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Do you use Netflix for educational videos?


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There are some History-related documentaries, etc on Instant view that we have used. There are also some science-related Nature episodes that can be useful. The only thing I'd caution is to watch them first. Some of the History ones aren't suitable to kids under HS level, IMHO. They can get into touchy subject matter, like violence and activities I don't need to be sensored for, ha! Anyway, it isn't like it didn't happen back then (the Middle Ages is a violent period, for ex), it's just you might not want your 7-yo watching it, you know?

 

TM

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My son is 10, and we're doing ancient history this year. He watches probably an average of one history-related DVD a week, with occasional science stuff tossed in. Sometimes, we get things from the library or from our home stash, but the majority come from Netflix.

 

Here's what's on my Netflix list for this year:

 

Ancient Discoveries (2 discs)

Ben Hur (1959)

Chased by Dinosaurs: Land of the Giants

Chased by Dinosaurs: Sea Monsters

Chased by Dinosaurs: The Giant Claw

Cracking the Maya Code

David Macauly: Pyramid

David Macauly: Roman City

Egypt: Engineering an Empire

First Emperor of China (IMAX)

Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Greek Myths

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Lost Treasures of the World: China

National Geographic: Birth of Civilization

Origins: Earth Is Born (Nova)

Origins: How Life Began (Nova)

Prehistoric Park: A Mammoth Undertaking

Prehistoric Park: Dinobirds

Prehistoric Park: Saving the Sabretooth

Prehistoric Park: Supercroc

Prehistoric Park: The Bug House

Prehistoric Park: T-Rex Returns

Prince of Egypt (1998)

Rome: Engineering an Empire

Spartacus

Story of 1

Ten Commandments (1956)

 

As you can see, it's heavy on PBS, BBC, History Channel stuff, with some movies here and there.

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OK, we just finished seeing disc 1 and 2 of Liberty Kids.

 

We saw Life of Birds on watch instantly.

We watched the Algebra video.

I have on my queque Decimals/Fractions.

 

I usually use it to watch old TV series like Happy Days.

I also have watch old movies from the 1940s like an old version of Batman. They say a racial slur about Japanese in the film and my husband and I did not know it. We had to explain to the children that the film was made during World War 2. So, there was a hatred of Japanese in this country due to Pearl Harbor. It was a good thing that we were in Volume 4 of Story of the World so, they understood the reason for the comments.

 

We've watched old versions of Superman. This 1940s version they never put the name of the actor who played Superman. It just said starring Superman, but what is really funny is the actor who played Butch in the Little Rascals is Jimmy Olsen in these movies. We had fun with those.

 

Blessings,

Karen

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

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I second Life of Birds, add Life of Mammals, Life in the Freezer, and Life in the Undergrowth, and resoundingly approve of the Story of 1.

 

I'll add more later, but those are standards at our house.

 

Also, you can friend other homeschoolers and see what's in their queue.

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Yes, that's mainly what we use it for. My kids have seen all of The Life of Mammals, all of The Life of Birds, all of the different Walking With series (Dinosaurs, Prehistoric Beasts, Early Humans, and there's another one I forget), all of The Blue Planet, all of Life on Planet Earth, Life in the Undergrowth (about bugs), tons of episodes of Digging for the Truth (History Channel), half of In Search of the Trojan War, oodles of episodes of Nature (PBS), etc.

 

Tara

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and if you do what are some of your favorites? Thanks!

 

I've been generally pleased with American Experience (history series from PBS), although I have found it necessary to pause the movie in order to discuss various statements in certain episodes.

 

We watched most of Connections, which is an older show that discusses how different inventions and discoveries led to others which led to others.

 

National Geographic's Inside the . . . series. We enjoyed the Secret Service and the FBI episodes (especially the extras with this).

 

Netflix has many of the Standard Deviants series, although these are a bit old for my kids. But I have availed myself of the episodes of Between the Lions that they also have.

 

Then we've also used it to watch various feature movies set in time periods we've studied. For example Waterloo or Master and Commander or Sergeant York or The Great Escape.

 

I tend to keep a really big queue of movies because I put all the stuff I find interesting into the queue so that I don't lose the reference.

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