David Macauley DVD's (Castle, Cathedral, etc.)

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  • junkybird
    Participant

    Has anybody used the PBS DVD’s that David Macauley narrates and stars in? I just found them on Amazon while looking at the Castle and Cathedral books that he writes. There is one called Castle, one called Roman City, and I saw one called Cathedral, but it was narrated by a different man. Just curious if they are worth the money.

    Many thanks,

    Jenn

    Hope to Learn
    Participant

    They appear to all be free on youtube. The quality may not be as good, but may be sufficient.

    Castle:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGbPShUpjpg

    Cathedral:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZpOd2pHiI0

    Roman city:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9K7Yds8bWz4

    Thanks for pointing this resource out!!!

    susie in ms
    Participant

    Oh thank you so much for posting these! We have the books, but I think watching the vid also will be great re-inforcement! Also for those interested here is Pyramid:

    http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=david+macaulay+pyramid

    Katrina in AK
    Participant

    Just a heads up about the Pyramid movie. There is some cartoon female nudity, mostly upper body…Dancers and servants. We still watched it and my boys didn’t really bat an eye. They are 4 and 6. I checked mine out from our library.

    NJcountrygal
    Participant

    Another FYI about the Pyramid movie. The nudity is in a cartoon form but it is very realistic. Shows the backside and chest front of a woman that is dancing. I have older dc and we had to close our eyes and fast forward. I would not watch any others until I preview them for content so I know where to skip. That seen is early on in the video and I don’t think I saw anything else that was shocking.

    susie in ms
    Participant

    Thank you both, very much, for the heads up!

    thepinkballerina
    Participant

    We REALLY enjoyed the Castle video. It is a great watch after reading the book.

    QueenMama
    Member

    I actually used Castle and Roman City when I was teaching middle school social studies.  Castle is fine, a little slow.  Roman City is more “exciting” but also has a murder attempt, and odd scenes of “the Druids”, as well as a male character who is very effeminate (I believe intentionally).  None of those things really bother me, but I know they might bother some people.

    QueenMama
    Member

    Oh, and the opening line of Roman City is something like “This is a plaster cast of a man writhing in agony as he is burned by lava from an exploding volcano”.  It starts with Pompeii. 

    Amandagwa
    Participant

    I know this is an old thread, but I wonder….can the videos be used in place of the books OR are they better used along side the books?

    Sue
    Participant

    I would use them alongside the books, although the material in the dvd’s is thorough.  I suppose you could just use the dvd’s for younger children, but the books are excellent for any age.  The illustrations are large and interesting and very frequently placed throughout the book, so you could use it as a read-aloud over several sessions.

    We used the dvd’s to supplement the books when my kids were maybe in 5th-8th grades, and they had a great time commenting on how dated Mr. Macaulay’s and his female guest’s wardrobes and hairstyles were.  Real ’70’s stuff.

    cdm2kk
    Participant

    WE are doing these this year! So happy you posted this. Definitely using with the books and adding these to the schedule that I of course thought was complete…….yet again.   Thank goodness for SCM’s online scheduler because it makes it so easy peasy!

    sheraz
    Participant

    The movies are about an hour in length, but they cover about 3 scheduled days of readings…so if I was pressed for time to cover all the material, I sometimes substituted the movie for the book. We would eat lunch while watching it and the kids liked the change in routine.

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