Great Movie for the Family

Every so often a movie or a book comes around that is just too good not to share. Temple Grandin is a phenomenal story about an amazing woman with autism. This true story is interesting, heartfelt, and thought provoking. The movie creates an immediate springboard for in depth discussions on autism, perseverance, bullying, and love.

As a side note my husband was walking by the living room as we started the movie. I encouraged him to watch it with us and he said he was too busy. After standing in the hall for 45 minutes, he finally sat down and watched the ending and said, "Wow, that was a really good movie." My 8, 10 and 13 year olds even made me pause the movie for a bathroom break so they wouldn't miss anything.

At the end of the movie my daughter turned to me and said, "Mom, I bet there are other kids out there like Temple who look different and don't seem smart at first, but they are gifted and have a purpose from God." I think I will have to buy this movie so we can watch it again.

Today my daughter asked if she could do something different for science. She wanted to make an Ames optical illusion room box like in the movie Temple Grandin. We spent hours learning about optical illusions and learning how to make this room. It was a great science day where we all learned something new!

Do you have a favorite movie? We would love to hear from you.

Movie Night

This past weekend we decided to put a large movie screen outside on the patio and have "movie night" at our home. Footloose is currently being preformed as a musical in our area so we thought this might be a good movie for the kids so they would enjoy going to the play next month. The rating on the box said "PG" but this was before "PG" & "PG-13" ratings were used. I remember seeing Footloose when I was growing up....but I don't remember how inappropriate this movie is for young children. This was not a movie for kids!!! There was bad language, poor ideas, and inappropriate scenes. What disturbed me the most were two scenes where "Ariel", the main character in the film, decides to stand up between two moving cars as a semi-truck barrels down on her. At the very last minute she jumps into her boyfriend’s truck and leaves her friends spinning out into the dust to save their lives. If that wasn't bad enough, later in the film she stands in front of an oncoming train. At the last moment, the boy pushes her out of the way and everyone lives happily ever after. The film glorified these dangerous actions and made them seem appealing and fun to young eyes.

These dangerous scenes were especially appalling to me because our family had just watched clip about the dangers of texting and driving. Although this was a graphic movie, it was a powerful tool that provided many learning opportunities for our family. We discussed ways to stay safe in a car, things they could do to help parents stay focused on the road, and ways to let the driver know when they are doing something that is risking their life.

So this weekend I learned a few things. Before renting a movie learn more about it. A website called http://www.kidsinmind.com/ is a great resource for parents. You can learn what words are said, what type of nudity and how much, and if there is violence in the film. It really gets specific on the content of the movie. Such a great site!

The next thing I learned is that there are TV filters available such as the TVGaurdian or the TVDefender. These systems tie into your TV and mute inappropriate words or scenes. Has anyone ever used this type of filter? Does anyone have suggestions for this type of device. Does it work? Which system do you like?

So the search is on for our next film for movie night. I will definitely be doing more research before our next event. Any suggestions on movies your family loves?