As homeschoolers we have the ability to take time out and go down rabbit trails with our children as they discover things that interest them. I want my children to find something they’re passionate about and hopefully be able to convert that into a career. And even if they aren’t able to use their passion in their career, they can still have hobbies and other interests that are exciting to them. I love to meet people who are passionate about any subject, because I’m always inspired to learn new things myself when I’m around them.
Annie Crawley is one of those people. She is passionate about oceans and marine life, and she wants to share that passion with children. She especially wants children to love the sea because she believes that people will try to save what they love. There are many problems that the ocean is facing in the years ahead. When today’s children are adults maybe they will be able to find solutions. Annie specializes in underwater cinematography and uses that to make spectacular underwater views accessible to everyone in their own homes.
I received a copy of the What Makes a Fish a Fish? DVD and corresponding Educator Guides from Dive Into Your Imagination to review.
What Makes a Fish a Fish? contains 8 different segments.
- What Makes a Fish a Fish
- Sea Anemones and Their Friends
- Hide and Seek on the Reef
- Frogfish are Funny Looking Fish
- Bath Time for Fishes
- Don’t Be Afraid of Sharks
- Dinner Time for Fish
- Fishes, Fishes, More and More Fishes
My thoughts:
The DVD is a high quality, professional video. The images are amazing!This sample will give you a good idea of types of things that you can see in the videos.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/mRYfidXk-S4[/youtube]
The narration is gentle but not babyish. The facts are interesting, but not overly complex for younger children. Both my 5 year old daughter and 17 month old son enjoy watching the DVD. My 10 year old son likes it as well, but he does think he’s a little too old for it. I was happy that there were not references to millions of years in these secular videos. (At least none that I noticed.) It did say that sharks have been around since before the dinosaurs, but I don’t have an argument with that since swimming creatures were created on the 5th day and land animals on the 6th.
I confess I was not prepared for what I would find in the educator guides. I knew they were designed for classrooms, so I didn’t expect to find much useful for my family. I was pleasantly surprised. For one thing, these are huge files. There are 298 pages in the PK-K guide! They are well organized with lessons designed for each of the 8 sections of the video. These include activities, printable pages, and extension ideas for additional research. Yes, there is some “teacher-speak” that I’m not used to. The formal lesson plans are different, but for the most part they are adaptable to a homeschool setting. Some activities like doing skits and making bulletin boards require more adaptation than others. But the printable pages from the educator guides could easily be used for notebooking or lapbooking assignments.
I would recommend these DVDs to others, especially families with young children. You can purchase the DVD’s on the AnnieCrawley.com site for $19.95 each. She is offering free shipping on any order placed through the end of June. Also, if you add a comment in the notes that you are a homeschool parent, she will give you a download of the pdf for FREE! This is a tremendous value because they will be $69 when they become available on the site. The printed educator guide are $299! That is not something that a homeschooler can likely take advantage of, so if you’d like the guides, I highly recommend ordering soon.
Be sure to visit HomeschoolCrew.com to read more reviews of Dive into Your Imagination.
Disclosure: I received a DVD and corresponding educators guides for free in order to write this review. I was not compensated for this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
