Drive Thru History® – “The Gospels” a Homeschool Crew Review

Drive Thru History® has come out with a new series-Drive Thru History®– “The Gospels”. 

If you are not familiar with Drive Thru History® then you are missing out on a fantastic series that will take you back into history. For the newest series you will see the locations and hear the account of the story of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 

The age is grades 5th to adult but, younger kids will enjoy it also. I know we have been watching Drive Thru History® since my kids were in 2nd grade. They have enjoyed all of them. They do seem to retain and pay attention to the details and facts better the older they get.

Drive Thru History® – “The Gospels” is a 3 disc DVD set with 6 episodes on each DVD. It also comes with a Study Guide. The case is unique in its style. After you slide out the DVD case from its colorful slip sleeve cover it looks like a hardback book that would adorn your bookshelf. The case is a rich blue with the words, “The Gospels” on the spine of the book. The DVD case opens up like a book. 

The Study Guide is around 118 pages and is attached inside the DVD case. The Study Guide is in full color photographs of Israel and has illustrations of artworks that reflect the Gospels throughout history. Most of the pictures are labeled so you don’t have to guess the location or event. It’s broken up by episode and there is a brief summary of the episodes along with discussion questions.  There is a portion called, “Side Road” which covers some historical facts or some interesting information about the portion you watched. It’s a nice touch to the series. 

Drive Thru History® – “The Gospels” has 18 episodes covering the Gospel story of Jesus going on location to where Jesus was born, preached, died, and rose again. You will see over 50 Ancient sites in eretz (land) of Israel.

The eighteen episodes:

1. The Historical Landscape
2. The Announcement
3. Jesus is Born
4. Jesus Grows Up
5. Jesus Starts His Ministry
6. Jesus Returns to Galilee
7. Jesus Begins His Miracles
8. Jesus Teaches with Authority
9. The Sermon on the Mount
10. Jesus Travels the Sea of Galilee
11. Jesus Travels North with His Apostles
12. A Final Trip to Jerusalem
13. Jesus Arrives in Jerusalem
14. The Last Supper
15. The Trial of Jesus
16. The Crucifixion of Jesus
17. The Resurrection of Jesus
18. Who is Jesus?

Each episode varies from 20 to 30 minutes. The time goes by quickly while the episodes are engaging. These 18 action-packed episodes take you through the history and archaeology surrounding the birth, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus. You will see many of the famous depictions of artist throughout history that have painted masterpieces of Jesus and other Gospel accounts told in the eyes of various artist. You get a bit of art history woven within the DVD. There are 9 hours of video in all. The narration is told by Dave Stotts as he travels in the Holy Land. He presents the Gospels clearly and gives you the historical background of the location from the archeological evidence and compares it to the Word of God. He ties several scriptures together and lays out facts that support the scriptures. I like that they encourage you to read the Gospels yourself.

Dave Stotts is very energetic and funny. My kids get a kick out of him talking about the vehicles in which he drives in the series, which he does in all the previous series also. In this series his main transportation is a 76’ Land Rover which he has named Steve McQueen. 

Having visited Israel I was extremely impressed with the stunning videos of the many different locations. I could almost close my eyes and see myself at the same locations when I was in Israel. It makes me want to go back to Israel again.

How did I use Drive Thru History® – “The Gospels” in my homeschool?

I watched this with my 11 year old son and 14 year old daughter. We just recently finished up another series before we started this one. Let’s just say that I had some happy kids to have two different series back to back in school. I schedule us to do this 3x week. The first two days we would watch the DVD and the 3 rd day we would go over the Study Guide. Let’s just say I had some serious begging going on to listen to another episode throughout the week-in which I happily showed them -I mean it’s about the life and ministry of our Lord and Savior! Of course I gave in and let my kids think they talked me into something. What’s a mom suppose to do? 

I have mixed feeling about the Study Guide being attached inside the case. I like that I don’t have to worry about misplacing it. On the other hand when my kids are reading it they are pressing down on it and I’m afraid they will break the case or damage the DVDs. If the tabs that hold the DVD were to break then this would be problematic if the case is held up and not on a table.

The Study Guide doesn’t lay flat and I was afraid I would break it if I tried to lay it out. I think I would prefer the Study Guide not attached but, have a pocket or something to hold it in the case. 

For younger kids you may want to look over the crucifixion in episode 16 first to make sure your children will be okay with it.

My kids gave this series an A+ grade and fully recommend adding this to your homeschool curriculum. They did have one complaint-Dave Stotts is a bit more serious in this series. They missed the bloopers after each episode. They still keep talking about the car-barbeque episode and want to try it out themselves-in which I have put my foot down on this one!

I absolutely love Drive Thru History® – “The Gospels” and can’t say enough of good things about this amazing series. I would 100% recommend this or any of the series.

Drive Thru History® – “The Gospels” can be used as The Gospels homeschool curriculum, The Gospels church study, The Gospels curriculum, and The Gospels small group study. Or maybe just for family movie nights. It’s very versatile for adding it into a Gospel study just for fun.

Other members of The Homeschool Crew Review team have been watching this series also. Stop by their blogs and see what they have to say about Drive Thru History® – “The Gospels”.

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