Marshall Publishing & Promotions, Inc. has a variety of educational DVDs, CDs, and books available on their website. I chose to review the America in the 1880s DVD which covers the history of this decade using “live re-enactments, rare historical photographs and drawings, and award-winning photography”. I love history, and look for ways to give my kids a sense of what it might have been like to live in different time periods and places. This DVD gave a wonderful overview of this decade in our history, and I found it a great way to whet their appetite for more in depth learning.
From the website:
Just like a time machine, we transport you back to discover the people and events that shaped this exciting decade: the Brooklyn Bridge …Washington Monument …Statue of Liberty …Gunfight at the O.K. Corral …Oklahoma Land Rush …Johnstown Flood …Thomas Edison …Mark Twain …Baby Doe …Sitting Bull …Sarah Bernhardt …John Philip Sousa …Buffalo Bill …Gilbert and Sullivan …Wyatt Earp…Jesse James and Billy the Kid ….Alexander Graham Bell ….John D. Rockefeller ….Andrew Carnegie ….Samuel Gompers ….Susan B. Anthony ….Lillian Russell ….and many more!You will learn about fashion, politics, sports heroes, famous inventors, Wall Street financiers, railroad expansion, buffalo extinction, Indian resettlement, Civil Rights, union organization, urbanization, the music of the times, and much, much more!
There is a study guide available in the product description which I put into a word document. I read the commentary before we watched the DVD, and then asked the discussion questions when we finished watching. We had some great discussions, and they have already mentioned more than once how this or that correlates with what they saw on the DVD. I know we will pull this out again when we study more of this time period.
The DVD is 60 minutes in length and includes a bonus archival documentary film about Alexander Graham Bell, his work with the deaf, and his invention of the telephone. This film made him come alive, and I was impressed by his vision for things that were later discovered – like sonar, for instance.
The recommended grades are 4th – adult. My six year old watched while playing quietly, and would comment on things here and there. My nine year old occasionally had to ask questions to clarify, but he enjoyed it along with the teens and me. There are a couple of other DVDs I have my eye on to supplement our history and science lessons, and the current sale is tempting. On top of the sale, Marshall Publishing & Promotions, Inc. has offered a coupon code for free first class shipping. Just enter coupon code TOS27 at checkout.
Disclosure: I received a free DVD to review. All information was correct to the best of my knowledge at the time this review was written. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations. You can read my full disclosure policy here.