Embracing a Healthy Family: Homeschool Video Curriculum
Showing posts with label Homeschool Video Curriculum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Homeschool Video Curriculum. Show all posts

Drive Thru History® "Acts to Revelation" Review






I was introduced to Drive Thru History® last year and instantly fell in love the adventures featuring Dave Stotts. When we had the opportunity to review the new adventure series, I couldn't wait to watch and review Drive Thru History® "Acts to Revelation." This series was no disappointment and only carried forward my enthusiasm for such a remarkable account of all the Book of Acts to the Book of Revelations. The DVD series, 18 30-minute episodes, has a general age range of 6th grade to adult but I honestly think that younger students would be interested. For us, it wasn't just a time to sit and learn a lesson, we utilized it as family entertainment. It covers a broad range of subjects from art, history, geography, Biblical studies, of course, and so much more! It made us want to go see every location that Dave visited. He has a keen ability to present each topic with a combination of seriousness while livening it up with humor as he's a natural. As a bonus, the beautifully created DVD set includes an equally lovely study guide keeping everything in one area making it easy for using the study guide to teach or to peruse and learn for one's own entertainment.




Our introduction to Drive Thru History® "Acts to Revelation" began with understanding the events that started the gospel to spread in the first century. The Book of Acts is Dave's roadmap, so to speak, to follow the path of the early Christians. Each episode covers just the right material to understand how each event and series of events set up the next. For those not as familiar with the Bible, it's a great introduction and for those that are, it reinforces what we know. In addition, it provides such amazing views of the places that it feels as if you are there with Dave. The maps, the drawings, artwork and other props utilized to share the knowledge are top notch and is better than any Hollywood movie. The 18 episodes are broken into 18 and include:

  1. The Gospel Shared at Pentecost
  2. The Church Grows in Jerusalem
  3. The Gospel Spreads to the Gentiles
  4. Saul of Taurus & the Road to Damascus 
  5. Paul's First Missionary Journey: The Island of Cyprus
  6. The Journey Continues: Pamphylia, Galatia, & Asia Minor
  7. The Jerusalem Council & Paul's Second Missionary Journey
  8. The Second Journey Continues: Philippi and Thessalonica
  9. A Road Trip to Athens
  10. Ancient Corinth
  11. Paul's Third Missionary Journey: Ephesus
  12. Paul's Final Trip to Jerusalem & Caesarea
  13. Adventures at Sea: The Island of Malta
  14. A Final Journey to Rome
  15. The Martyrdom of Paul & Peter
  16. John and the Island of Patmos
  17. The Seven Churches of Revelation
  18. The Book Closes on the New Testament Period



The Study Guide is concise, colorful and done in a manner that provides a challenge to the students while reinforcing what they learned. After each episode, I would utilize the
Study Guide to ensure my children were following and understanding the key points. The Study Guide is not cumbersome and does not create a level of panic or dread because it's not too long. Each section includes:


  • A Summary that provides the summary of the episode.
  • A Discussion section that comprises a small series of questions that will test and reinforce what the student has learned. For example, discussion 11 only had five questions. 
  • Side Roads provided additional information about the episodes person, places or time period.
  • Answers to each episode's discussions can be found towards the end.
  • Beautiful photographs are mixed into every page making it a must see and definite asset to the program.




As we continued to watch each episode, I remained in awe over how each one was made in such a beautiful way. The re-enactments were extremely professional and each episode that covers the roadmap of the path early Christians took, was chalk full of facts of pertinent events, locations and the time period. I think this is a series worthy of watching over and over due to the amount of knowledge to be learned. Dave has a mannerism of speaking at just the right speed to fully absorb all the details he's presenting while not being dull or boring. He's very engaging and entertaining and reminds me of one of my best professors I had in college. 

