MarshMedia is a company owned by Dan and Brenna Witcher, that produces health education products. Originally started in 1969, MarshMedia began offering their health videos to school but are now starting to reach out to the homeschool community with their amazing products. Currently they are offering a Homeschool Special that may be of interest to many families who are looking for health related resources for their children. For this review, I was given two months free access to their streaming videos.
MarshMedia produces health education products for grades K through 8. There are dvds available as well as video streaming. The streaming videos are easily accessed and have an average length of around 15 minutes. Currently there are 54 videos available for streaming which cover a variety of topics such as:
- health
- hygiene
- puberty
- nutrition
- safety
- AIDS/HIV/Immune System
- bullying
- character education
- social skills
There are educational programs for children with special needs as well, though their signature products are their puberty education series.
Here is a list of some (not all) of the videos that are available:
Though MarshMedia assures their videos do not discuss sex education, you will find references to this sensitive topic as well as things like drug use, as their primary focus is on health and puberty. For each video, you will find very clear descriptions and age recommendations which will help you determine which videos are appropriate for your children. Even so, I always previewed the material first, just to make sure and to prepare myself for any questions that may arise.
At the start, we focused on watching more of the health and nutrition videos, like Washing Your Hands, Head Lice, Taking Care of your Ears, Taking Care of your Eyes, Go Slow Woah – Nutrition and Taking Care of your Teeth. Our boys found some of the videos to be a little slow, as they knew a lot of the information already, though this was probably due to their age. Next, we watched a book that was read on bullying and then some on safety issues.
One video that they have watched is You’re Not a Little Kid Anymore, which provided them with some basic self-care (personal hygiene) knowledge that they need to know. This video is aimed at children in grades 3 – 5 and our boys enjoyed watching it and learnt a little as well.
Another one they really enjoyed was Blood Vs Germs. Our boys love learning about the human body. This video is aimed at children in grades 5 – 8 and is all about how germs and diseases spread and how the immune system works to fight off these bugs.
Overall, we have enjoyed watching many of the videos we have seen so far and am looking forward to watching more. I like having the ability to stream the videos, enabling us to stop and start each video when questions arose. We found that the age group recommendations for each video were correctly labelled. Since these videos do come from a secular standpoint, I am glad to see that, out of the ones we have watched, there hasn’t been anything offensive or inappropriate as yet.
As I mentioned above, MarshMedia have an incredible deal for homeschooling families. All homeschooling families can receive access to all these videos for only $50, normally this is priced up to $70 per program. You will receive access to watch these videos as many times as you like until the end of this year. For more details, read this.
If you wish to take advantage of the opportunity to introduce the MarshMedia curriculum to your home schooler(s) click on the link below for more information:
Marshmedia Links: