ereks mom Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 ER (ds17) & I are about to embark on a 3-week study of the U.S. Civil War, using the Ken Burns Civil War DVD series. Have any of you used this with your dc? Any tips you could give me? I know there are lesson plans and activity suggestions on the PBS website. Did you use any of these? Were there any that your dc particularly enjoyed or particularly did not enjoy? ER does not enjoy history at all; he is much more of a science & music guy. So any advice you can give me that I can use to make this tolerable, maybe even enjoyable, for him would be greatly appreciated. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
percytruffle Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 We have viewed several of the Ken Burns series including the Civil War one. We all enjoy just watching them and have never used any of the educational materials on the PBS site. I will say that the Civil War series seemed sort of longish and slow in a few parts, but overall it was good. Ds is a history kid, so he could watch anything history and love it. The series we enjoyed the most was the Lewis and Clark one. We've actually watched it three times now, by choice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
readwithem Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 You will love them - great anecdotes AND great music (johnny has gone for a soldier by James Taylor:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ms. Riding Hood Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 We watched these in addition to our regular stuff. They were slow here and there, but overall I thought they were great. Lots of source material read aloud by actors (Marvin Freeman, etc), interesting tidbits. Verrry long, but very good. I would think watching on DVD would be the best way to make history more enjoyable. Better than reading an old textbook, anyway. What more can one mom do? :) They do offer a civil war ball in Parker, CO, every year for the local homeschoolers. I think they may do some battle reenactments, too. Maybe something like that would be worth looking into. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda in NE Posted January 27, 2008 Share Posted January 27, 2008 They do move a little slowly for people used to live action films. The Burns series is very visual, but is actually a montage of Civil War photos taken by Mathew Brady and others with voice overs by famous actors, writers, etc. The voice overs are actual quotes from historical figures commenting upon the war and various military and political figures of the time. For example, Garrison Keillor is the voice of Walt Whitman throughout Burns' series. Morgan Freeman is the voice of Frederick Douglass. I can't remember the others right off the top of my head. This series is what made Shelby Foote's career. Although he was a novelist with no academic training as an historian, he wrote a three-volume treatise on the Civil War and is best known for that work. In Burns' film, Foote tells a number of anecdotes about the war and the people involved. He's really good. We did not use the PBS study guides or notes. We just watched and talked about what we saw. It was a good experience for all of us. If you like the music from the series, there is a CD of it that is available. The music is true to the period and very good. There was also a book that was published at the time the series was first shown. I have a copy of that book, but I'm not sure it's still in print. You might check your library. The book is extremely readable and contains a lot of the pictures from the video series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deidre in GA Posted January 27, 2008 Share Posted January 27, 2008 ds 14 and i are big Ken Burns fans so we definitely watched them when we reached that point in history. in fact, when we reach any point in history that Burns has done something on we incorporate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anne/Ankara Posted January 27, 2008 Share Posted January 27, 2008 Yes, the music is terrific-- my kids learned Lover's Waltz and Ashokan's Farewell after watching the series. But we only saw about 5 episodes, since it was very detailed and a bit slow moving for us... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ms. Riding Hood Posted January 27, 2008 Share Posted January 27, 2008 source material read aloud by actors (Marvin Freeman, etc) Who the heck is Marvin Freeman, anyway? I think he's a kid I went to high school with. :o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ereks mom Posted January 27, 2008 Author Share Posted January 27, 2008 Hee hee! I figured you meant Morgan Freeman, lately of the Bucket List. Which is a movie I think I'd like to see. ; ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peek a Boo Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 my li'l bro just got a history degree. he used the Ken Burns series to CLEP out of some of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda in NM Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 we watched it last year (my son was 12) and we'll watch it again this year...we don't use the PBS stuff, but I may take a look at it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riverfront Headmistress Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 I enjoyed the dvd series - my elementary kids did not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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