Are you looking for some great movie recommendations for your family's next movie night? Look no further! Carole Joy Seid shares a treasure trove of timeless and fun movie suggestions for family movie nights, catering to all age groups from young children to teens. Carole talks about the importance of choosing movies that are not only entertaining but also possess redemptive and character-building qualities, reinforcing the idea of using family movie nights as opportunities for spiritual and emotional edification. So, grab some popcorn and join Carole for all the greats!
RESOURCES For a full list of the movies, go to our episode here. Other movie suggestions in these episodes here.
Are you looking for some great movie recommendations for your family's next movie night? Look no further! Carole Joy Seid shares a treasure trove of timeless and fun movie suggestions for family movie nights, catering to all age groups from young children to teens. Carole talks about the importance of choosing movies that are not only entertaining but also possess redemptive and character-building qualities, reinforcing the idea of using family movie nights as opportunities for spiritual and emotional edification. So, grab some popcorn and join Carole for all the greats!
RESOURCES For a full list of the movies, go to our episode here. Other movie suggestions in these episodes here.
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Rachel Winchester:
Who doesn't love a good movie night? But have you ever dreaded family movie night because you didn't know what you would watch? Or worse, you started a movie and realized it's a dud. Do you trudge through or cancel movie night? We are here to fix that problem. Just like bad books are big thieves, so are bad movies. It's time to find great movies your family loves. You're listening to the Homeschool Made Simple Podcast with Carol Joyside. This is a podcast to help you homeschool simply, inexpensively and enjoyably. Carol has a lifelong love of film and as we build a rich and vibrant family culture, we want our family to bond around fun and enriching content. In this episode you'll get a list of movies for everyone in your family, from the littles to the teens. Plus, you'll likely end up watching these over and over again because they are that good. Listen in.
Carole Joy Seid:
Hey friends, I thought it would be fun to revisit the family movie night selections that we have begun talking about. I still have a whole bunch of movies I want to recommend to you, so I thought I'd start this podcast with movies for younger kids and then move up the line a little bit. So I'm going to start with my very, very favorite movies for young children, my favorite movie star for young children, and that is Shirley Temple. Shirley Temple was such an exemplary child and turned out to be a wonderful adult. Her mother understood how to keep her child from being destroyed in the way that Judy Garland and some of the other child stars had been ruined in Hollywood, and she would not let her daughter be sucked into that vortex, and the world was a better place because of her. She grew up to become an ambassador for the United States and was just a lovely woman, but as a child she was probably the most talented child that has ever been in the pictures. It's just amazing how she could sing, how she could dance, how she could memorize lines, and in one of the movies I'm going to tell you about the little Colonel, she was playing co-starring with Lionel Barrymore, and he was one of the most famous actors in the world and he forgot his lines and she would feed them to him and he would get so irritated because here's this little three, four-year-old child who had memorized his lines and he was a world-class actor and couldn't, and so she was just an amazing young lady.
Carole Joy Seid:
My favorite I'm going to start with probably Stowe away. That's when she was probably the youngest, stowe away. And in that movie she's starring with Robert Young, who was again an incredibly famous actor, and of course it's her movie. I mean, in these movies she gets top billing because she was that much of a draw and a star in Hollywood. And I love Stowe away and I love the character that she plays as a little girl. And then I think you'd really enjoy the little Colonel which I referenced before and that is with Lionel Barrymore and she is rambunctious and she can sing and she can dance and she just oh, I love, love, love. This movie. It's adorable and I think you'll really like it too. Her grandfather and she were not speaking and I guess he wasn't speaking. To her mother I should say, but what a great movie that is.
Carole Joy Seid:
And then Heidi and Little Princess. I think those are just masterpiece movies, there's just no other way to describe them Heidi, based on the beautiful godly book and classic, and Little Princess, also Frances Hogs and Burnett's book Little Princess. These books are tip-top. The acting is great, the co-stars are wonderful, they're just top-of-the-line movies for children and for adults.
