Homeschooling Using Movies – especially on those sick days.
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We like to watch movies as a family. We like to laugh and comment about the movies for days or months afterwards.
We are always looking for good movie suggestions. If you have one – tell me about it in the comments!
Last week when my sons were ill, we finished watching the entire series of Larkrise to Candleford
It was a good series, I was kind of sad that they discontinued it.
Of course, the “sneaky teacher who lives inside me” made a lesson out of it. I don’t like learning opportunities to pass by even when someone is sick. Of course, if I told them they were having school – there would be a fuss. So, lets just keep this our little secret.
Here are some of the questions I asked to make it more “educational”:
- Since the setting was in England…”Do you remember the opening ceremonies of the Olympics this past year? Notice any similarities?”
We had a did a whole unit study of the Olympics. - Who was the “head” of the Post Office? Who did they give an oath to?
The Majesty of England - Did you notice the CASTE system? <-This was a huge question, we had just learned about how it started in India and the movie showed it in full bloom.
- The poor couldn’t buy clothes from a mall or Target, where did they get them?
- The Village all came together and worked together – does it remind you of something the body of Christ should do?
I’m always amazed how much my kids pick up in movies. Here is a list and how I have incorporated it to match my lessons.
- Marvel’s The Avengers
– great for studying Greek Myths.
- Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie
– – studying Assyria (785 – 775 BC) Week 28 of My Father’s World.
- Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front
– was great when we were studying Gardens. It had a Victory Garden.
- Finding Nemo
– Great for studying Australia or oceans.
- The Incredibles
– My kids actually caught this learning tidbit. Our Greek word for the week was Chronos. They remembered that in the movie the password was Kronos. Same meaning.
Here is another list of movies, that we like to watch on “sick days” or even “reward days.”
I’m a firm believer that anything can be incorporated to a lesson. It is my life goal to achieve this. I feel like I am fulling the Shemah and using life lessons to teach about the Lord.
“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Deuteronomy 6:6
Hope this helps someone if they are having a “sick” homeschooling day. I will add more movies later.
Blessings to you! You are loved!
Go see more blogging with movies from the IHN.
I told my kids several years ago, that if they could explain to me how a movie was educational, we could watch it during the week…otherwise it had to wait for fun Friday (Friday Night Fun Night). It was so interesting how they could manipulate almost any movie into an educational experience. I finally had to tell them they had to have 5 reasons it was educational, and limit us to 3 movies per week. We will be watching Aladdin this week (Studying the Tales from Arabia).
Any of the American Girl movies are great!
We love American Girl! I am amazed how much my kids learn from those books.
GREAT ideas! And you can follow up with unit lessons on some!
We love Unit Studies. We did one on Football this year and it changed our entire view of the sport. So much fun!