Additional thoughts I observed from my children watching the series:

  • The parts where Dave shows what cities might have looked like in the specific time period was fascinating.
  • Dave references where in the Bible the specific details come from was an asset to help reinforce readings from the Bible.
  • If you are a fan of Dave and Drive Thru History®, you will know how he likes to drive cool vehicles as he begins his journey. In one of the episodes, he has a beautiful horse and carriage much to the delight of my children. It's always interesting to see what he will end up in next!
  • Dave does another great job in linking events from the Bible to archaeological and historical events that help prove Biblical accounts.
  • He also touches on a lot of Latin words which is timely since we are learning Latin now.
  • Each episode begins with a general statement and completes it by stating, "But there is no substitute for reading the Scripture yourself."




My 11 year old's thoughts:

"I like that he's funny and the episodes were short. I liked that I was able to learn more about the Bible and how they suggested which part of the Bible I should read."

Overall, we loved Drive Thru History® "Acts to Revelation" and recommend it to anyone homeschooling or wanting to learn more themselves. I also think it would be a great asset to public and private schools given the breadth of subjects covered and how captivating the entire series is. It's yet another win!



It's really an engaging series to purchase for yourself, your children or even as a gift. Check out what others on the Crew thought by clicking on the photo link below:



Drive Thru History®

Drive Thru History® Adventures Review



Drive Thru History Adventures
My family were so excited to receive and review a one year access to all these great homeschool videos from Drive Thru History Adventures and what is even better is we also gained access to three wonderful courses to go with these videos! Bible History, American History and Ancient History are all important for me to teach my children and to expose my grandchildren to. I don't believe you could find a more enthusiastic person as Dave Stotts and he reminds me of one of my favorite college professors who taught history. To capture the attention of a student is to teach outside the box in my opinion. Dave truly does that with his lively videos full of dress ups, props and so much more. He has proclaimed on the website that "I've started calling it "Adventure Learning" - history education that's Christ-centered, fact-filled and super fun." He has been traveling the last 15 years to share the truth about history on location thus providing a more profound learning experience by feeling as if you were there with him.

Drive Thru History Adventures


Once you log in, it's an intuitive program to proceed with a top menu that includes:

  • Dashboard - the starting point for each session on the site. The latest shows, documentaries, blogs and specials as well as the latest news and social media links.  It also has a social community to see how others are using the Drive Thru History® Adventures.
  • Curriculum - the place to start any or all of the three curriculum of Bible History, American History and Ancient History. Each course has a half hour video, extra reading and a worksheet with discussion questions along with answer keys to share in the experience as a family or one on one. Each week has new updated information so it's never dull and an introduction on how to use each curriculum.
  • Resources - the one stop for articles, expert papers, suggested readings, worksheets, answer guides, behind the scenes and more.
  • Community - this is the place to link up to the Facebook group and other social media.
  • Account - this is where all the information on individual accounts are contained and the information can be updated.
  • Adventures TV - Adventure TV can be watched on the desktop, Chromecast, iPad,  iPhone or Android.




Curriculum Reviews:




The 18 week adventure begins with a half hour episode, reading and a worksheet on discussion questions.  By the time the student completes all the episodes, the first half of the New Testament will be covered.  The course starts out with an introduction and then Dave travels on-site to Israel. I have to say that the videos are thoroughly entertaining, engaging and educational. Dave really knows how to capture both young and old with the various locations, images, graphics and more. I think our favorite part of the curriculum are the videos in the locations where the study is focusing on such as Israel. 


All three were interested in learning more and found the videos entertaining. They prefer this type of learning especially when it's of historical nature and it's the easiest way I can get them both to learn. My granddaughter even enjoyed the lesson that my middle child was viewing. I confess my youngest, 11 this June, didn't like the Roman paintings of near nudes and that's my fault for not introducing classical art to her. I, on the other hand, really enjoyed the art that was utilized to help present the course.

  • The video on-site filled with actual footage on location, paintings, illustrations, maps and more providing such an in-depth look into the time period and a clear understanding of what is being taught.
  • A summary about Episode 1 is provided.
  • After the summary is scripture reading allowing the student to reinforce the learning from the video.
  • More information about the four apostles along with stained glass pictures of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
  • Discussion questions to reinforce and ensure the student(s) understood the material.
  • The Gospels Episode 1 Worksheet downloadable PDF. 
  • The Gospels Episode 1 Worksheet Answer Guide downloadable PDF.
  • Dig Deeper provides additional updates and articles.
  • The Historical Influence of Jesus for further reading.