Carole Joy Seid:
I have in my life at times when I have just begun to believe the world is a dismal place or just negative, depressed, whatever. In years past I would watch a Shirley Temple movie and I would just feel my entire spirit being lifted the innocence, the optimism, the sweetness of her purity. She got America through the depression and she was America's sweetheart, as they called her. And then I think her very best role and I think the best movie Well, I guess Heidi and Little Princess of course are in a different level, but when she was young I think her very best movie is Captain January, the story of a little girl who's rescued from a shipwreck and Guy Kibby is the man who rescues her and she's living in a lighthouse and her singing and dancing is just amazing.
Carole Joy Seid:
And she is singing and dancing with Buddy Ebsen who was in the word Wizard of Oz, and oh, I love this. I just love the story and her performance in. It is the best of the best. So that'll keep you kind of busy. I believe, in Little Colonel she's dancing with Bojangles, who is the servant, and anyway she dances this world famous dance whereas they're going up and down a set of stairs and she needs to go to bed. Yeah, bill Robinson, which is Bill Bojangles Robinson, is co-starring in Little Colonel and boy howdy. If you want to see a little girl who that could dance, she was.
Carole Joy Seid:
And then I thought I'd talk about just some classic Disney and that kind of movies. There are a few that I really really like, a lot that I don't particularly love, but probably my favorite would be Lady and the Tramp. It is the purest, sweetest, dearest movie and every child needs to grow up watching Lady and the Tramp. It's just special. And then I would say JJ would say that his favorite movie as a little boy in the Disney genre was Robin Hood, and he watched it with his best friend Nathan over and over again and got the biggest kick out of it. And of course based on the book Robin Hood, as every child should grow up with the real book. But it is a great precursor to just getting to know the characters and obviously it's got a humorous spin which makes it really fun. And then Peter Pan is another great classic. You can tell that these are old, like me, but it's another Disney classic that's very, very sweet. And then Beauty and the Beast, which is a little bit more in the contemporary years, but I love Belle and I love her love for books and her love for the classics and libraries.
Carole Joy Seid:
And then just the redemptive power of love and how it can redeem people in our lives that are sort of beastly, and how the Lord has loved us when we were unlovable. And I think there's a lot of spiritual depth to the original book Beauty and the Beast, the original short story. I believe it was French in its original but I think there's a lot of spiritual truth to be gleaned from it. And then my favorite veggie tales of all time was Larry Boy and the fib from Outer Space. It is beyond genius and it's a lesson in telling the truth. But the I just am laughing thinking about it the song, the Larry Boy song that this Motown choir is singing. It is just absolutely irresistible. Clever fun and the power of a lie taking over our lives.
Rachel Winchester:
We are taking a short break from the show to tell you about our in-person seminars coming up in 2024. Our newly revised and updated booklists are hot off the press. You don't want to miss our very own American History handout for the elementary years. Carol and JJ will be teaching our basic seminar, a literature-based approach to education, where you'll learn the framework and get the tools you need to homeschool with confidence. We have seminars coming up in Minnesota, dallas and Nashville later this year and if you aren't able to come to any of those locations, you can join our live webinar on June 1. To learn more, visit our website at homeschoolmadesimplenet forward slash seminars. We can't wait to see you in 2024. Now back to the show.
Carole Joy Seid:
More in the contemporary realm. I think this movie is just genius as well, and that is Monsters Inc and if you haven't seen it you must. It's the old Pixar studio and stars Billy Crystal and John Goodman and the humor in it is phenomenal and the creativity. But it's not for young children, because younger children are still frightened by monsters and I understand that, and so I would say your older kids will get a huge kick out of it, but be sensitive to your younger ones and their sensibility. And then a film from my childhood starring Hayley Mills as a twin. So it was kind of split screen technology that had just come into play in the film world and this is the story of two little girls who go to camp and without realizing that their sister, who they did not know existed, threw a divorce One was from England, one from was from America, I believe. They're sent to camp and they meet and they figure out that they're twins and that their parents were divorced and they bring their parents back together and it is an amazingly sweet and innocent movie and Hayley Mills was a huge child star in Britain and then finally in America. Her father, john Mills, was one of the greats of all time of British films and she's also known for her starring role in Pollyanna, which I also love. And so many of these things have biblical underpinnings and maybe they're not overt about them, but when you scratch the surface, the book Pollyanna was definitely a Christian book, about in everything giving thanks, and Pollyanna and her dad, who is a pastor, exemplified that.
