We set aside one evening a week to watch something meaningful with our children once they are old enough to engage and understand and benefit. It often sparks important conversation. Over time, I've seen how valuable this time is.
I want to list the things we choose to show them. I'll do that on this page.
Series, Movies and Documentaries
The Chosen Series (watched first 2 seasons so far). A drama series based on the life of Jesus.
The Social Dilemma. A documentary on Social Media and it's effects.
World War I: American Legacy (On Amazon Video). This had a lot of violent images, but for older children is was okay. Also included a lot of great stories of people during wartime and also women's suffrage.
Chariots of Fire. Story of the Olympic runner and missionary Eric Liddell. 1920s.
Dream Big: Engineering Our World (40 minute documentary that we really enjoyed about engineering feats around the world, big and small. Great for all ages. There is a mention of a mother drowning in a river).
King Richard: Story of the Venus and Serena William's childhood and their father. Fast forwarded a couple violent scenes with guns.
The Spark Within. The story of Anna Glasser, snowboarder. This is an hour long, and has language. https://www.redbull.com/de-de/videos/anna-gasser-the-spark-within-en-at
Amazing Grace. The story of Wilberforce and the abolition of the slave trade. We skipped some disturbing descriptions of the treatment of slaves.
Mr. Holland's Opus. Did have some strange parts regarding relationships between students and their teachers, but my kids still enjoyed it.
Dirty Money Show has an episode on the Great Maple Syrup Heist (Canada). Very random and fascinating.
Jiro Dreams of Sushi. A longish documentary about a sushi master in Japan. All subtitles. A little slow. But interesting for older children.
Joni. The movie of the real life of Joni Eareckson Tada. Can look for her more current life story on YouTube, or a video of her sharing her lifelong testimony, or the story of her ministry Joni's Friends. Inspiring story of a quadriplegic.
Hidden Figures. About black women who did calculations for NASA. Really good. Kids loved it.
The Gardener. 2016 Documentary about the private garden of Francis Cabot in Canada.
The Queen. Movie about the life of Queen Elizabeth around the time of Princess Diana's death.
Free Trip to Egypt Documentary. Interesting film following some American visitors to Egypt to try to change ideas about stereotypes and learn from another culture.
Maiden. A Documentary about the first all-womens team to attempt an around the world sailing race. Very good.
The Biggest Little Farm: A Documentary about a farm in CA that went from wasteland to paradise. So wonderful to learn about the beauty of God's creation and his wisdom in how all things work together. The movie doesn't speak of creation or God, but it's easy to talk about it aftewards.
The Truffle Hunters. Beautifully filmed. Has bad language and one scene with very derogatory talk around 43 mins. So interesting otherwise.
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain. A very well produced movie about the life of famous cat artist. Sad, has some themes of mental health disorders and has some intense scenes. Maybe some language? We still enjoyed it. Strange, but interesting.
War Room. Movie about prayer and marriage. Inspiring and encouraging.
Cool Runnings. Fun!
Hamilton, the Musical. Somewhat educational about the founding fathers. One long scene about an adulterous affair that could be skipped and/or discussed. Some language. We watched this with subtitles or we would have missed a lot.
Acasa, My Home. A Documentary about a Romanian Gypsy family and their transition from a nature-life to city-life. Very interesting and also sad. Must have subtitles.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. A 1939 movie about a politician who fought for truth in the Senate. A good underdog vs. 'The Big Guys' story.
California Typewriter: An interesting (at least some of us thought so) about the typewriter and some people's pull back to the analog world. Also how some make artwork out of them.
Dear Evan Hansen. 2015 Broadway Musical made for screen. Some adult themes, but things to learn in the story.
Woman in Gold. About restoring art taken from Jews during WWII back to original owners. Great movie.
Secondhand Lions. About a boy sent to live with crazy uncles. A coming of age story. Great for the whole family.
Family Route. A short documentary about a young couple that takes their two toddlers on a 3 month canoeing trip though the Canadian wild.
Jesus Revolution. Some references to drugs, alcohol and sex. But a great true story for teens. Also nice to listen to podcast by Alisa Childers on the movie. Her Dad has a character in the movie and it's good perspective on how accurate the story is.
Saina. A biographical Indian film (English Subtitles) about a champion badminton player.
Shane & Shane interview on Undaunted Podcast. (YouTube). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwGR49nqKx4
The Swimmers. Movie about Syrian Refugees who travel to Europe. This is one of the more intense things I've shown the kids so far.
The Blindside.
Running the Sahara. Documentary about 3 men who ran across the Sahara Desert. There is some bad language, but overall interesting and inspiring.
Born to Be Wild 2011. Short documentary on rescued baby elephants and baby orangutan. Very cute and fun.
God's Not Dead. Excellent.
Sully. About the Hudson river aircraft landing. Intense, but good.
Mr. Church. A heartfelt story about loss and friendship.
