Why I Still Own A VCR

This is only a very small part of our collection.

I still own a VCR, as a matter of fact I own three. The kids have one in their rooms and I have a spare in the garage just in case one of their machines decides to take a dump.   According to a recent survey 58% of Americans still own them, so I am in good company.  Here is a list of the reasons why we still have and use our VCRs.

1. I have kids.  If you have kids you know how quickly they can take something wonderful and completely destroy it in a matter of seconds.  DVD's are fragile and my enormous collection of Disney DVD's have been scratched and the cases mangled by these little monsters over the years, beyond the point of recognition in some cases.  VHS tapes are practically indestructible unless you open them up and start ripping out the tape inside. Luckily for me the kids are past that stage now.
2. VHS tapes are huge, therefore making them hard to lose.  Some of my DVD's have just magically disappeared off of the face of the earth, so I am left just looking forlorn at an empty case. Although Lindsey Lohan is not my favorite actress, I am still wondering where the hell did my "Herbie Fully Loaded" DVD go?  Eight years after it mysteriously vanished.
3. Speaking of Disney movies, not all of there older ones have been re-release on DVD.  So you can only get them on VHS.
4. VHS tapes are cheap and were massed produced, they are a dime a dozen.  I can go to the thrift store or a yard sale and literally pick up a bunch of VHS for a quarter a piece. In some cases we have had people GIVE them to us because they wanted to get rid of them so bad.
5. The local library rents VHS tapes for free.  As a homeschooler I take full advantage of all of the educational programming that our library offers, as well as classic movies that we rent for free because the kids get a kick out of the old black and white movies.
6. I have been able to find an entire collections of great educational videos like DK Eyewitness videos and Animated Hero Classics for the kids to use for school.  It sure beats having to pay over 10  bucks a piece, plus shipping, for the the same exact thing on DVD, or $375 dollars for the entire collection. As great as these videos are they are very expensive.

The next time you are cleaning out the garage and run across an old VCR or some videotapes, think twice before you donate them they are great and affordable tool for homeschoolers.

-VIVA LA VCR!!

Today's Lesson: Johnny Tremain

Today we will be watching Walt Disney's "Johnny Tremain."  Yeah... I know that the movie isn't the same as the book, but I started reading the book out loud and it was just too boring, too long and too hard to understand.  So we all voted to bypass the book (I will continue to read on my own and maybe assign to Sonshine for independent reading, if I feel it would be of interest to him.) We found the Disney movie at a library book sale and I had bought it with every intention of reading the book first, then watching it together.  However if you do get around to reading the book, I found a great lesson plan and worksheets here.

The movie was much better than I thought and even Teenie was able to follow it. I do recommend it for older kids 10+.  This movie is definitely the type of show that you have to pay attention to, in order to understand completely what is going on. I don't think younger kids have the attention span for this movie, at 9 years old, Teenie had a hard time giving it her full attention. After the movie we used Learningtogive.org's  Handout 1, that has questions about the movie. I verbally read them out loud and the kids took turns answering. My kids enjoy the interactivity more than just filling out a worksheet.


--Have Fun Learning!