I was invited to review the Awesome Science: Exploring Mount St. Helens DVD from Master Books (a division of New Leaf Publishing Group). This is one of several DVD’s, available for purchase here, for $14.99. I did discover later, when exploring the website, that there is a study guide available as well, which can be purchased as a 5” x 8” paper back for $3.99, or can be downloaded to your computer for free.

This DVD is part of a series, which is produced by Kyle Justice and his home-school family team, whose work has appeared on programs from National Geographic, ESPN, and The Creation Network, and is hosted by teen Noah Justice. He guided us in a very engaging way to biblical truth on the ground at many well-known geological sites and national parks.

Shortly after our mail carrier delivered this DVD, my boys began complaining that I was trying to trick them into using our family TV time for school; however, they very quickly became engrossed in watching the program!

Having very recently moved from Michigan to New Mexico, and discovering that there are at least three inactive volcanoes within a few minutes of our home, they have become very interested in learning more about this topic.

Although my husband and I remember the day that Mount St. Helens erupted, and watched all of the news coverage at the time, that was 33 years ago, and our boys had never even heard of it. However, even my husband and I learned a lot while watching the DVD with our boys, as when we originally watched the news coverage; it was obviously not covered by the mainstream news broadcasts within a biblical, creation science context.

From the synopsis on the back of the DVD case:

“On May 18th, 1980, the eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington State caused the largest landslide in modern human history. For nine hours it released the explosive power of one atomic bomb every second, shocking the world with the eruption’s explosive power. Beyond the destruction, it also challenged the way scientists think of catastrophes like this and how they have shaped the earth.”

While watching this DVD, we were shown how events that we could actually see help us to understand the biblical flood, how these events could very clearly be seen to impact rapid erosion, coal formation, and that this event also prove that biologic recovery actually happens relatively quickly, as opposed to over the millions of years evolutionists claim. Watching the DVD, we saw proof through the modern day impact of the eruption of Mount St. Helens, and the recovery afterward. We also learned that canyons, stratified layers, and petrified forests actually form rapidly.

This DVD (and the rest of the series) is designed to give the viewer a “field trip around the world to explore geologic and historical evidence which supports the biblical record”, and I feel that it does a very good job at meeting that goal. At 30 minutes in length, the DVD does not give the children time to be bored, and really packs a lot of information in a fun, fast paced, very well filmed manner.

Within the very first 10 minutes of beginning to view the DVD after popping it into our DVD player, I had one child already begging me to order the remaining DVD’s in the series, and after viewing it, we have already gone to the National Petro glyph Monument Park here in Albuquerque, where we were able to see a lot of basalt rock, which is “basically lava rock,” according to my geologically minded son (the one who wants the remaining DVD’s).

Something my husband and I especially like is the fact that whenever biblical evidence is given, the words, “Check your Bible!” shows on the screen, along with the biblical references. We also appreciate that this series is created by a home-schooling family, which means the purchase goes to support them, rather than a large, impersonal company. 

We do recommend this product, very highly, and in fact are intending to order the remaining DVD’s in the series within the next day or so. We are also hoping there will be further episodes of this series available in the near future.

Product Review by Lori Moffit, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, March, 2013