young-indiana-jones.jpgMy kids finally finished watching all of the 8gabillion DVD’s that came in the set, The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, Volume Three - The Years of Change! Well, ok, there are only ten DVD’s, but, there are so many hours involved in this program! It’s really incredible - it’s got the original TV shows/movies, documentaries interspersed throughout, and an historical lecture, entitled ‘New Gods for Gold’. It really is an amazing amount of information and a great way to present it to kids - definitely a lot more fun than sitting through a history class! :P

When I went to ask my thirteen-year old son his opinions of the DVD’s, his answer really surprised me!

Me: So what did you think of the Indiana Jones DVD’s?

Son: He had too many girlfriends!

That kid is too funny! I guess I know who’s gonna be a one-woman man! His brother, on the other hand, retorts,

“So what! He has a different girlfriend in every one of the actual movies, too!”

So maybe that one is going to be trouble! ;)

My very favorite thing about these shows, like I said, is that we can all learn more about history from them. I love it when learning is fun, when it’s a joy, when it is something we WANT to do! There’s nothing worse than some of the ‘dry’ learning I experienced as a kid growing up. I think Bill Nye is who really opened my eyes up to the concept that learning can be, and is, fun, and that we can make it that way for our kids! And that is what George Lucas hoped these shows would do for kids.

“Hopefully, it’ll be used in schools. It’s a very fun way to introduce young people to historical events in the beginning of the 20th century,” Lucas said.

I know that we will definitely use it here at home, to strengthen what can often be a hard subject for some kids. You get to travel with Indy all the way from his espionage work in Italy all the way back to the states, where he manages a Broadway show - while dating three different women! ;) And then we wind up with Indy working in Hollywood on a major motion picture. It’s just a wonderful series, because, we come up through history with Indy and learn what life is like in each time period, and then at the end of each show, there are the documentaries that tell you the true stories of things that happened at that time. We learn about music, theater, movies, and even criminals of the time - like Al ‘Scarface’ Capone! We also learn about military heroes, prohibition, and remarkable presidents! It’s just a fabulous way to teach the kids about all of this stuff! This is a set of DVD’s that we’ll watch again and again. They might even come in handy if, say, one child is having trouble understanding a unit in their history class. Now won’t that be so cool if I can pull out the right DVD and watch it with said child and suddenly they get it? Oh man, I hope that does happen! And I’ll be sure to write George Lucas if it does and thank him!

Quote Source: ‘Young Indiana Jones’ offers history lessons