Is your History curriculum boring? Do you need to spice it up and get your kids excited about History? Would your kids like to go on a fun adventure? Would you like to see your kids (or the whole family) learn something new while they take a field trip through History right from their living room?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then I encourage you to check out Drive Thru History Adventures from Dave Stotts and his terrific History Curriculum.
Drive Thru History Adventures
Drive Thru History Adventures
Online Subscription (Yearly or Monthly)
3 History Courses
Ancient History, American History, Biblical History
Adventures TV
Easy Accessible
24 hours a day 7 days a week.
Courses:
Drive Through History Adventures has 3 History courses to choose from that cover American History Adventures, Ancient History Adventures, and Bible History Adventures. These courses are based on the Drive Through History TV series and are presented from a Christian Worldview. Your subscription gives you unlimited access around the clock 24/7 to all three courses to use at your convenience. You can choose to do one course, or do all three.
Ancient History Adventures (12 weeks)
Covers Empires of Greece, Rome and Asia Minor
American History Adventures (12 weeks)
Covers Early American History From Columbus to the Constitution
Bible History Adventures (18 weeks)
Covers the Life of Jesus
Visit 50+ locations in Israel
Here is a short video by Dave Stotts explaining his mission with Drive Thru History Adventures.
For the purpose of this review, I will focus on the Bible History Adventures.
Bible History Adventures
Lessons:
There are 18 lessons in the Bible History Adventures curriculum so far with plans to add more. The lessons focus on the Life Of Jesus of Nazareth written in The Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) of the Bible and include:
Episode 1: The Historical Landscape
Episode 2: The Announcements
Episode 3: Jesus is Born
Episode 4: Jesus Grows Up
Episode 5: Jesus Starts His Ministry
Episode 6: Jesus Returns to Galilee
Episode 7: Jesus Begins His Miracles
Episode 8: Jesus Teaches with Authority
Episode 9: The Sermon on the Mount
Episode 10: Jesus Travels the Sea of Galilee
Episode 11: Jesus Travels North
Episode 12: A Final Trip to Jerusalem
Episode 13: Jesus Arrives in Jerusalem
Episode 14: The Last Supper
Episode 15: The Trial of Jesus
Episode 16: The Crucifixion of Jesus
Episode 17: The Resurrection of Jesus
Episode 18: Who is Jesus?
Each lesson is a combination of videos, readings, photographs of historical places, historical people, architecture, art, illustrations, famous quotes, discussion questions, optional downloadable worksheets, and a dig deeper section that helps expand the subject material for older or upper level students.
Dave Stotts takes you on location to learn the history of Jesus of Nazareth’s life, the events that took place, and a close look at why over 1/3 of the world’s population believes he is who he said he was, the Son of God and Savior of the world, and why they follow’s his teachings. He proves why Jesus is the most important person in history for over 2000+ years.
Here is a shortened example of the kinds of videos and information you will find in this curriculum.
In addition to access to all three History curriculums for the entire year, the Drive Thru History Adventures subscription also gives us access to the Adventures TV program extras.
Adventures TV:
Dave is a TV star. He has had his own TV series called Drive Thru History for many years. His program appeals to both Christians and non-Christians, because of all the travel adventures, architecture, culture, and unique exploration of history in each episode. For subscribers of the Drive Thru History Adventures curriculum, he has given free access to many of his other videos available on Adventures TV. You can view Adventures TV from your computer and mobile devices.
Our Experience
For the purpose of this review, we are focusing on the Bible History Adventures curriculum.
We have both older kids and younger kids in our family. We used the curriculum differently depending on their age. The older kids used the full curriculum on the computer. For our younger children, we connected the TV to the computer so they could view the videos together in the living room. The younger children only used the videos and discussion questions of the curriculum.
The Bible History Adventures curriculum covers the life of Jesus written in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John of the New Testament in the Bible. These are called The Gospels. The kids go on an adventure to discover who Jesus is, what his life was like and what was going on in the world at that time and since, and why Jesus is so important in the history of the world even today after 2000 years since his birth. The kids get to go on a virtual field trip and visit 50+ locations in Israel.
I thought it might help to show our readers some examples from the Bible History Adventures lessons. So below are screen shots from Lesson 1.
Examples from Lesson 1: The Historical Landscape
We started out with a 27+/- minute video to watch.
