History DVDs?

[Mizelenius]

Is there such a thing . . .I am looking for history DVDs (topic of American history is what DD is interested in) without any real violence.

We've exhausted the Liberty's Kids series.

My DD was excited to watch The History of US but one of the first scenes was a man about to be burned at the stake . . .she's 6 and it's just too much for her!

History seems to be inherently violent, so maybe this does not exist!

[wissa19]

School House Rocks?  I understand your problem...also all history DVD's focus on war and other things not appropriate for a 6 year old.  I know when I taught school our school library had some basic video's on Thanksgiving...kind of traditional stuff.  I just can't think of who made them, but they are out there.

[Mizelenius]

Originally Posted by wissa19 

School House Rocks?  I understand your problem...also all history DVD's focus on war and other things not appropriate for a 6 year old.  I know when I taught school our school library had some basic video's on Thanksgiving...kind of traditional stuff.  I just can't think of who made them, but they are out there.

Yeah-- looking beyond the traditional.  Well, not necessarily, as long as they show both sides.

We have SHR and she's seen it-- just looking for something that is longer vs. snippets, if that makes sense.

[ilovemygirl]

I have the same problem. My lo is still a few years away from being able to view that kind of stuff and it's horribly annoying and frustrating that it's seemingly impossible to find ANYTHING gentle but informative. I don't know why anyone needs to see graphic reenactments of murder and fighting to understand that a war happened. 

I just did a quick google search and came up with this. Maybe it's the company the pp mentioned?

http://www.libraryvideo.com/product.asp?sku=V7160

[moominmamma]

I wonder if this might fit the bill. We've only viewed his world history series as we're Canadian and no one here has had a strong interest in American history lectures. But the teacher is mildly theatrical, entertaining, full of info. I know it says high school history, but that's an overestimate, IMO. My kids enjoyed the world history ones from age 6 or 8.

Miranda

[wissa19]

Originally Posted by Mizelenius 

Yeah-- looking beyond the traditional.  Well, not necessarily, as long as they show both sides.

We have SHR and she's seen it-- just looking for something that is longer vs. snippets, if that makes sense.

Yes.  It does. It's hard to find stuff that is just not fluff.  Good educational videos are hard to find.  Of the other there are lot of really good historical novels for kids.  (but of course that's also, not what you are looking for...)  sigh.

[Mizelenius]

Thank you for the recommendations.  I will see if our library has these or can get them for me!

wissa, I am open to good novels, too, so feel free to pass on titles for those!

[Fillyjonk]

There is a great UK based program called Time Team, which each week follows an archaelogical dig. Obviously you can't do archaeology without a lot of history! Time Team is mostly UK based, but I'm wondering if there might be something similar in the US?

Another thing that my kids really liked was those kind of reality TV shows where a family goes back in time and tries to live appropriately to the age. Round here, the Coal House videos were a particular hit (it helps that we live less than an hour from where it was filmed). I know that you probably are looking for US specific stuff (and I suspect you couldn't play UK dvds anyway?), but I wonder if might would be similar things made in America? I think at age 6, living history is what's important, and seeing a child of their age, with a lot of their preconceptions," going back in time" was really interesting for them.

[moominmamma]

Oh yes, we're enjoying "Victorian Farm: Christmas" right now. There are American correlates: Colonial House and Frontier House, which we enjoyed. There's a Canadian one as well: Pioneer Quest.  Over the years we've ended up trying a lot of the primitive / simplicity / from-scratch skills that are illustrated in these shows.

Miranda

[Stephenie]

nm

Edited by Stephenie - 12/18/11 at 12:32pm

[VeggieLovinMama]

Maybe you could use the violence as a conversation starter to address these issues rather than avoid them? American History is very violent. There were so many injustices that just cannot be ignored. What you are looking for is Heritage movies (you know, the kind that make us look all pretty and happy and pleasantly wrapped with a bow) rather than real History. As a Historian, I can't recommend avoiding these issues of our past, no matter what the age of the child.

