Schoolhouse Review: Go Science DVDs

Library and Eductional Services is a family owned wholesale distributer. They offer books, DVDs and other CDs that are in line with Christian principles. In addition to offering these wholesale prices to resellers and large groups such as churches, schools, and libraries they also offer their services to homeschoolers. It is certainly refreshing to be able to buy high quality content at discount products. I really love that I know the videos I purchase will have the values I hold dear.

In fact, all of their science products are evolution free. As you know, my daughter loves science. It is her favorite subject so when we had the opportunity to review their newest Series 2  Go Science DVDs, I jumped at the chance. Having reviewed and loved the first series of Go Science I knew my Gess would be excited to learn more about science with these. For the purpose of my review I received two videos from the Go Science DVDs Series 2:

Volume 2: Life Science / Weather

Volume 6: Chemistry 

The Go Science DVDs are geared for children ages 4 to 12. The videos are about an hour long and consist of a compilation of small segments that explain a scientific principle through experiments and demonstrations. Each segment lasts around 5 minutes or so, give or take. In each of them Ben Roy is addressing a group of children from which he chooses a few to be his helpers. Together they learn something new and exciting about science.

While the main focus is teaching about science they also try to teach lessons about God. The theme of these videos is that learning about science is learning about God.  In fact, each segment ends with the statement "Remember every time you learn more about science, you learn more about our Creator: God!" They seem to vary on how much they actually emphasize a biblical principle though. Some barely mention it at all and some turn out to be great object lessons. For example the segment on Instant Snow reminds us that Jesus makes our sins white as snow. The Liquid Nitrogen Cloud was an excellent example of the cloud God used to guide the Israelites through the dessert.

Some of the experiments can be done at home while others are for viewing purposes only. I found that the Chemistry video had the most hands on activities that we could actually do in our own kitchen.  The Life Science segments seemed to more demonstrations than actual activities while the weather segments had hands on activities most of which were not recommended for use at home. Of course that doesn't mean that they were not entertaining to watch. Some were very exciting and even a little frightening, or so thought my Gess when she saw the title "Fire Tornado." We certainly don't need to play with fire at home but it was neat to watch it!  So, while my first instinct is to wish they were all things we could repeat ourselves, we really would miss out on a lot if they were. It is fun to simply watch and learn the lesson involved.

Below are photos from one example of a simple experiment that we were able to do at home and learn a little thought from Scripture too.  This was from the Chemistry DVD and was a lesson on surface tension. What you do is take some milk and food coloring and watch as the surface tension is broken up by some soap. It's a beautiful display, although I had once less color than was recommended. The example he used from Scripture was that we were to let our light shine before men and when we do that we can sometimes break the tension among people.

My only problem with video is that they are not more in depth about science or the bible. I would love to see the scientific concept as well as the biblical truth expanded on.  It would be lots of fun if they turned each segment into an entire show. Some were so short that you really didn't get an explanation at all and that left you confused while others did a great job explaining both points well.

These videos are good for just fun viewing at home or as a tool to supplement your science studies. They can also be good for object lessons in Sunday School or transition times at your local Co-op. For me, its just nice to have some science videos to watch that you know will encourage biblical truths rather than trying to suggest that science is somehow at odds with the bible.  That is one thing I really love about these videos. As they say at the end of each episode, "Every time you learn more about science, you learn more about our Creator: God!" That is so true!

The Go Science DVDs can be purchased individually for $8.97 each or you can buy the complete 2nd Series of 7 DVDs for $59.82. The website has a couple of segments for you watch so you can see just how fun these can be. To learn more visit the Library and Eductional Services website or see what other members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew thought about them by clicking on the banner below.