We completed that episode and we're on to the next!

American History Adventures and Ancient History Adventures has 12 episodes (weeks) each. American History starts with the discovery of the new world and ends with the American battles of Trenton, Princeton and Monmouth leading up to the Constitution. Each week, is a new adventure with a 30 minute video, a selected reading and completing worksheets. It provides the formidable events and people that led to the foundation of the United States. As with the Bible History curriculum, we started these episodes on the computer but with Adventures TV, we were able to sit comfortably in our living room and watch each of the Ancient History episodes. Being able to stream each episode through Adventures TV was fantastic! I enjoyed watching both my girls' reactions to Dave and how he makes learning about history fun even if they thought he was corny at times but that's how kids are! The other perk about Adventures TV is how you can install the app on your device and take it on the go. Adventures TV also has many other episodes outside the curriculum to include segments on Behind the Scenes, Dig Deeper, Side Roads and Dave's Adventures. It's yet another area where Dave has thought of everything to provide a comprehensive, exciting way to teach many aspects of history.





Ancient History Adventures begins with the Rise of Civilization and ends with the Best of the Ancient World. It also contains 12 episodes with a 30 minute entertaining video, discussion questions and other resources to thoroughly examine this important time period.  As with the other two curriculum, there are beautiful pictures and resources to reinforce the time period as Dave provides the historical significance of the time backed with Christian references. I believe all three curriculum are beneficial to a student to understand how each interlock together to provide how civilization not only began but how it influenced so many cultures relative to religion, law and principles. 


Disregard the messy desk :)
Each of the worksheets are well thought out and reinforces what the students just viewed during the episode. The answer key is provided and can be used by the educator or for self-check.



Overall, I would highly recommend this set of curriculum for the following reasons:

  • Even though the curriculum is most appropriate for those over 12, younger students ages 5-11 can still enjoy the videos and the discussion questions. My seven year old granddaughter enjoyed watching the videos and viewed each one with us. 
  • It can be utilized just as one, two or all three but I feel all three provide a robust learning experience to begin students on a journey with history. I love history and certainly believe if I was taught via the way Dave does, I would have most likely pursued it in college. My eldest, 29, was walking by as the girls were watching an episode and even said she would have enjoyed history taught in this manner. He's engaging, funny and yes, to my girls, sometimes goofy but that is what makes a teacher memorable!
  • The supporting pictures, photos, on-locations shots and more really brings a sense of being there at the moment. It also provides a wonderful break from textbooks especially for the learner who prefers to watch versus reading. 
  • The additional readings of documents, excerpts from the Bible, experts papers and articles provide interested students, and parents for that matter, more information to further the topic in an inviting manner. 
  • Dave is always updating and adding additional information which is a plus to learn even more!

I forgot to note that both my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed this!  We both loved the Christian basis for how all the information is taught and Dave is so engaging and entertaining.  I am going to post an update once my children and I finish all three curriculum.  This one is a keeper!


UPDATE: Another week has passed and as a family, we are really enjoying and learning so much from Dave! He's a great teacher and is so entertaining! This is one of the best history courses I have taken and love the Christian base in every episode.
Drive Thru History Adventures has annual and monthly subscription options along with a free trial.

There is also an online community available to subscribers:

Catch Dave on his YouTube channel for more wonderful adventures that is available to anyone.

SPECIAL OFFERS:


Currently, there is also a special where with an annual subscription, you will receive a set of The Gospels DVD plus an additional discount. Visit Drive Thru History Adventures to learn more.

If you are a subscriber and reader to The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, in the Winter Edition page 19, there is a coupon for 20% off an annual subscription.



Drive Thru History Adventures - Subscription {Drive Thru History Adventures Reviews}








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