Runningmom80 Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 I just got a subscription, and we are planning "Music as a Mirror of History," as well as some Astronomy courses. I'd love to hear what you and your kids have enjoyed, what's been successful as far as learning, etc.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 top faves: Greenberg How to listen and unerstand classical music everything by Elizabeth Vandiver, esp Iliad and Odyssey Daileader's 3 course series on the Middle ages also good: Bartlett Italian renaissance Vikings (forget lecturer) Rufus Fears famous romans Turning points in American History Greenberg Bach and the High baroque (but too specialized unless Baroque music lover) We used everything on audio only. Watching a prof lecture at a lectern is sooo boring. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 The courses done by Bob Brier AKA Mr. Mummy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisabees Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Some that we liked in middle school (I see the ages of your kids)... Bob Brier anything Secret Life of Words John McWhorter anything Literary Analysis and Critique Heroes and Legends Medieval World - Dorsey Armstrong (dd14 really likes her) Building a Better Vocabulary How to Read and Understand Shakespeare The Other Side of History Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature Plant Science Art of Reading Understanding the Universe Secrets of Mental Math Power of Mathematical Visualization Looking forward to Cultural and Human Geography and Writing Great Fiction 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theelfqueen Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 My sons really liked the Think Like An Economist one and the Trails of Evidence Forensics one Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chocolate-chip chooky Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Another Greenberg fan here: http://www.thegreatcourses.com.au/courses/great-masters-mozart-his-life-and-music.html Same as Amoret says above, there is a bit of adult content in this course, but nothing I felt uncomfortable with for my 11yr old. Greenberg is *passionate* and we'll be looking for more of his stuff, for sure. And in a completely different field, we love this one: http://www.thegreatcourses.com.au/courses/nutrition-made-clear.html 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chocolate-chip chooky Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 top faves: Greenberg How to listen and unerstand classical music everything by Elizabeth Vandiver, esp Iliad and Odyssey Daileader's 3 course series on the Middle ages also good: Bartlett Italian renaissance Vikings (forget lecturer) Rufus Fears famous romans Turning points in American History Greenberg Bach and the High baroque (but too specialized unless Baroque music lover) We used everything on audio only. Watching a prof lecture at a lectern is sooo boring. I've been meaning to ask about this. We source our Great Courses through Audible, so we've never watched any videos. I've wondered if we're missing anything not having videos. Maybe some lecturers use visuals, powerpoint etc? I know in our science one (The Joy of Science), we can hear that the lecturer is doing things like throwing a ball, so we're clearly missing something visual. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 I've been meaning to ask about this. We source our Great Courses through Audible, so we've never watched any videos. I've wondered if we're missing anything not having videos. Maybe some lecturers use visuals, powerpoint etc? I know in our science one (The Joy of Science), we can hear that the lecturer is doing things like throwing a ball, so we're clearly missing something visual. We only use lectures for history and literature. What we tried on video had minimal visuals - the occasional map or picture of a person - and was not worth it for us. I would never use an audio lecture for science; I cannot imagine this to work very well. I tried one (particle physics) that was offered on audio, and it was incredibly boring. As a physics instructor, I have a hard time imagining how one can just talk about science without using visuals. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theelfqueen Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 We did Geology on video and he used some visual aids but not as many as you would think... I am pretty sure that anything with heavy visuals they just don't release on audio. It was clear in one of the history series we listened to that the lecturer was referring to a timeline and some portraits but it wasn't necessary to the content. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quark Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 (edited) Huge fans of John McWhorter's linguistics titles here! PS: Because he is SO funny! Edited July 13, 2017 by quark 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted July 14, 2017 Share Posted July 14, 2017 Art Benjamin's math videos-he's awesome. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daijobu Posted July 14, 2017 Share Posted July 14, 2017 I also personally enjoyed Bob Brier's Ancient Egypt course. Very entertaining. It is an older course, probably dating back to VHS days, but don't let the low production values deter you. I just finished the Mesopotamian history one, Between 2 Rivers, and in contrast, it is dry and boring at times. If you can communicate something in 5 words, Prof. Castor will use 25. Still, I persevered, and by the last DVD she seemed to be more comfortable in front of the camera and more conversational. Kind of funny that way. I'm in the middle of the Game Theory one, Games People Play, and it's very good so far. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCal_Bear Posted July 14, 2017 Share Posted July 14, 2017 (edited) My son just did his first Great Course: Experiencing the Hubble by David Meyer. It was a big hit on our last road trip. Edited July 14, 2017 by calbear 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luuknam Posted July 14, 2017 Share Posted July 14, 2017 I've wondered if we're missing anything not having videos. Maybe some lecturers use visuals, powerpoint etc? They do. I got the Great Courses channel on Amazon about a week ago. Celery has watched the first 5 lectures of Thinking about Cybersecurity, and he loves it. He's watched the first 2 (iirc) lectures of How to Become a Superstar Student, and he thinks it's okay (i.e. much better than he'd thought it'd be). