What’s the best way to get 3,000+ home videos on my hard drive into Lightroom CC?

file / import photos and video...

I’ve tried that but it times out, freezes, etc. Wonder if there is a max number of items per import.

I recommend that first you try importing a small sample of your videos (e.g. 100), making sure to sample the different cameras and file formats, and trying out everything you'd like to do with the videos in LR.  LR's support for video is minimal and many people experience significant issues trying to use it.

yea slow but sure is the best way, also lightroom room wont reimport a file that has been done before