MarshMedia Educational Videos (Review and Homeschool Special)

MarshMedia has been a respected name in educational videos for almost my entire life (and I suspect that some of the videos I watched in my elementary years may have been produced by them ;)). Now they are reaching out to the homeschool community with a Homeschool Special to view their videos that cover health topics including hygiene, puberty education, safety, nutrition, immune system disorders, head lice, special needs social skills and special needs puberty, as well as character education for the early elementary crowd.

Puberty
MarshMedia's main programs are those that deal with puberty, and they have a number of selections targeted specifically towards boys and girls separately, as well as for a variety of age ranges, from 3rd grade to 8th grade. Puberty can bring up topics that many parents find difficult to discuss, so having the option to utilize one or more of these videos may be helpful. If you choose to take advantage of the Homeschool Special being offered, I do recommend previewing the videos as a parent to determine if they are suitable for your specific child(ren) and which one is appropriate for your child's maturity level.  Overall I found the puberty videos I previewed to be presented very factually, without a lot of nonsense, and as tastefully as possible considering the sometimes awkward information being presented.
I will mention that "A Baby Is Born" does *very briefly* introduce the words menstruation and sexual intercourse, so if you aren't ready to answer questions that might arise with new vocabulary with your third grader, you may want to wait a little while... ;)

Health and Hygiene
Beyond the puberty videos there are a number of health and hygiene videos, again for a variety of ages.

In the "Take Care Of..." videos (K-3rd grade) Annie and the Funsters tackle hygiene in a style reminiscent of many early ed videos, adding in enough "fun" to keep attention while imparting important information on keeping our bodies clean and healthy.

"Your skin is totally washable!"

I watched "Wash Those Hands" and "Whatsa Hygiene" with my 9 year old. He hates washing his hands, and rolled his eyes at me every time it came up in the videos, but I am hopeful that hearing it from a source besides "Mom" might have an impact. "Whatsa Hygiene" seemed to catch his attention, so you never can tell. :)

Here's a sample/trailer from "Wash Those Hands"


There are a number of safety videos as well, some of which I will preview as I have time before deciding to show them to my son. Others are less relevant to our immediate situation, so I will probably not check out those dealing with Aids/HIV at this time, for instance. However, those are realities that some folks have to address, whether in families or ministry, and having videos to consider as resources may be useful to some. I am interested in the nutrition and manners videos for future use.

SPECIAL NEEDS
I didn't preview the Special Needs videos, but be sure to browse through some of the other TOS Homeschool reviews, as I am expect others touched on them as they fit their situations.

Character Education
MarshMedia has produced a number of Character Education videos that utilize children's picture books to address a variety of issues. A couple that we watched were Emily Breaks Free, which touches on bullying behavior and peer pressure
while Stanley's"This is the Life" tackles healthy eating/behavior.

Although all of the Character Education stories aren't available for streaming, I plan to use many of the ones that are for a good, "quiet break" when the need arises. Although my Youngest is almost 10 he still enjoys a story, and so do I!

You can see "trailers" for most of the videos available for streaming on the MarshMedia website, which will give you a greater idea of what's available than just the snippets I included here.

Not So Nutty Nitty Gritty 

• Company: MarshMedia
• Product: Homeschool Special
• Ages: K-8th grade
• Price: $50 for unlimited viewing of 59 programs until December 31, 2017.

You can visit Marsh Media on the web on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and YouTube.

If you wish to take advantage of the opportunity to introduce the MarshMedia curriculum to your home schooler(s) click on the link below for more information:
https://marshmedia.com/pages/homeschool-offer
Once you reach the landing page, you MUST click on “Homeschool Special” which will take you to a microsite strictly for homeschoolers (note that it may take a few seconds to load, so please be patient). The language on MarshMedia's regular website does not reflect this homeschool special price, and the 24 hour "rental" period does not apply for this offer either. You will have access with no time constraints and unlimited viewing through the end of 2017.

Please click the banner below to visit the TOS Homeschool Review Crew and see what others had to say. As always, I hope that this review was useful to you as you choose where best to spend your homeschool budget.

Blessings~