Learning about History through Movies for Homeschooling

What seems like a long time ago, I found a pin on Pinterest that led to the Heart of Wisdom's post about learning about American history through movies.

There is a list of movies that is divided between time periods. I deleted ones that were marked R (restricted). However, there are additional ones on the list that I believe are R-rated which I would not show my daughters as part of homeschooling and because of their age.

Ideally, we should have started using the timeline at the beginning of the year when the girls began their American History courses. However, we can always go back at a future date and watch more movies that tie into what we are studying if this seems to be a good way to learn for the girls.

So, this week we are starting with the 1815-1860 Westward Expansion section and moving forward from this point on for the remainder of the 2015-16 homeschool year. I've italicized the movies that I want us to watch. I am hoping that they are available through the library at no cost. If they aren't, I will choose other ones to replace them.

Pre-America Period
National Geographic: America Before Columbus
Lost Colony(NR)

1630-1763 Colonial Period
Desperate Crossing: The Untold Story of the Mayflower
The Mayflower Pilgrims (Amazon Instant Video)
National Geographic – The New World: Nightmare in Jamestown
William Bradford- The First Thanksgiving DVD
Where America Began: Jamestown, Colonial Williamsburg, Yorktown [VHS]
The War That Made America: The Story of the French and Indian War
When the Forest Ran Red
Roots (Miniseries 4 DVD)
Freedom & Repression In Colonial America
Benjamin Franklin
Crucible
Deerslayer (French Indian War)
Hawkeye (1755, 4 DVD)

1763-1783 Revolutionary America
American Revolution Documentaries
Liberty: The American Revolution
The History Channel Presents The Revolution
John Adams
1776 (Musical)
April Morning
Johnny Tremain (NR)
A More Perfect Union: America Becomes a Nation
Just The Facts – The United States Bill of Rights and Constitutional Amendments/ The Constitution
Benedict Arnold – A Question of Honor
The Crossing
Drums Along the Mohawk

1783-1815 Young Republic
George Washington DVD
Centennial (Miniseries 6 DVDs)
Thomas Jefferson
War of 1812
The History Channel Presents The War of 1812
Louisiana Purchase
National Geographic – Lewis & Clark
Sacagawea – Heroine of the Lewis and Clark Journey
Lewis and Clark The Journey of the Corps (Ken Burns documentary)
The Awaking Land

1815-1860 Westward Expansion
The West (Ken Burns documentary)- ordered from the library to watch during Homeschooling Week 17
Thomas Jefferson (Ken Burns documentary) - ordered from the library to watch during Homeschooling Week 18
Ken Burns: America
Amistad
Alamo
Red River
Davy Crockett
Fort Apache
High Noon
Wild West Tech – Gold Rush Tech (History Channel)
Shane
Stagecoach
Wyatt Earp (PG-13)
Walt Whitman
Into the West

1830-1876 Civil War and Reconstruction
Gone with the Wind
Roots (Amazon Instant video)
The Cause 1861 (Amazon Instant video)
We Shall Remain: Trail of Tears (Amazon Instant video)
North and South (Mini Series Emmy Award, 8 DVD)
The Blue and the Gray (Miniseries 3 DVD)
Hatfields & McCoys (Mini Series, 3 Emmy Awards, 2 DVD)
Gods and Generals (Amazon instant video)
Glory
Red Badge of Courage
Shenandoah
Friendly Persuasion (Amazon Instant Video)
Civil War Documentaries
The History Channel Presents The Civil War
Dances With Wolves
Gettysburg (Widescreen Edition)
The Civil War (Ken Burns: Commemorative Edition)

U.S. Mexican War 1846-1848
Amistad
Santa Fa Trail
Gangs of New York (1840s to 1863)
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pitmen (100 years from Civil War to Civil Rights)

