We use a lot of TV and movies in our homeschool. It seems to be a medium we can both enjoy, and it generally spurs conversation. I don’t set out and create a schedule or try to make a curriculum to follow, we just choose what looks interesting and dig in. I thought it would be fun to track the things we’re watching and share them with you. Since we’re already more than halfway through this year, I’ll try to remember what we’ve done, and then keep adding as we go forward. 🙂
If you want to connect with other secular, relaxed, eclectic homeschooling moms with older kids who use TV and movies for homeschool, you should totally join my Movies and TV Discussion group on FB. 🙂 We’re always talking about and sharing the shows we’re watching. 🙂
While we don’t really think about the movies and shows we’re watching in terms of “subjects” I think it might be the easiest way to organize them, so people can find what they’re looking for. 🙂
We do not have cable, but we have Hulu live, Amazon Prime, Great Courses Channel on Amazon, Curiosity Stream, PBS Passport and of course Netflix. I will try to indicate where we watched the show so you can find it again, but realize availability changes rapidly with these online venues, and I can’t guarantee they will be where they were when we watched them. If you can’t find a show where we watched it, check the other venues, and Youtube to see if you can find it. <3
History:
Finding Your Roots (PBS)
Victorian Slum House (PBS)
America Reframed (the whole series is amazing!!) (PBS)
American Experience (whole series is great!) (PBS and Amazon)
We’ll Meet Again (PBS)
The Silk Road (Curiosity Stream)
King: A Filmed Record (Curiosity Stream)
Monty Don’s French Garden (Netflix)
The Story of Us (Netflix)
Lords and Ladles (Netflix)
Adam Ruins Everything (Netflix and Hulu)
Kevin Hart’s Black History (Netflix)
Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable (Netflix)
Ken Burns American Lives (Amazon)
America The Story of Us (Purchased DVD from Amazon, also on Prime now)
Kids Animated History with Pipo (Amazon)
Klondike the Quest for Gold (Amazon)
A Taste of History (Amazon)
Pioneer Quest: A Year in the Real West (Amazon)
America Unearthed (Amazon/History Channel/Hulu)
Liberty Kids (Amazon and Youtube)
Timeless (Hulu)
Project Blue Book (Hulu)
United Shades of America (Hulu)
Expedition Unknown (Hulu)
Manhattan (Hulu)
Cities of the Underworld (Hulu)
Black History (programs chronicling everything from the slave trade to modern-day African American icons on Curiosity Stream)
War Horse (Hulu)
History Mysteries (Curiosity Stream)
Drunk History (Hulu)
Science:
Nova: Ice Age Death Trap (PBS)
Curious Minds Astronomy (Curiosity Stream)
Butterfly Effect (Curiosity Stream)
Brainchild (Netflix)
One Strange Rock (Netflix)
Nature’s Great Events (Netflix)
Tales by the Light (Netflix)
Minute to Win It (Netflix)
Cooked (Netflix)
Chasing Coral (Netflix)
The Mind of a Chef (Netflix)
Earth’s Natural Wonders (Netflix)
Stunt Science (Netflix)
Food Delicious Science (Netflix)
White Rabbit Project (Netflix)
Edge of the Universe (Netflix)
Chef vs. Science (Netflix) (awesome show!)
