Watch Old Movies with your Kids !
By Lisa - Homeschooling Mom
There is lot to be said about watching movieswith your children. Even more fun is rediscovering movies you loved and getting to watching them again with your kids – experiencing the fun and excitement through their eyes.
About a month ago I picked up a book- The Best Old Movies for Families: A Guide to Watching Together . I TOTALLY loved the concept! He recommends older movies ( yes- even black and white ones) that children and teenagers will enjoy. The book is broken down by ages. The books is not reviewing best movies- just great old classics that you and your kids will enjoy watching together.
He also makes some thought provoking comments along the way- for example- while watching “Gone with The Wind” his daughter points out the the character, Prissy, played by Butterfly McQueen is odd- silly and stupid and the author realizes that the movie is tainted by blatant racism that was acceptable at the time.
The author writes in style that I found easy to read and insightful- and often hilarious. He shares very personal stories and truths without being pedantic.
He has a website, Best Old Movies for Families, where he has tons of recommendations and a tool where you type in your children’s age- and it will recommend movies for you to watch together. For example, 9 gives me North By Northwest, The African Queen and scifi classic The Day the Earth Stood Still .
Give his site a look- and definitely pick up his book at library or bookstore.
Do you have an “old” movie that you loved as a kids? Have you watched it with your kids? Let us know ! Just post in comments.
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Topics: General Homeschooling and Unschooling, Movies, Films and Cartoons - Homeschooling | 4 Comments »
March 23rd, 2007 at 11:46 pm
Old Yeller! Still holds up. Might be too much for younger kids when the wolf threatened to attacks family and Yeller jumps in.. then gets pretty sad.
March 23rd, 2007 at 11:54 pm
National Velvet. And King Kong.
March 24th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
I’m not sure if these qualify exactly as “old” movies, but we’ve enjoyed the following with our kids: The Last Starfighter, The Neverending Story, The Star Wars movies, and every Godzilla movie my son can find on Netflix. We put them on in Japanese and turn on the subtitles so our son has to read them.
September 27th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Yours, Mine, And Ours – the henry fonda and lucille ball version. It is a classic. My mom used to watch it with my sister and i and it is still my favorite! Trouble with angels is also a really good one. The old parent trap or the old freaky friday. any old doris day movies! An affair to remember is awesome!