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted July 14, 2017 Share Posted July 14, 2017 A lot of the visually heavy ones are available through a lot of libraries on Hoopla (the drawing one, for example). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4KookieKids Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 So how do we know which ones are more visual and which ones not? Is there a list of "good" visual ones? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daijobu Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 Arthur Benjamin's math Great Courses are pretty visual. He uses animations to illustrate concepts. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanDiegoMom Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 Turning Points in Modern History is really good - and you can use single episodes of you are just studying something in particular... though I enjoyed it most in order. We have enjoyed Foundations of Western Civ 2 (and I have heard 1 is good too- different professors but both enjoyable) The one on the Pharaohs is good. Personally I enjoyed the Quest for Meaning: Values, Ethics, and the Modern Experience. I didn’t listen to it with the kids though - just on my own. My oldest say the Black Death one by Dorsey Armstrong and the three Middle Ages ones by Daileader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaplank Posted August 24, 2019 Share Posted August 24, 2019 On 7/13/2017 at 12:07 PM, regentrude said: everything by Elizabeth Vandiver, esp Iliad and Odyssey Would you recommend listening to these lectures prior to reading the Iliad and the Odyssey or as you're reading them? Would it be easy to figure out how to pace the lectures with the book chapters? Thanks for your help. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna Posted August 25, 2019 Share Posted August 25, 2019 We really enjoyed...How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World, and all the courses by Elizabeth Vandiver. We read the books (Odyssey, Aenid, and Iliad) as we did the courses. My ds liked two photography courses but thought one was better than the other (I cannot remember which was which now). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ttt Posted August 25, 2019 Share Posted August 25, 2019 On 8/23/2019 at 7:00 PM, aaplank said: Would you recommend listening to these lectures prior to reading the Iliad and the Odyssey or as you're reading them? Would it be easy to figure out how to pace the lectures with the book chapters? Thanks for your help. We checked out the audio only Vandiver Odyssey lectures from our library. It came with a booklet. In the booklet for each lecture there is a scope paragraph, an outline of the lecture, essential reading (which books of the Odyssey are covered in the lecture), suggested supplementary readings, Questions to consider (looks like 2 per lecture). My 8 year old wanted us to read an adult level translation of the Odyssey this summer. I thought the lectures would be helpful to ME (never read it in HS or college), the 11 year old saw the CDs and she listened to them on her own. We've read kiddie versions of the Odyssey before but not an adult version, that's next up for us. I listened to the first lecture and I think it will help us get more out of our reading, but they know the general story already. I don't get the sense that my kids will get spoilers from listening to the lecture first, but will get more out of the reading listening before hand. The first lecture talks about the concept of Xenia (guest-host relationship) and she talks about xenophobia. In case you can't get the booklet lecture 1 covers book I, lecture 2 Books II-IV, lecture 3 books V & VI, lecture 4 books VII-IX, lecture 5 books X & XI lines 1-375, Lecture 6 Book XI lines 375-end; book XII, lecture 7 books XIII-XV, lecture 8 books XVI-XVII, lecture 9 books, XVIII & XIX, lecture 10 booksXX-XXII, lecture 11XXII & XXIV, lecture 12 no books noted "In this final lecture, we turn to the question of whether the Trojan War has any historical basis." Hope that helps. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madteaparty Posted August 25, 2019 Share Posted August 25, 2019 On 7/13/2017 at 6:58 PM, regentrude said: We only use lectures for history and literature. What we tried on video had minimal visuals - the occasional map or picture of a person - and was not worth it for us. I would never use an audio lecture for science; I cannot imagine this to work very well. I tried one (particle physics) that was offered on audio, and it was incredibly boring. As a physics instructor, I have a hard time imagining how one can just talk about science without using visuals. DH did finish a physics one on audio, in his (massive) commute and he loved it. To the OP, I get the video version when I’m seriously using these for school AND there’s maps and such and we are traveling (I download some in case of long train rides, for example). If we are supplementing, audio is fine—The Vaniver one’s recommended upthread were fine on audio. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NataliaMusk Posted September 7, 2019 Share Posted September 7, 2019 I particularly love Shakespeare: The Word and the Action. The teacher is accompanied by two Shakespearean actors, great to bring his works to life and encourage the ones not so passionate about classic literature. I imagine it would be a good introduction for an advanced student. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runningmom80 Posted November 1, 2019 Author Share Posted November 1, 2019 Fun to see this thread pop up. 🙂 DS did one last year about the Industrial Revolution and really enjoyed it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daijobu Posted November 1, 2019 Share Posted November 1, 2019 I'm in the middle of James Tanton on Visualizing Mathematics. I'm learning a lot and it's very entertaining. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackie Posted November 2, 2019 Share Posted November 2, 2019 My kid has really liked: Decoding the Secrets of Egyptian Hieroglyphs (definitely needs video) Everything by Art Benjamin, but especially Math and Magic Mind Bending Math: Riddles and Paradoxes Food: A Cultural Culinary History Brain Myths Exploded: Lessons from Neuroscience Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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