Drive Thru History Adventures in Bible History {CurriculumReview}

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History. We love it. Video history. We love it. When we had the chance to review Drive Thru History Adventures--an online video history course--I hoped that it would be right up our alley and something the whole family would enjoy. We decided to explore their Bible History curriculum and learn more about the Gospels!

About Drive Thru History Adventures

Drive Thru History Adventures is an online homeschool video course designed to make history more relevant and fun through on location filming but also is Christ centered and fact filled.
The host, Dave Stotts, takes you on an "adventure" to a time in history to give you a more personal experience with the topic. He goes on location--like going to the Judea region to teach about the Gospels--to give students a more visual experience with historical records. Using information about culture, socio-ecomonics, geography, and more--he takes history further and makes it more relevant and exciting to learn and in return, easier to remember.

Drive Thru History Adventures is a subscription website which in turn grants you complete access to all the material online, including the three homeschool history video curriculums: Bible History (18 weeks on the Gospels), American History (12 weeks on early American History), and Ancient History(12 weeks on early Greece, Rome, and Asia Minor). In each weekly lesson there is a video, some readings, and some comprehension questions. The videos are like history field trips around the world! There are also links to help your family dig deeper into a topic. Everything you need to teach is available with this subscription. The course is geared towards ages 12+ with additional resources for the high school age range to take their studies further.

Drive Thru History Adventures also now has Adventures TV--which is included in your subscription. On Adventures TV you can STREAM the videos on an app available through the Apple App store and Google Play for most devices. Adventures TV has more courses, shows, bloopers, and mini-documentaries--even a weekly chat with Dave.

For our review, we chose to complete the Bible History curriculum.

Our Thoughts on the Product

I can quickly summarize: we lovvvvveeeee it!
But I know you need more than that. LOL. So let me start by giving you how we are using this program.

1. Watch video
2. Go through the additional material included on the lesson (either printed or reading it online)
3. Discuss the comprehension questions
4. Share our thoughts about the lesson with each other

The additional materials can be printed off, or just read right off the website. I started printing it off, and then we switched to just reading it from the website since we started plugging my computer into the big screen TV. This made watching Drive Thru History Adventures wayyyyyyy more exciting for the boys. One thing I will add, there are answer keys that match every set of questions/discussions pages.

We started out watching right after breakfast on my computer

The boys love Dave Stotts and think he's really funny. This makes what he says stick more to them because they are engaged in the discussion. They really enjoy seeing the archaeological sites that match up to the names and events mentioned in the Bible. I appreciate that it is all clearly labelled for me to read off to them. They are definitely retaining the information more, because when something we have read and learned is mentioned during church on the weekend, they look at me and start mouthing "we learned this!" I think that these videos have helped made the events in the gospels more real. That they aren't just random names and places, but truly did exist.

I can print off the lesson's questions and discussions pages

One of the things I appreciate about the videos is that Dave discusses anything related to evidence that the Bible "stories" are actually true. Recent discoveries in the Sea of Galilee or money/pottery/ect found on site somewhere. We discuss why these things are important finds to Biblical scholars.

There is a lot of art history included with every lesson. Many depictions of the gospel accounts are shown--I could do without these as most of them make the men of the gospels look like old men and/or "pansies" (cough cough) and not the robust young outdoors-man they really were. But because most of the art is religious in background, I can understand why they were included.

One of the best things about this course is that MOST of the time in the lessons is spent NOT on what the Bible says, but about the culture, the geography, the people of the time period. To give background and depth to the Bible events. He explains what the big deal was about Herod. About the significance of the Maccabees revolt. About the laws and rules of the time. This makes the scripture come alive with meaning.

Watching it on the big screen TV is way better

I found the videos to be very "Christian neutral"--meaning, that because the focus was on the culture, geography, setting and the scriptures were simply read and not really expounding on doctrinal issues, this course is EXCELLENT regardless of what particular Christian church you may belong to. All too often my family veers away from most New Testament Gospel bible curriculum for this very reason--it's heavily swayed towards whatever belief system the publishers hold. Not so with Drive Thru History Adventures! In fact, one day we were watching a lesson when my mom dropped by. I noticed that she kept hanging around behind the couch and not leaving--so I said "You can stay and watch this if you want" and she immediately plopped into the couch saying that she was fascinated by the information and the way it was presented.

Young or old the video lessons are fantastic. My boys are ages 7 and 12---while my 7 year old isn't as good at answering the comprehension questions, he loves the videos and can remember many things that are covered, even if not in great detail. My 12 year old is in love with this style and so happy we will get to explore the other two history curriculum before our subscription runs out!

We were also thrilled to receive a gift package from Drive Thru History--some badges, decals, and an autographed postcard of Dave with his Jeep. Now the boys want to meet Dave. LOL.

As of today, we have worked through 13 of the 18 lessons for the Gospels. We watch several each week--not only doing 1 per week like was suggested. Could you turn it into a full 18 week curriculum? Sure! Just take the material in more depth!

Want to Know More About Drive Thru History Adventures?

We have been reviewing a subscription from Drive Thru History Adventures using the Bible History curriculum and you have seen how we have been using it. But make sure you visit other crew members to see their thoughts on the other two history curriculum available!

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The boys are eager to finish the Bible History and shift over to the Ancient and American History curriculum. They are now major Dave Stotts fans and told me that if he would by some chance be at the Homeschool Convention in Cincinnati, I "HAVE to get his autograph and a selfie!" LOL. So yeah. Our family is a big fan of Drive Thru History now and I totally encourage others to check it out