Often, when we are reading our science lessons, the children will look for pictures of what we are studying. It is much easier to see an animal to understand more about it. Still photos can be helpful for this, but videos are even better. How better to understand how a fish swims, than to see a fish swim?
When our DVD, What Makes a Fish a Fish? arrived we immediately cancelled the rest of our plans that morning to watch it. All of us, 11 year old down to the 2 year old (and Mama) were glued to the screen as we watched and learned about amazing sea creatures. The videography was excellent. I don’t think you will see anything better unless you are experiencing it yourself. The narration throughout explained what we were seeing in an easy to understand way (the oh-so-mature 11 year old felt she was being talked down to–but it is more for younger elementary). We all learned a lot–and that was just the first time. It has since been viewed numerous times (even by that 11 year old).
This video is just one from “Ocean Annie” Crawley, and her company Dive Into Your Imagination. There are numerous products from Dive Into Your Imagination – DVDs, books and Educator Guides. She even has a DVD going step-by-step into how to create your own underwater video. The Educator Guides are available in print format or pdf download. I recommend the download version (a set of the printed guides for one video, both levels runs $299). When you purchase your DVD, be sure to mention that you are a homeschooler and you can get the pdf Guide free! (Thanks, Annie!) For the months of May and June, Annie is graciously offering free shipping as well. The DVD runs $19.95 for any of the 3 titles reviewed by the Crew : What Makes a Fish a Fish?, Who Lives in the Sea?, and Dive into Diversity. Ocean Annie has a few other titles coming soon. You may watch some clips on one of her YouTube channels: http://www.youtube.com/AnnieCrawley and http://www.youtube.com/OceanAnnieTV.
What about those Educator Guides? We were blessed with receiving both levels the Pre-K – K as well as the Grade 1 – 3. The activities are broken down by the chapter of the DVD, making it easy to work these things into regular lessons. Some of the activities include: scrambled vocabulary words, fishy math, book lists for additional reading, etc. There are actual activities as well, not just printed sheets to fill in — such as acting things out using your imagination. Many of the activities are typical for unit studies for the ages targeted. What makes these guides better is how they are directly related to the DVD they were made for. The transcripts are included, the video is able to viewed in English, Spanish or with music only. With a print-out of the transcript, even more can be gained from the video (I plan to choose the Spanish language option for my learners beginning Spanish). There is so much more to this than “just a video of sea life”. We will be focusing on “swimming creatures” in our upcoming school year, so I anticipate including many things from the videos/guides as they fit in with our chosen curriculum.
As with all great things, there are always some things that keep them from being “perfect”. This is not presented from a Christian worldview. One of those listed in the “dedicated to” part is “mother ocean”. As a believer, I do feel it is important to teach our children to be good stewards of what the Lord has created for us – and given us dominion over. The intention is the same, I just don’t agree with all the ways it is presented. Annie is very passionate about inspiring a love for the sea.
To read reviews of more of Ocean Annie’s videos, check out the Crew blog. To learn more about Ocean Annie Crawley and Dive Into Your Imagination, check out the respective websites.
Disclaimer: As a member of the TOS Crew, I received the items described above free of charge in order to review. I was not required to write a positive review; all opinions expressed are my own.