot of time to watch dvds. They can add a lot of time to your school day. The few sets I have bought are unwatched. If I were to do them, I would cut the reading load in that subject a lot.

 

If you do a search, there are a lot that people on here do like.

[Belacqua]

The Joy of Mathematics and The Joy of Thinking get a huge amount of play in our house. They aren't part of our curriculum; we just watch them for fun.

 

The Art and Craft of Mathematical Problem Solving is one of my favorites, as well (and not just because the professor has a beautiful, mellifluous voice :)). This one is especially useful if you have a student interested in competitive math; the problem solving knowledge is always helpful, of course, but if somebody is aiming for USAMO, it can be particularly valuable.

[TravelingChris]

I love almost all of the courses we have used. My children remember facts from these a lot better than from just reading a textbook. The classes (I am not familiar with the high school courses) are on a level that a smart 12 year old will get something out of them but so will adults. Basically they are usually at a level where a somewhat educated adult will learn something in a field they are not familiar with. So while my husband won't want to watch physics, he does learn from courses in even nearby fields like geology, though not as much as someone like my children who took this class before they had physics. I learned somewhere in the middle since I had physics in high school and astrophysics in college.

[love2read]

I bought a few I was certain I would use with all of the children. I can't justify buying the DVDs for just one or two children, but as was mentioned the library does seem to carry many of them now.

[Chez J]

Thanks. I will check the library. There is one I found that looks really cool - Understanding the Worlds Greatest Structures. I may buy that one. We're into architecture here.

[Lori A. Davis]

Check with your library to see if these are in your system before oyu spend a lot of money. Also, they have sales all the time, so watch for deals if you want something. I highly recommend anything by Rufus Fears, PhD. We have heard him speak live in Oklahoma as he is a professor at OU. He is not only a brilliant scholar of history, government and literature, but he is also a gifted speaker.

[Julie in MN]

I like the library for trying them out, but I prefer purchasing them if we're really going to use a whole series (even for one kid!). My library usually has to ship them from various libraries, in pieces so I don't always get part one first, and most of the time the booklet is gone so I don't have the nice outline.

 

Sales tend to be the best around Christmas/New Year's. I feel like the really low prices make it worth my time to just purchase. There's a post on sales right now here, where I mentioned several sets are only $10: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=275893

 

My son has really enjoyed Physics In Your Life and Physics Beyond the Edge this year. He also got a lot out of the Iliad series this year. Here's another recent thread on favorites:

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=270380

 

Julie