When the opportunity came to review Drive Thru History Adventures I jumped on it. We had seen a few of the videos before and knew they were something we would be interested in. We have been working our way through their Bible History course, The Gospels as a part of our one year subscription Drive Thru History Adventures. This program can be used as a full course for students with videos, discussion questions, scripture, worksheets, and other articles and information to help students dig deeper into the topics.
Each lesson has a video and discussion questions to get you started. They also include a worksheet that could be used to guide a student through the lesson if they were completing them independently (with a separate answer key). There are articles and updates included at the end of the lesson to allow students to dig deeper into what they learned about in that lesson. There is a lot included and they are continually adding various things to this component. Even while we were reviewing the product we saw several articles added to various lessons.
Most Christians have read about the many places that they visit in the Bible history course and know that they are real. However, when you have not seen them it can sometimes be really hard to conceptualize. I love that these videos are taken in actual places giving our whole family the opportunity to see the places where Jesus actually walked, the palace (or remains of) where King Herod lived, and other places that were important parts of Jesus’ ministry.
The program does a great job of combining theology with history. The Bible is a historical account but it is also so much more. Drive Thru History does a great job of showing the historical aspects while not leaving out the important theological implications. That said it does not delve into denominational theological issues, making it appropriate for most Christian homes.
For our family, based on the ages of my children and our current needs we watched the videos together in the evenings and then discussed them using a combination of the discussion questions provided and any thoughts or questions from the children. I consider this part of our school; however, the children think we are having more family movie nights than normal. They enjoy each lesson and request to watch one almost every night (though we are only watching about 3 per week). As a bonus for me, they do a great job helping get the kitchen cleaned up after dinner so that we will have time to watch an episode.
I have an 11 year old, 10 year old, and 3 year old that watch along with my husband and myself. We all enjoy the episodes although my three year old does not fully grasp the content. I can tell he is paying attention though because in talking about it one morning at breakfast he chimed in with, ” I like how he just changes cars”. He had noticed that he was driving two different vehicles in one episode. He also knows that they jokingly call one of the main cars that Dave Stotts drives the “Holy Land Rover” and will start talking about that the minute I turn on an episode.
In addition to going through the curriculum videos, we can go into the Adventure TV section or download the Adventure TV app and stream both the curriculum videos and some additional content. The app is available for both iPhone and android devices. Some are short videos talking about various holidays (the Groundhog Day one was a big hit in our house). There are also some great behind the scenes videos as well as some that dig deeper into various topics covered in the curricula.
The Bible History Program starts with the historical background that was pertinent to the time around the birth of Jesus and then goes through his life, crucifixion and resurrection. We enjoyed all of the episodes but one of our favorite’s was Jesus Travels the Sea of Galilee. I have always loves the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 with just one little boy’s lunch as it is such a reminder that He can use even me. The children really enjoyed the historical information about the ‘Jesus Boat’ which while not actually linked to Jesus himself is an archeological find dating to the time of Jesus that shows us what a fishing boat would have really been like and helps us to better understand what the disciples were using to fish when Jesus called them to be ‘Fishers of Men’. I am also really looking forward to using the lesson on the Resurrection of Jesus as we move into the Easter season.
As you are working your way through the programs they are fairly self-explanatory but they do also offer a Facebook group where you can ask questions or get ideas to go along with the curriculum.
Once we have finished up the Gospels series it is my intention to have us work our way through the Ancient History curriculum. We love that the curriculum allows us to incorporate education into our family movie nights. While I have been a Christian for many years and have studied the Bible, I am still learning things as we watch each episode. It really is good for the whole family. I recommend this series for both entertainment and education. For older students it could be a curriculum or like our family it could be something you work through together in addition to whatever you are already using. For more information check out the Drive Thru History Adventures website or ask in the comments.
When you sign up for our free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.
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My family enjoyed this too.
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