Growing Up Wild (Review)

Growing Up Wild is a series of DVDs created by the Wild family as an introduction to missionary life. The Wild family featuring the Wild Brothers (Morgan, Hudson, Kian, and Asher) plus mom (Libby) and dad (Mike) are missionaries to the Wano tribe in Indonesia.

The filming started out as a creative project for themselves, but morphed into a tool to influence future missionaries. The series is meant to add to a home school or Sunday school curriculum for ages 5-12, however, it is interesting and educational for all age groups. You can tell the family has a heart for spreading the gospel to the Wano tribe.

Our review crew received Volume 1 and Volume 4 of the Growing Up Wild series. There are five total volumes and each one comes with two DVDs. One DVD contains the Activity Guide, and the other contains the three episodes. Each episode is approximately 15 minutes long. The Wilds encourage you to use the Activity Guide in a way that works for your family.

Volume 1 episodes include Home Sweet Hut, Supply Trip, and Sun & Water. These three episodes show you the Wild house, how it differs from the Wano tribe’s huts, and how the huts are built. You also see what an undertaking it is to stock their supplies, and how they harness the sun and water to power their home.

Out of the two DVDs, this volume is my favorite. I found it really interesting to compare their home to the tribal huts as well as to our own home. To get an idea of the activities they suggest, check out the sample guide for Volume 1.

Volume 4 includes episodes Amazing World Around Us, Adventures in Culture, and Tribal Calling. I’ll admit to being a big weenie. This volume made me squirm from the snakes to the nose piercing. The birds were gorgeous and the spider – huge and hairy (ugg). I loved seeing how the dog and cat interacted with the wild life.

I enjoyed learning a little about war and hunting, but the nose piercing elicited more squirms for me. The kids watched in morbid fascination. Mama enjoyed watching their faces.

Seriously, though, they loved these two volumes as much as I did. Even dad got caught up watching some of it. It’s fascinating seeing a completely different culture. My absolute favorite part of the whole thing was reading the interpretation of one Wano tribe members testimony of coming to know Jesus as Savior.

And that is what this series is truly about. The Wild family lives the mandate to go out into all nations and spread the gospel. God has called us to share Jesus with everyone, and this is a good reminder to answer that call. It might be in a remote jungle somewhere like the Wild family, or it might be going out into your own city, town, or country. We need to hear what God is calling each of us to, and how He wants us to walk that out.

The kids and I have had some great discussions, and I feel it is the start to more. It’s so important to train our children on how to go about sharing Jesus in the day to day. To train them to see when God brings someone along for us to minister to.

As far as how we used this in our home, we watched each episode, and any scriptures that were presented in the activity portion, we read aloud. We’ve also been brainstorming how to build a model Wano house, and you can be sure a future blog post will be forthcoming, as I think we’ve hit on a plan. This is something our family will watch again, and each time, we can pick another activity to try.

The kids are also hoping to eventually own the other volumes as well, and I’m looking forward to even more wonderful discussions, and learning more about the Wild family, and the Wano tribe.

There are more videos on the website so you can get a taste of what’s on the DVDs.

Each Volume is $18.99 plus shipping and tax. You can also buy all five DVDs for $80.99 plus shipping and tax for a savings. My only negative is that we wish each DVD contained more episodes. These DVDs really are a wonderful tool to think missionary minded, and to remember to seek what God would have in store for your family in fulfilling the great commision.

Disclosure: I received these DVDs 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.