[CariOfOz]

Originally Posted by VeggieLovinMama 

Maybe you could use the violence as a conversation starter to address these issues rather than avoid them? American History is very violent. There were so many injustices that just cannot be ignored. What you are looking for is Heritage movies (you know, the kind that make us look all pretty and happy and pleasantly wrapped with a bow) rather than real History. As a Historian, I can't recommend avoiding these issues of our past, no matter what the age of the child.

Sadly, I agree.  History on the whole is violent... major changes required major (and unnecessary in most cases, seriously, who CARES what the guys over across the river believe if it doesn't affect you? ;) ) wars to bring them about.  I think this is probably one of the reasons why 'history' isn't really taught so much to very young students... the violence is so pervasive that you can't learn about history without being exposed to it.
 

[moominmamma]

Originally Posted by CariOfOz 

Sadly, I agree.  History on the whole is violent... major changes required major (and unnecessary in most cases, seriously, who CARES what the guys over across the river believe if it doesn't affect you? ;) ) wars to bring them about.  I think this is probably one of the reasons why 'history' isn't really taught so much to very young students... the violence is so pervasive that you can't learn about history without being exposed to it.
 

Yes, this is why on the whole I've tried to direct my children's history interests into "daily life in history" type learning. This lends itself to a lot of great hands-on projects, of course, which is plenty of fun and very appropriate for this age. We've been a soap-making, stick-whittling, chicken-raising, garden-building, candle-making, book-binding, fabric-dyeing, water-hauling, wood-splitting, fleece-spinning, fire-building, wattle-fence-weaving, tincture-making, wheat-growing, beer-brewing, ink-mixing family. 

Miranda

[Fillyjonk]

Originally Posted by moominmamma 

Oh yes, we're enjoying "Victorian Farm: Christmas" right now. There are American correlates: Colonial House and Frontier House, which we enjoyed. There's a Canadian one as well: Pioneer Quest.  Over the years we've ended up trying a lot of the primitive / simplicity / from-scratch skills that are illustrated in these shows.

Miranda

Just found out we can get most of those titles over here! They look pretty interesting

[VeggieLovinMama]

Originally Posted by moominmamma 

Yes, this is why on the whole I've tried to direct my children's history interests into "daily life in history" type learning. This lends itself to a lot of great hands-on projects, of course, which is plenty of fun and very appropriate for this age. We've been a soap-making, stick-whittling, chicken-raising, garden-building, candle-making, book-binding, fabric-dyeing, water-hauling, wood-splitting, fleece-spinning, fire-building, wattle-fence-weaving, tincture-making, wheat-growing, beer-brewing, ink-mixing family. 

Miranda

Miranda, it sounds like what you are doing is 'heritage' which has its place and is very fun and rewarding. If you are worried about the violent aspect (and I don't blame you one bit!) than maybe stick to this sort of thing until your child gets older :) Oh, and don't forget about the Little House on the Prairie series! My mom read those to me from about the age of 6 and we did many of the activities that Laura and Mary did in the books (rag curls, maple syrup snow candy, making butter, etc.)
 

[moominmamma]

Originally Posted by VeggieLovinMama 

Miranda, it sounds like what you are doing is 'heritage' which has its place and is very fun and rewarding. If you are worried about the violent aspect (and I don't blame you one bit!) than maybe stick to this sort of thing until your child gets older :) 

My kids are now considerably older and we've moved well beyond this focus. I was thinking mostly of the OP's 6-year-old, and what we did when my kids were that age. It wasn't just "heritage," as you put it. It's just that when they got very interested in historical eras I made an effort to channel their interests away from the violent aspects and into a consideration of what daily life was like, including of course how that played into economic and political changes. We were big fans of James Burke's "Connections" and "The Day the Universe Changed" documentary series, which look at how scientific and engineering discoveries changed daily life, leading to trickle-down effects that changed the course of history in often dramatic ways. History isn't just leaders, dates and political conflicts. Those events spring out of the pressures and limitations and challenges of daily life amongst people of various classes and positions and means. It's all one big ball of wax.

