We are a Science-loving family here. Especially when it involves experiments. When I heard about the Go Science DVDs from Library and Educational Services, I knew they would be a great fit for our family. The 2 volumes that we chose to review are Volume 2: Life Science, Weather and Volume 6: Chemistry. Both DVDs are recommended for ages 4-12, and cost $8.97 at the time of posting. Each DVD has an approximate run time of 1 hour.
Library and Educational Services in a family-owned business that has been in operation for 35 years. The products that they offer are carefully selected to ensure that their level of standards are met. The DVDs are presented by Ben Roy, a former middle and high school teacher and principal who now teaches at UT Chattanooga. Ben is an engaging host, and uses several children from an audience to help conduct the experiments. The experiments teach us that “Every time we learn more about Science, we learn more about our creator God!” The DVDs were originally filmed for Christian broadcast television. During experiments, Ben always references back to God as creator, and how nature and things work to magnify His glory.
The Life Science and Weather DVD showcases both physical and chemical aspects of Science. The DVD is divided into episodes and segments of each experiment. You can watch each topic separately, or all together at once. Some of the experiments are filmed outside, some in a gymnasium, and some on set with outdoorsy backdrops. Some of the experiments in these DVDs are generally not safe to do at home yourself, unless you are very experienced, but they are sure fun to watch! Others are very safe and we have even done them ourselves! Each experiment segment of “Learning Time” is about 5 minutes or so in length. Ben ensures the safety of the children so well…safety glasses are always worn when needed.
In the Life Science section, we get to see different animal skulls, and learn if they are a predator or prey (do you know what makes them one or another?) We also get to see how we may be eating nails for breakfast (this one was a bit disturbing for me, and makes me never want to buy cereal for my kids ever again).
The Weather section is lots of fun to watch. We get to see Ben and his helpers make garbage can vortexes, and they are super cool! It’s like watching someone blow smoke rings, only in a much larger scale. We also get to see a huge liquid nitrogen cloud (the kids were very intrigued by this, it was really fun!), and see Ben make a ping pong cannon. This was one of my favorites because it sort of reminded me of a tater cannon. I love how Ben references the book of James during an experiment using fire making a fire tornado, and compares fire to our mouths and the fact that, like fire, words can also hurt us, and we need to be careful how we use both fire and our mouths.
The Chemistry DVD is divided into 2 sections: Chemistry 1 and Chemistry 2. The Chemistry 1 has a few experiments that we were familiar with, but are still fun to watch. Making elephant toothpaste is a big hit in our household, and is an experiment featured in the DVD. We also learn what makes diapers absorbent and how they keep babies dry, and see how that chemical compound works in a cup of water. My favorite, of course, is making a lava lamp. I was a bit of a hippy in my younger days, and the kids loved making them.
The Chemistry 2 section is equally fun. Here we get to see snow instantly made (this is related to the diaper experiment). Wouldn’t it be fun to have snow in the Summertime when it’s hot out? Another fun experiment is making slime. We’ve done this before, and it’s always fun to see.
We loved these DVDs. The kids really love watching Science experiment videos, so we just sat and watched them together. They wanted to see all of the experiments, so we didn’t pick and choose, just watched them all the way through from beginning to end. I really like the fact that Ben Roy incorporates God’s ways into how the experiments work. We’ve actually watched the DVDs several times now. They would be great to supplement with unit studies.
You can find Library and Educational Services on Facebook. I highly recommend that you check their website out if you’re looking for great products for your homeschool.
Be sure to click the top graphic below to read reviews from my fellow crew mates. We all reviewed different DVDs, Thanks for stopping by!
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