Favorite American History DVDs?

[scrapbabe]

What are your favorite American History DVDs? They can be movies, documentaries, whatever. I'm looking for ages 10 - 14. It would be nice to have one that covers all of American history from 1700's to present... but it can be about any period in American History.

[Alyeska]

Desperate Crossing: The Untold Story of the Mayflower.

 

Nothing innapropriate that I can recall. My children loved it...I loved it.

[Cleopatra]

Johnny Tremain: http://www.amazon.com/Johnny-Tremain-Hal-Stalmaster/dp/B00005JM6F/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1302841690&sr=8-2

[Ali in OR]

I think Liberty's Kids can still be enjoyed at that age. I know my dh and I learned a lot from them.

[KarenNC]

:lurk5:

[scrapbabe]

Bump

[abbeyej]

The HBO John Adams is fantastic. There is a scene of some rather risqué talk at a party in France (Adams is very uncomfortable), there is an indication of indiscretion on Franklin's part, a man is tarred and feathered and is glimpsed (very briefly) from a distance naked... The scene I felt the need to fastforward through for my kids was when John and Abigail are reunited in France after several years -- there's a fully-clothed but rather complete love scene.

 

Otherwise, it's almost entirely kid-appropriate and features tons of historical information. If you watch on dvd, you can turn on "pop-up" notes that add historical details (though I prefer to watch without that first).

[Chris in VA]

Ken Burns Civil War, but preview it because it's a little slow and a little graphic in areas.

Some of the old The World At War videos about WWII are quite good.

It's not strictly American, but certainly important in American History.

 

I loved Frontier House, a series on PBS where 3 families "pretend" to be pioneers for about 6 months. There's a little talk on one of them about marital relations being more difficult than people thought--cause you're so darned tired, mostly. The most telling part for me was when a dear preteen boy came home after the experience and went for the video games--he complained that there was nothing to do in his big, modern house. Very interesting.

 

I liked the new adaptation of Little House on The Prairie==a little truer in some respects than the Michael Landon version.

 

I also liked the Kit Kitteridge movie from American Girl==she's plucky at the time of the Depression. Not exactly boy material, but has some boy characters, and is really quite a nice story.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Liberty! is very well done. I learned a lot and I would have said that I was pretty solid on US history.

 

1776 is another favorite at our house. We tend to watch it every Fourth of July. The kids will sing odd bits of it from time to time.

[Marla]

Thanks! Any others?

[SkateLeft]

We watched through _America: The Story of US_ (History Channel) recently, and my older kids thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

Even my 9 year old, who doesn't normally like documentaries at all, enjoyed the series. There's violent re-enactment in the war episodes, so you may want to pre-watch if that's something that would bother your kids. Also, the episodes that talk about organized crime and civil rights have some violent bits. It was fine for my kids, but I don't have to censor that stuff much for anyone but my youngest.

 

The only annoying thing is that there are some occasional irrelevant celebrity soundbites. The series is pretty well-done though!

[beachnut]

I think Liberty's Kids can still be enjoyed at that age. I know my dh and I learned a lot from them.

 

FYI - If you're a member of Netflix, you can watch all 40 episodes of Liberty's Kids for free thru their streaming video service. My kids (ages 10 & 14) have so far watched episodes 1-36 and are enjoying them a lot. I'm not sure how long the series will be offered for free, but it's been available for free for the last 2-3 months since we've been watching the series.

[beachnut]

We watched through _America: The Story of US_ (History Channel) recently, and my older kids thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

There's a helpful Teacher's Guide associated with each episode of this series available at http://www.history.com/shows/america-the-story-of-us.

[beachnut]

Liberty! is very well done. I learned a lot and I would have said that I was pretty solid on US history.

 

PBS's Liberty! series also has a good website associated with it at http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/.

[Handmaiden]

Our kids also love Drive Thru History!

[scrapbabe]

Thanks for all of the responses. I was reminded of the movie Glory. It was rated R, but they made an edited educational version that was PG. Such a good, true story, about the Civil War.

