We found the Planet Earth DVD series at our local library. I got the first volume out rather hesitantly. I assumed it would be full of evolutionary content.
I don't mind hearing opinions on
both side of an issue. But I don't like it when it resorts to bashing
others... unfortunately even MY side of the debates often tend to do
that. It is kind of my pet peeve.
I have been VERY pleasantly surprised. These are wonderfully well done nature videos.
The cinematography is absolutely amazing. My boys are not really much into science videos... but they said, and I quote "wow mom these are good!" And they ASK to watch these. It has been fun.
The crew manages to get some amazing footage of wildlife and the crazy things they do had us laughing out loud.
They have a section on a certain bat cave where millions of bats roost. It was amazing There was one cave where there were 8 foot deep piles of bat guano covered in cockroaches. Ewww! Disgusting!! My boys loved it.
Goofy Birds of Paradise and the dances they perform to attract a mate are hilarious! God certainly must've been smiling when he created these birds to dance.
After each section they have what is called Planet Earth Diaries. It is a short section focusing on what the crew had to do to get the shots they did for that section. It is really very interesting. These guys are mountaineers!
After the first few sections we made a game out of guessing what would be in the Planet Earth Diaries section. It was sure fun to think about it.
For example after a section on penguins, one of my sons predicted that the crew would save a baby penguin..... and they did. The crew stayed the entire winter with these penguins. Talk about cold! And they had a surprise visit from a polar bear.
Yes there are a few billions of years ago type comments. But, really they are few and far between. And they are short one or two sentence comments. They are not hammering the point.
Actually come to think of it, I don't think they ever mention evolution. Comments are just made about billions of years. (which as you might guess I am not so sure is true)
Those comments (that you may or may not agree with) are the perfect place to teach discernment to your children.
Pause the video and have a really quick discussion about your views.
Teach the
critical thinking tools to evaluate different opinions and points of
view.
The final episode in the series is where "experts" speak. We chose
not to watch that particular video. I asked my boys if they wanted to. They wondered would there be more animals and nature. Probably not I said. Mostly experts telling about the movies. All agreed we really had no interest.
Our goal with these was just to have some fun watching and learning about the variety that exists in creation. The main series accomplishes that. So if you do watch the experts... be prepared for some great discussion of belief systems.
These will be a part of my sons high-school biology credit. Planet Earth DVD - The whole family loves it.
Planet Earth DVD Back to Homeschool Science Curriculum and Resources
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