A Plastic Ocean (Netflix)
Gorilla Family and Me (Netflix)
Adam Ruins Everything (Netflix and Hulu)
Blue Planet (Netflix)
The Nuclear Option (Netflix)
South Pacific BBC Earth (Netflix)
Forces of Nature (Netflix)
Frozen Planet: On Thin Ice (Netflix)
Apollo 13 (Amazon)
Planet Earth 2 (Netflix)
Blue Planet A Natural History of the Oceans (Netflix)
Blue Planet 2 (Netflix)
Life (Netflix)
Frozen Planet BBC Earth (Netflix)
Salt Fat Acid Heat (Netflix)
Life Story (Netflix)
Wild North (Netflix)
Chasing Coral (Netflix)
Galapagos (Netflix)
Wild France (Netflix)
Mission Blue (Netflix)
Dolphins Spy in the Pod (Netflix)
Cosmos (Amazon)
Good Eats (Amazon)
Horrible Science (Amazon)
Years of Living Dangerously (awesome show!) (Amazon/Showtime)
Geography of National Parks (Amazon Great Courses Channel)
How Stuff Works (Amazon)
How It’s Made (Hulu)
What On Earth (Hulu)
Explorer (Hulu)
Dr. Oakley Yukon Vet (Hulu)
Snake City (Hulu)
Mars (Hulu)
Xploration Awesome Planet (Hulu)
DIY Sci (Hulu)
Frontline: Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria (PBS)
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (Netflix)
Cave of Forgotten Dreams (Hulu)
Math:
Dr. Who (Amazon)
Secrets of Mental Math (Amazon Great Courses Channel)
Mathemagics (Curiosity Stream)
The Joy of Logic (Curiosity Stream)
Art:
Tales by the Light (Netflix)
Moving Art (Netflix)
Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World (Curiosity Stream)
Fake or Fortune (Netflix)
The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes (Netflix)
Nailed It (Netflix)
The Great British Baking Show (Netflix)
Sky Ladder (Netflix)
Taylor Swift Reputation Stadium Tour (Netflix)
Literature:
A Wrinkle In Time (Netflix)
The Secret Garden (Netflix)
Dumplin (Netflix)
Ready Player One (Amazon)
Divergent (Amazon)
Insurgent (Amazon)
Allegiant (Amazon)
The Maze Runner (Hulu)
Because of Winn Dixie (Amazon)
Geography and World Cultures:
Carmen Sandiego (Netflix)
South Pacific (Netflix)
Monty Don’s French Gardens (Netflix)
Ainsley Eats the Streets (Netflix)
No Reservations (Netflix)
Flavorful Origins (Netflix)
Chef’s Table (Netflix)
Parts Unknown (Netflix)
Somebody Feed Phil (Netflix)
Amazing Hotels Life Beyond the Lobby (Netflix)
Departures (Netflix)
I’ll Have What Phil’s Having (Netflix)
Sufi Soul The Mystic Music of Islam (Netflix)
India Nature’s Wonderland (Netflix)
Kingdoms of the Sky (Netflix) (AMAZING)
Wild China (Netflix)
China (a variety of shows about China on Curiosity Stream)
Wild Alaska (Netflix)
Coco (Netflix)
Jiro Dreams of Sushi (one of my favorite movies!!) (Netflix)
Lion (Netflix)
The Crazy Family Adventure (Amazon)
Gordon Ramsey’s Great Escape (Amazon)
Bizarre Foods (Amazon)
How the States Got Their Shapes (Amazon)
Born to Explore with Richard Wiese (Amazon)
Families of the World (Amazon)
A Bite of China Food for the Soul (Amazon)
Zimmern List (Hulu)
Current Events and Life:
PBS News Hour (PBS Passport)
7 Days Out (Netflix)
Out of Many, One The Immigrants Story (Netflix)
The Kindness Diaries (Netflix)
Step Sisters (Netflix)
In Defense of Food (Netflix)
Julie and Julia (Netflix)
Expedition Happiness (Netflix)
The Titan Games (Hulu)
Leah Remini Scientology and the Aftermath (Hulu)
Biographies (The lives you think you know may have backstories you haven’t heard; explore the biographies of the famous and infamous in this collection on Curiosity Stream)
Foreign Language
Learning Spanish (Great Courses/Amazon)
Horses:
Nature: Equus the Story of Horses (PBS)
Secretariat (Netflix)
Harry and Snowman (Netflix)
Connection Training (It’s a course, not a TV show… but all the course work is video. :D)
Women’s Studies
Hidden Figures (Amazon)
Iron Jawed Angels (Amazon)
No Ordinary Women (Curiosity Stream)
Leading Ladies (a variety of content featuring female scientists, astronauts, scholars and artists on Curiosity Stream)