Carole Joy Seid:
And then the other animated film that I love, love, love and cry every time I watch is Joseph, king of Dreams, and if you don't own this movie, run, don't walk to buy it. And it's the story of Joseph. It is extremely biblically accurate. But my favorite part of this movie is Joseph in the prison, and he, of course, gets the guys out of prison the baker and the cup bearer, and one, of course, is assassinated by the. Anyway, I won't go into the details. You know the story of Joseph, but he's left alone in this prison, completely abandoned and forgotten for doing nothing wrong, falsely accused by Potiphar's wife. As you know, he a seed falls through the crack of the roof and he begins to water it and nourish the seed and it begins to grow and the sun comes down through the crack and then he sings this song to God that says you know better than I, you know the way and I don't need to know why, because you know better than I. And it is such a biblically based song of acceptance and rest in suffering, in hardship, in disappointment, that the Lord's sovereignty overrides it all, that he is good and he's got this. And there are deep, deep spiritual truths in this movie. It was done by Dreamworks and I love it and I think you will too, if you haven't been watching it.
Carole Joy Seid:
And then let's talk about some animal movies. They always break your heart and leave you sobbing in a puddle on the floor, so let's just share. Each one of them makes me want to cry just looking at them. So the original old Walt Disney old Yeller was such a beautiful book and it's about a family in Texas and their dog and, oh my word, it's a beautiful, beautiful old movie old Yeller based, of course, on the book.
Carole Joy Seid:
I think all of these are based on books. And then the yearling. This is a classic book that I want all my families to read. The unabridged version of it was written by Marjorie Rawlings and it was illustrated in the boys illustrated classics from Scribner's. It was illustrated by NC Wyeth, andrew Wyeth's father and Jamie Wyeth's grandfather, but the movie is just lovely. It stars Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman, so it's an all-star cast. These were not little kiddie books that were kind of, you know, discardable movies, but they are well done, fully produced movies that are based on books.
Carole Joy Seid:
And then the movie Sea Biscuit, also based on a true story and a book, and it's starring Toby McGuire, jeff Bridges and Chris Cooper. And this is, of course, a true story about a jockey, a trainer and a businessman. Oh my word, I love this story. It again carried America through hard, hard, discouraging times. And then one of the best children's movies ever made is based on a book, and the author of the book was it's kind of an interesting story he flew as a RAF pilot in World War II, you know. He signed up in the military, he moved to America and he signed up in America for our Air Force and he flew for America and was actually shot down and killed. His name was Eric Knight, and talk about a hero of World War II. But he wrote this book Lassie Come Home and Roddy McDowell, who's one of the great children's actors from Britain.
Carole Joy Seid:
Roddy McDowell stares as a little boy and the man who steals the movie is Donald Crisp, another wonderful British actor, and then Elizabeth Taylor is in it as a child and it's just a treasure of a story about a poor family that has a very, very valuable dog and the father loses. He gets laid off in the mines there in Scotland and they do everything to keep from starvation and finally they have to sell the dog, who's a prize dog, a show dog, and they sell Lassie to Elizabeth Taylor's grandfather in the movie, who's very, very wealthy, and they take him up to I think, to Wales, I believe and Lassie escapes the abusive trainer up at the stables there and he runs for I don't even know how long and he runs all the way back to Scotland and he appears at the little boy's school door where he used to wait every day. The whole family had been so brokenhearted to give up their dog. And it's a lovely, lovely story. In 1943 it was made and has all the richness of British films and at their heyday.
Carole Joy Seid:
And then the last animal book I want to share with you is where the Red Fern grows, and if you want to sob your eyes out, do it. It's starring James Whitmore and some really great actors and it's the story of a little boy and his two hunting dogs and oh my, and James Whitmore is the grandfather, and oh, you're just going to love this book and the movie. And if you haven't read the book, you might want to read it first and then watch the movie. The universal rule is we always require that people watch a movie excuse me, read a book, I'm sorry before they watch a movie, because the book is the real thing and then the liberties that can be taken. At least your children know that the real, the real story, is the book. And then when they make a movie, that's fine, but the gold standard is always still going to be the book.