[creekmom]

My kids loved Brother Future. http://www.amazon.com/Brother-Future-Artist-Not-Provided/dp/B000FTY4KS/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1303225780&sr=1-1

 

It starts with a present-day black teenager in the city (he's "cool"). He's hit by a car and wakes up in the South during the years just before the Civil War. He's still dressed in his brand name clothes/shades, etc., and experiences a rude awakening when all his rights are taken away. They sell him to a plantation where he works picking cotton all day. - It's a great story, and my kids learned a lot about what it would really be like to be a slave!

Edited April 19, 2011 by creekmom

[Heidi]

A More Perfect Union

 

http://www.nccsstore.com/A-More-Perfect-Union/productinfo/AMPUCASE/

 

Very well done. Completely clean.

 

Review from site:

"This stirring 2-hour film will bring the Founding Fathers to life as you witness the struggles and the miracles that produced the Constitution of the United States and the freest nation on earth.

Filmed on location at Independence Hall; Williamsburg, Virginia; and other historical sites, it dramatically chronicles how America became a nation. It is exciting drama of the best kind-fact, rather than fiction. "It brings the history books to life," writes one reviewer. "Dramatically moving, and visually handsome," says another. Officially recognized by the Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution, who cited the film as being "of exceptional merit."

 

 

"

[whitestavern]

Here are some that we watched. They're not in chronological order however.

 

National Geographic: Jamestown

Keeping the Promise

The Howards of Virginia

Liberty's Kids

Johnny Tremain

Great Locomotive Chase

Race to Freedom

Davy Crockett

Gettysburg

Johnny Shiloh

Friendly Persuasion

Ken Burns Civil War

Sergeant York

Goodnight Mr. Tom

An Angel for May

The Hiding Place

The Great Escape

The Longest Day

Paper Clips

Hiroshima No Pika

Rosa Parks Story

A Bear Named Winnie

Into the Arms of Strangers

[SnowWhite]

Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery (also Ken Burns) was pretty good.

 

http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/

 

Hope this isn't redundant! I didn't see this one mentioned and I did read the thread.

[Greta]

We watched through _America: The Story of US_ (History Channel) recently, and my older kids thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

Even my 9 year old, who doesn't normally like documentaries at all, enjoyed the series. There's violent re-enactment in the war episodes, so you may want to pre-watch if that's something that would bother your kids. Also, the episodes that talk about organized crime and civil rights have some violent bits. It was fine for my kids, but I don't have to censor that stuff much for anyone but my youngest.

 

The only annoying thing is that there are some occasional irrelevant celebrity soundbites. The series is pretty well-done though!

 

My daughter is more sensitive than most, and I am the first to recognize and admit that. But for the sake of other kids out there who are sensitive, I hope you don't mind but I'm going to give an even stronger warning than you did.

 

Please don't subject sensitive or young children to this one! It uses really dramatic, tension-filled music to keep you on the edge of your seat the whole time, it focuses on the scary and the gruesome, it's just really not kid-friendly at all in my opinion.

 

I watched the first episode with my daughter, and didn't think it was too bad. So I let her watch the second one alone and that was a mistake. The vivid depiction of the small pox outbreak at Valley Forge really had her horrified. She asked me to watch the next episode with her, but when they started in on this melodramatic re-enactment of the whole Donner Party nightmare, I asked her if she'd rather toss this documentary in the rubbish bin. She was the most relieved kiddo in the world, and I felt like the worst mom in the world for not previewing the entire series before sitting her down in front of it.

 

Just be careful with this one. I think it is only for older and thick-skinned kids.

Edited April 20, 2011 by GretaLynne

[Donna T.]

Please don't subject sensitive or young children to this one! It uses really dramatic, tension-filled music to keep you on the edge of your seat the whole time, it focuses on the scary and the gruesome, it's just really not kid-friendly at all in my opinion.

 

 

 

:iagree:

 

I was so excited to get this but was thoroughly disgusted and very disappointed with it. My children are not sensitive at all and we LOVE the History of US books, but this DVD was upsetting to both of them. They only watched a little of it and hated it. We are sticking with Liberty Kids and Drive Through History, both of which they really enjoy. I just don't understand why they had to make the whole thing so very ugly (in our opinions!).