Dave Stotts is adventurous, serious at times, engaging and funny and he has a special way of making the process of learning History interesting.
It is wonderful to see all these amazing places he visits as he explains what took place.
After the video, there is a famous quote that relates to the learning. 
Next is a photo on location.
Next is a summary of the learning.
There is a bible scripture (s) study. The lesson gives the Scripture Reading and what verses to focus on. It offers an in-bedded bible or “bible box” for reading the verses within the program as you do the lesson. You can select what version of the bible you want to use and adjust the font size for ease of reading. Having the verses listed right in the lesson is helpful.
There are examples of famous art and additional historical information.
Next is more historical information.
Next are discussion questions. The questions can be answered individually or discussed as a group with the family.
The discussion questions as well as the lesson summary and other info is listed in PDF format for printing if desired.
Printing out the downlable PDF’s are a great way to keep a record of the learning adventure. It is also a great way for older students to practice writing their thoughts out in paragraph or essay format.
Finally, each lesson has a Dig Deeper section for additional reading and research for older students.
We love using this curriculum. For our needs we opted to use our bible and favorite online bible, rather than the provided scriptures within the “bible box” offered in the lessons. Sometimes you just need the bible in your hands while you read, and at other times, the online bible works great too. The online bible we use is free, and we can choose any version to read from in any language, and even compare scriptures in different versions to improve our understanding, and search related key words etc.
Another reason we like the online bible is that it puts the verses up on a whole page and we can adjust the font size and it is easier to read. Another advantage to the online bible we normally use, is that it has an option to “read the verses out loud”. Over the years, the read aloud option has helped the children read along and get a better understanding. Another free bible resource we use also looks various words or subjects up in Hebrew or Greek and defines the true meaning of those words and shows how they are used through out the entire bible so you get an incredible deep understanding of the message Father God wants you to know. I love these extra features when using the online study bible.
After starting this review, my kids were sent some suveniers. Dave Stotts sent them Drive Thru History Adventures patches and stickers and an autograph signed picture of Dave on location in front of his Jeep. The older boys took possession of the patches right away to put on their outdoor adventure back packs. The younger kids put the stickers on their folders. I just wanted to mention this to show that Dave goes the extra mile to reach out to people and encourage them. My kids were encouraged by his outreach.
Dave makes himself available to families through the use of social media. One way he does this is through a Facebook group for families using the curriculum. He also reaches out in other ways and you can leave a question for him through his contact form on the website. I am very grateful that Dave is so personable and interested in real relationships with people. You can see that he has remained humble and approachable even through he is so popular.
Final thoughts about using this program:
We really love the work Dave Stotts has done in both the Drive Thru History TV series (which we have been a fan for several years) and the new Drive Thru History Adventures curiculum. Dave has a way of presenting historical facts in a fun memorable way.
In Bible History Adventures, Dave drives from place to place to over 50+ locations and takes you along for the ride. The amount of historical sites and information covered is incredible! The lessons are as short or as long as you want them to be and they are flexible. Whether you use the bible provided in the popup box in the lesson to study the scriptures, or use another bible study resource is up to you. Whether you verbally answer the discussion questions or print out the worksheets and write the answers in essay form is up to you. You can access the curriculum 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as it is convenient for you to do so.
Most of my kids are audio visual learners and this curriculum fits their learning style. My younger kids are able to enjoy the videos about historical places, people, and events, while my oldest son who likes to read on, is able to dig deeper and do the additional research he enjoys. And with the annual subscription, we get to enjoy all of this wonderful history curriculum (Ancient, America, and Bible) for a full year.
Dave Stotts and Drive Thru History Adventures is a great way to spice up the learning and a sure cure for boredom. There is something for everyone with this curriculum.
Discount Specials
There are several discount specials going on right now. There is a free 7 day trial offer, and for new annual subscriptions Dave Stotts is offering a free set of DVD’s from Drive Thru History Adventures called The Gospels.
There is also a 20% off discount offer available for readers of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.
Check out both resources to see the current offers and find one that fits best for your family.
Social Media
Dave Stotts is very active on Social Media. Be sure to check out Dave and Drive Thru History on their social media for all the latest special offers, products, and updates.
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Homeschool Review Crew
Be sure to check out what others on the Homeschool Review Crew had to say about using products from Drive Thru History Adventures in their home.