Carole Joy Seid:
So, and then I wanted to share with you some sports movies as we close, and most of these are not for little bitty children by any stretch, but they're still wonderful. Character building books excuse me, movies. I keep saying books, I'm so used to talking about books. What we learn from these sports movies is tenacity, hard work, team spirit, loyalty, humility, brokenness, how to suffer well, and each one of them are going to teach our children a lesson as they move into the junior high years or the senior high years.
Carole Joy Seid:
So I'll start with a movie, and I haven't watched this in years, so I hope there isn't. It's rated PG. I hope there's no bad language or anything. But it is one of the greatest sports movies of all time and that is Rudy. Rudy is the story of a little boy. He's a late bloomer, kind of not super gifted athletically, but he goes to Notre Dame and after he does get in, but he can't play ball. But they let him. They let him kind of be the water boy and you've just got to watch this movie. It is a beautiful thing.
Carole Joy Seid:
And then a movie that my son really liked about a man that was very influential in his life and that is pistol Pete Marovitch, and this movie is called the Pistol, the Birth of a Legend and how his father nurtured his dreams and his gifts, and it's a lovely story. Pete became a believer as he got older, as an adult. He gave his life to Christ. He was a big influence in a lot of kids lives because of the single focus that he had and the way he trained and worked out, and he slept with a basketball so that he could stretch his hand on the basketball as he's falling asleep and as he wakes up in the morning. He was constantly training and working to be a better basketball player.
Carole Joy Seid:
And then the movie the rookie oh my, dennis Quaid. True story about a high school teacher who starts throwing balls to he's coaching and the kids are like, wow, you can really burn, wow. And so they challenge him to go to a tryout a pro tryout, open tryout and he does it just because the kids made him promise that he would do it. And no one can believe how fast he's throwing. You know, they're doing like the radar and stuff to see how fast he can throw. And he has a bunch of children and a wife and he leaves his school and he goes and tries to break into the majors. Course he has to start In the bush leagues and they move you up. And it's a beautiful story and a lovely marriage. He's a wonderful dad and husband. And again, the story of someone pushing themselves, giving it their all. It's just so good for our kids to see that.
Carole Joy Seid:
And then, probably one of the greatest sports movies ever made is remember the Titans starring Denzel Washington. I love this movie and I love the music. I love the kids who are acting. A very tense Situation where a black coach is brought in and black kids are now having to play with white kids. Nobody wants to be on this team together, and how Denzel Washington, as the coach, comes in and turns this team's heart around it will make you smile for weeks afterwards and you want to watch it over and over again.
Carole Joy Seid:
And then the last one, facing the Giants another great sports movie that Just talks about God and the power of faith. And wow, and these are just family friendly movies. I mean, if you're gonna watch a movie with your kids, they need to have redemptive qualities, building your children's character, creating A team spirit in your family. As you share in these experiences, you cry together, you laugh together, you're at a fight, your heart is changed by. A great movie can change someone's destiny, just like a great book. So these are wonderful opportunities. When we have family movie nights, use them instead of just watching you know pop culture movies. They're just eating like cotton candy. We have a stomach ache after anything. What a waste of two hours. Use movie nights to redeem the time, because the days are evil and everything we do with our children should be at a fine and uplifting and build them up spiritually. So I hope you enjoy some future movie nights. We're gonna do one more podcast on classic movies that children can enjoy, and that'll be our next one. Blessings.
Rachel Winchester:
You've been listening to the homeschool made simple podcast with Carol joy side. If you have questions about homeschooling or a topic you want to hear about on the podcast, we'd love to hear from you. You can submit your question or idea at homeschoolmadesimplenet forward slash ideas. You can find the link in the show notes as well. Thanks for joining us this week on the homeschool made simple podcast. Be sure to join us next time as we help you homeschool simply, inexpensively and enjoy.