1871-1914 Industrial Revolution
Backstairs at the White House (Taft to Eisenhower)
Industry and Empire: The Birth of the Industrial Revolution
Ford Motor Company Auto Manufacturing
Henry Ford
Thomas Edison
Railroad
The Great Locomotive Chase
The Vanderbilts: An American Dynasty
American Experience: The Rockefellers
The Men Who Built America
Far and Away (PG13)
Industrial Revolution
Instant Expert: Oil
Empires of Industry: Black Gold – The Story of Oil
Empires of Industry – Andrew Carnegie and the Age of Steel
Spanish-American War
Seven Wonders of the Industrial World
Learn to Read

1880-1920 Political Reform
Yankee Doodle Dandy
Winds of Kitty Hawk
Mark Twain
Teddy Roosevelt – An American Lion
When Giants Roamed: The Golden Age of Steam (The History Channel)
Ellis Island
Christy Complete Series
Anne of Green Gables (Canada)
Mark Twain (Ken Burns documentary)
The Rise and Fall of Penn Station

1914-1933 WWI / Prosperity/ Depression
The Long Gray Line (50 years Westpoint, Amazon Instant Video)
Sergeant York (NR)
Lost Battalion
Spencer’s Mountain
The War: A Ken Burns Film (Amazon Instant Video)
The Aviator
The Dawn Patrol
Twelve O'Clock High
Seabiscuit
The Color Purple
The Roosevelts (Ken Burns documentary)
Probation (Ken Burns documentary)
War Horse (PG-13)

WWI Documentaries
All Quiet on the Western Front
Biography: Amelia Earhart – Queen of the Air
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Amazon Instant Video)
All the King’s Men
The Grapes of Wrath
The Dust Bowl (Free w Amazon Prime Instant Video)
Cinderella Man (Amazon Instant Video)
Annie
Wilson
J Edgar

WWII Documentaries
War and Remembrance (12-disk series)
The Longest Day
In Harms Way (Amazon Instant Video)
The Pacific Amazon Instant Video)
Tora, Tora, Tora (Amazon Instant Video)
Patton
Empires of Industry: Victory at Sea: Mass Producing Liberty
The Great Raid (Amazon Instant Video)
Hope and Glory
The Great Escape
The Hiding Place
Anne Frank – The Whole Story
The Diary of Anne Frank
The Pacific
From Here to Eternity
Hiroshima
The House on 92nd. Street
Passage to Marseilles
Airforce
Watch on the Rhine
Atomic Cafe
Hiroshima: Out of the Ashes
Truman
Red Tails
Seabiscut

1945-1960 Post War/ Civil Rights
Korea The Forgotten War
West Side Story
The Best Years of Our Lives
The Jackie Robinson Story
The Kennedys
Ethel Kennedy
The Right Stuff
Freedom Riders
Lee Daniel’s The Butler
To Kill a Mockingbird (Amazon Instant Video)
The Help
Rosa Parks Story
Something the Lord Made
Freedom on My Mind
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

1960-1980 Vietnam Era
JFK
Spaceflight: The Complete Story from Sputnik to Shuttle – And Beyond
Vietnam Documentaries
Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis
Mississippi Burning
Martin Luther King Jr
Bay of Pigs
JFK Assassination
Civil Rights
Nixon
Apollo
Frost/Nixon
When we Left Earth
Apollo 13

1980-2000 End of the Century
Argo (hostage crisis in Iran in 1980)
The Wolf of Wall Street
Ronald Reagan and the Triumph of American Conservatism
The Challenger Disaster (Amazon Instant Video)
Fall of the Berlin Wall
All the President’s Men
Persian Gulf War
Black Hawk Down
Three Kings (Gulf War, R, Amazon Instant Video)
Untold Stories of Columbine
Game Over in Littleton
Primary Colors

2000- Today
Remembering 9/11
Flight 93 (Amazon Instant Video)
Last Letters Home
Live from Bagdad
The Finest Hour
The Social Network
Supersize Me
Inside Hurricane Katrina
The Blind Side
2016: America’s Obama