Customer Reviews

Schoolhouse. America

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Well, i am here to say this is a fabulous tool! I watched all of these as a child and have shared them with my children. For those of you with the less than 5 star reviews let me say...This is not meant to be an exhaustive history lesson! It is a great way to introduce children to the history of our country. Something that, in my experience, schools made very boring. My children love history. If you find it not as accurate then be the one to take the next step and research it with your kids. I would agree it is geared toward younger kids but not that older kids would find it "stupid" at all! These reviews were pretty harsh. Also, the pilgrims DID plant food. Yes, the indians taught them everything and saved them but i wouldn't call that an inaccuracy. The movie just didn't get that deep into it. Come on now it is only a half hour! I highly recommend this to children of all ages. It opens the door to questions and conversations about our country that may not be raised otherwise. The music is very catchy and stays with you. It is plain and simple fun while being educational at the same time. Don't let the negative reviews sway you. This is a great video series and I highly recommend it!!

All right, boys and girls, here is a little ditty that has got to jog your memory:

I'm just a bill,
Yes, I'm only a bill,
And I'm sitting here on Capitol Hill.
Well, it's a long, long journey
To the capital city,
It's a long, long wait
While I'm sitting in committee,
But I know I'll be a law someday...
At least I hope and pray that I will,
But today I'm still just a bill.

"Schoolhouse Rock! America Rock" collects the mini-cartoons ABC aired on the television in the mid-1970s and taught a generation of children about government and history (as well as grammar, science, and math in other rock counterparts). The ten America rocks are done in pretty much chronological order, with "No More Kings," "Fireworks" and "The Shot Heard 'Round the World" covering the founding of America, the Declaration of Independence, and the start of the American Revolution. I would be willing to bet that most of the kids in this country who can recite the Preamble to the Constitution learned it from "The Preamble" (or the "Star Trek" episode "The Omega Glory"). "Elbow Room" covers America going West while "The Great American Melting Pot" celebrates American diversity. Great American inventors get their due in "Mother Necessity" and "Sufferin' till Suffrage" covers women getting the right to vote. But the most popular one here has got to be "I'm Just a Bill," which explains how a bill comes a law in terms so simple that even a first term Congressman could understand it. "Three-Ring Government" explains the separation of powers between the three branches, and then there is also a bonus video of the Lemonheads doing "My Hero Zero."

Granted, American History might not lend itself to 3-minute lessons as well as basic principles of grammar or mathematics, but these are still so much fun. Too bad there were not more of these (how would Schoolhouse Rock! have explained the Civil War or the Great Depression?), because they are just a lot of fun and then do a great job of driving a few essential points home in each lesson. "America Rock" is just the hook. It is up to history teachers and parents to provide the line. Even for more advanced students teachers can get some mileage out of these by showing them to students and either getting them to critique these (what inventors should be added?) or to be creative and write the script for their own (e.g., "Andy Jackson says no thanks to the National Bank!").

School House Rock is mad awesome cool! I love all the song, like i'm just a bill. i memorized the preamble cause of the preamble song thing. peace

In my history class we listened to this everyday so we could learn the preamble. It was the best part of my day. The songs can be kinda stupid but its still awesome

Loads of fun and very important when the democratic ideal is getting lost in America.
I bought this and SCRIPTURE ROCK for my kids to give them the full concept of the American ideal.

Back in 1988 when I was in college we all sat in dining hall one night and sang the School House Rock songs to each other. There, in our twenties, all of us could well remember the music and lyrics. Taking these songs off the air was the worst decision for Saturday morning cartoons ever made. They are fun, educational, memorable, instructive and their goal is not to get a parent to buy something (well, that explains why they are no longer on the air regularly). I loved them as a 5, 6, 7 year old and have never stopped (along with the majority of my generation). In fact, when I sat through my law school class about how a bill becomes a law I could not get the "I am a Bill" song out of my head and every time I hear someone describe a verb without using an adverb I have to wonder, did they ever see Lolly?

"No More Kings"

"No More Kings" would be a good song for 5th graders to listen to even though of numerous amount of mistakes in it. This would be a good song for kids nine and ten years old to hear because it gives a basic layout of the Revolutionary War and how it started. The information that I had added was from an 8th grade history book that may be advanced for 5th grade knowledge. If I were a parent I would definitely buy this for my child, nothing is inaccurate buy some things are missing that are crucial to the start of the war. Even though they left out the Intolerable Acts, and Tea and Stamp Acts, it doesn't matter because these children will learn about that when they are in our grade. It is definitely a great introduction to the Revolutionary War, no doubt about that!

The American Revolution is an important event that students learn in Social Studies class. "NO More Kings" is a cartoon discussing events from the American Revolutionary War. This cartoon was wicked awesome. Most of the information was correct. Only a little part of the lyrics were inaccurate. There were a lot of key events that were left out such as, the Stamp and Townsend acts. Also, the harsh winter the colonists had with the Indians and Squanto were left out. The illustrations of the cartoon were a great way to show what life was like back in the1770's. To improve this cartoon, fix the inaccurate information and missing events. This cartoon is for a 5th grade age level. Overall "No more kings" had its highs and lows.

No more Kings was a mediocre cartoon. The song was fairly accurate, and also was missing some major things. The cartoon was missing the years in between 1620, and 1750. That definitely confused me, and could confuse other people. The cartoon was also misleading when it said that the pilgrims were in America first, which when the Indians were there first. The song also said that the pilgrims grew their own food and built their houses, when the Indians taught them to do that. Although the cartoon was a little bit false, it still was fairly accurate when it explained how America was independent. The lyrics of the song were also right when it mentioned the Boston Tea Party. To improve this cartoon, the writers would have to adjust the mistakes, and make them true. No more Kings was a mediocre cartoon about the times before the revolution.

This video was okay, because it was meant for small children. For them, it would be a fun learning experience, but for people that are older, they would think it was stupid. There were some things left out and some historical inaccuracies. In conclusion, there were some good parts to the song, and there were some things that were wrong with it. Children about the age of seven and younger would enjoy it, and anyone older would probably dislike it.