Movies are a great way to spark interest in a subject, book or time period for school…
They also make a great reward for completing a book. We are huge movie buffs at our house and I use a lot of movies, documentaries or TV specials to break up the monotony or as a reward or in place of a book if we’re short on time or I really just want them to get to know the story. Sometimes a movie can give you a better understanding of the time period or subject. Here are some of the movies we used over the years. I hope to get it organized by age and time period and with a review of each movie. This isn’t a complete list, but it’s a great starting point! Keep checking back, I’m sure to be adding more titles!
I recommend for anything over PG that you watch it first and make sure of what you want your kids to see. Sometimes, the TV version is better than the full DVD version. For example, I love Braveheart but I’d only watched it on TV and when I got the DVD I was surprised to find out that they moon the English army and there was nothing under their kilts and it’s a lot bloodier than what I’d seen on TV. So use your judgment and not mine.
Just click on the picture to be taken to a description of the movie and preview clips if available.
Elementary and maybe Middle School
Exploration up to early 1900’s