7 Minutes on AI, from Axis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCNA_zixi_E
The Light We Carry. Oprah's interview with Michelle Obama about her latest book (Netflix). Some generic 'self-help', but overall and interesting and insightful and inspiring
Debate Between Ken Ham (Creation Museum/The Ark) and Bill Nye https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6kgvhG3AkI&t=47s
Thirteen Lives. About the rescue of the 13 football players from the inside of a flooding cave in Thailand. Inspiring and extremely intense and stressful! Not for younger kids or the faint of heart.
Working, What We Do All Day. A Netflix Docuseries. Very interesting about jobs/working in the US. Good to learn about careers, the job market and economics.
The King's Speech. Really good. Is a long section of bad language that shocked my kids.
1776 Musical. Not terribly entertaining, and it is very long. But we enjoyed it and learned a lot about the vote for independence.
Poverty Cure Series
The Hundred Foot Journey -Heartwarming tale about a 'competition' between a French Restaurant and an Indian Restaurant and all the people involved
The Martian (with Matt Damon) a lot of language and one back side shot of Damon, but an excellent movie, with so much science to be amazed about.
Dolly, Here I Am. Documentary on Dolly Parton. Fascinating story. Some touches on feminism.
American Symphony-a Documentary about Jon Batiste, his music and his wife's battle with leukemia. Powerful and good.
Benjamin Franklin, PBS two part series. "Join or Die" and "An American". Long, but good. Small mention of men's involvement with woman, but fine for High Schoolers.
Big George Foreman. Great biographical movie. There is a lot of boxing.
Udemy Course on Gut Health (Heal Your Microbiome and Change Your Life-Boring and dry, but only about half an hour and lots of good info)
The Need to Grow Documentary
The Hiding Place, 1975. About Corrie Ten Boom. We watched this (the younger kids only watched the first half) after I read the children the book "Keeper of the Angels Den".
Real Life 101 Series. They chose a couple episodes of this 'career exploration' series and were not impressed, ha!
Nicholas Nickelby (2002)- the teens enjoyed (although they said it was sad)
Reagan. Great biography, so much modern history!
Jazeera Documentary on Um Khalthum https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mhe2E_YXsx8&t=889s
The Newsies (with an article for historical context read ahead of time)
Running the Bases. A Christian movie. Not your typical feel-good sports movie. A significant amount of heavy topics. Better for teens, not younger children.
Harriet-some violence, lots of language (Harriet Tubman)
The Post - recommended for Government Curriculum. Good! On freedom of press.
Cabrini-for Teens. Powerful story about an Italian Nun
Boys in the Boat. Watched age 9 and up.
12 Angry Men. Teens enjoyed this despite it being filmed in the 50s. Hits on topics of the justice system.
A Class Apart Documentary (for H Govt course)
Gandhi film. Long and not very entertaining. But great history.
Video on Theo Jansen's Strandbeests (has engineering/evolution/creation themes)
Showed to Younger Ages:
Dancing With the Birds. Great 1 hour very entertaining documentary about some exotic birds in the wild and their crazy behaviors to attract a mate. Laughed out loud.
Conversation Kits completed from Axis.org-free
Money. Great resource. I love how they work in current trends on social media, music, etc, to illustrate worldview on this topic.
Emotions. Great.
Prayer.
Spiritual Warfare.
Dating.
Other
Adele, One Night Only (TV Special with Oprah. Interview and live music). This was both a beautiful display of songwriting, performance, and production arts (the videography and production is remarkable!) but also of the true meaning of marriage, generic new age spiritualism, and the value of our own happiness over our love for others. Lots to 'chew and spit' in here.
Sherry Turkle, Connected but Alone. Ted Talk. https://www.ted.com/talks/sherry_turkle_connected_but_alone/up-next About living in a digital relational world.
Theaster Gates: How to revive a neighborhood: with imagination, beauty and art. (Building culture and community in the hood of Chicago) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9ry1M7JlyE
Ernie Johnson: My Story. ESPN host and his adopted son and his struggle with cancer. If this link doesn't work, then try to find something else similar on YouTube. https://www.espn.com/espnplus/player/_/id/a7eca308-dde3-4bf3-a788-6c278b52d8b8/country/us/redirected/true
A HSLDA Webinar for Teens on the book How to Win Friends and Influence People
Resources:
Teachwithmovies.org is a great website to find age-appropriate things to watch.
IMDB, the Parents Guide Section is useful to checking to see if the content is appropriate for various ages.
Nor Recommended:
Sisters with Transistors. This was a somewhat interesting documentary about the women behind the beginnings of electronic music. Not interesting enough to recommend.
Brother Sun, Sister Moon. A 1970s film about the life of Francis of Assisi. The kids watched it. There was some nudity. But it was just not very interesting.
Free Solo Documentary. While the story is somehow inspiring, I also found it difficult to watch. If you do watch, there is a lot to talk about... attachment theory, value of human life, etc.
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