Miranda

[VaDoula]

My kids have enjoyed Animated Hero Classics from the library, they also have them on amazon.  They feature a prominent historical figure and put it in a kid friendly story.  I also found that The Story of Us was too much for my kids and told them they would have to be older to watch it.  These DVDs are completely fine for a 6 year old.  They also have a quiz at the end to do with the remote on the TV that reviews the story or will take you to the point in the story with the answer if you forget. 

[VeggieLovinMama]

Originally Posted by moominmamma 

My kids are now considerably older and we've moved well beyond this focus. I was thinking mostly of the OP's 6-year-old, and what we did when my kids were that age. It wasn't just "heritage," as you put it. It's just that when they got very interested in historical eras I made an effort to channel their interests away from the violent aspects and into a consideration of what daily life was like, including of course how that played into economic and political changes. We were big fans of James Burke's "Connections" and "The Day the Universe Changed" documentary series, which look at how scientific and engineering discoveries changed daily life, leading to trickle-down effects that changed the course of history in often dramatic ways. History isn't just leaders, dates and political conflicts. Those events spring out of the pressures and limitations and challenges of daily life amongst people of various classes and positions and means. It's all one big ball of wax.

Miranda

You're right. However, in order to really do history, we have to address the injustices, intolerances, and crimes of the past. Americans, I know, are extremely proud of their heritage or "history" but they often deny, avoid, or are ignorant of their part in many horrific actions of the past. I'm thinking of Mexico, the Native Americans, slavery and racism, the Irish, the Loyalists, etc. Not just to say "we had to fight off the Mexicans in order to win over California and New Mexico" but to say "greed and racism caused these injustices" and why and how, etc. We also have to address how these actions still affect those people today. About how poverty has reigned there due to the most precious lands being stolen from them. About how African Americans were put at such a disadvantage and how those actions are still affecting their lives today. It is VERY important to talk about how the past has affected the present. Without these discussions, it is just heritage and heroes.

[Mizelenius]

Originally Posted by VeggieLovinMama 

Maybe you could use the violence as a conversation starter to address these issues rather than avoid them? American History is very violent. There were so many injustices that just cannot be ignored. What you are looking for is Heritage movies (you know, the kind that make us look all pretty and happy and pleasantly wrapped with a bow) rather than real History. As a Historian, I can't recommend avoiding these issues of our past, no matter what the age of the child.

I can't yet.  DD is just too disturbed.  She takes everything very much to heart.  I am not looking for heritage movies in the sense that we are all happy, as you say (living history is great, though) . . .but I want to limit how deep into these topics we delve. I was raised in a household were there was never such a thing as "too young to know" and I didn't like it!    DD knows the basics of injustices in certain areas of history (no sappy pilgrim stories here) but JUST the basics.  I just finished reading The Help and DD asked me about it . . .I hinted at it, and DD made the connection that it was close to the idea of slavery.  She asked me a lot of questions about it-- ones I could not answer (and I told her so).

My other DD is interested in animals, and for a long time I tried to limit how much she learned about endangered species and such.  The idea is to help children learn to love the Earth before they take responsibility for it.  I could not stop her from reading about these topics, however, so she became aware before I wanted her to be. 

I find it difficult to balance!

Thank you again for the recommendations, mamas! 

[moominmamma]

Originally Posted by VeggieLovinMama 

However, in order to really do history, we have to address the injustices, intolerances, and crimes of the past. 

Yes, you're preaching to the choir here. I just finished reading aloud a Groundwood Press book called "Genocide" to my two younger girls. But you don't have to address this stuff at age 6 necessarily, when the child has showed clear evidence of emotional difficulty dealing with it.

Miranda