Homeschool Crew Review: Stopmotion Explosion

We were first introduced to Stopmotion Explosion when we reviewed it back in 2016.  My boys LOVED it!  We were so excited to see them on our vendor list this year and even more so when we were chosen to review the updated Stop Motion Animation Kit.

The Stop Motion Animation Kit includes:

• 294 page Stopmotion Explosion Animate Anything and Make Movies  paperback book
•  Animation Software compatible with Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10 & OS X 7.5+ 
•  1080p HD video camera with internal microphone, manual focus, and clip
• Stopmotion Explosion Quick Start Guide

Stopmotion Explosion began when two homeschooled brothers, Nate and Ryan Eckerson made animated LEGO movies by double tapping the record button in their camcorder.  Many people had questions about the movies they made wondering how they were made and if they could do it too.  "Learn Movie Making With Stop Motion Animation" was released in 2006 and over the years it has gone through technology upgrades and changes and became Stopmotion Explosion.

The Quick Start Guide is only 12 pages long and gives you the basics of getting started.  This is a great tool because once the package arrives of course they will want to get started right away! 


The Stopmotion Explosion Animate ANYTHING and Make Movies book is divided into 17 chapters:   How Movies Work Animation Actors Creating Stories Building Sets Cameras Lighting Composition Animating Flight The Art of War Sound Video Editing Files and Formats Frame Conversions Sharing Your Animations Animating with DSLRs What Next? Index   The book can be read from beginning to end if you are not familiar with anything about Stop Motion or if you need help with a specific area such as sound, you can go to that chapter to find what you need.  The chapters are illustrated with black and white images and also has links to websites and tutorials helpful to making and animating your films.   The Stopmotion Explosion software is very easy to install on your computer.  The kit comes with a CD Rom but if your computer does not have a disk drive you can download it online.  A sound effect software called Audacity also downloads. Both installed fairly quickly on my Windows 10 laptop.     The camera is very easy to set up.  It has a clip and a cord that is 4 1/2 feet long.  The new camera made a big difference from when we used the Stop Motion Animation Kit before.  The last camera was a 720p and this one is a 1080p.  The picture quality was much, much better then before.

The book talks about how you can animate and make movies using anything and this is true.  You do not have to spend any money buying expensive props, you can use whatever you have laying around the house. My boys usually choose LEGO figures but they have also used little robots, plastic dinosaurs and figures, plastic snakes, and even construction paper things they have made.  To get started my boys decide on a movie they would like to film, choose their figures, write a script, and choose a backdrop or make one.  They get all of their stuff set up in the living room and start filming.

The camera is attached to your computer using a USB cord.  If you have a webcam built in to your computer you will have to change to change the source but this is simple to do. Using the software is very easy.  It gets opened up on the computer and it shows a window that your camera will see and a SME box that you use to "grab" your frames by clicking the mouse.  The photos you grab are saved so if you have to take a break you can get back to it later.  After you finish filming you make the movie and save it to your computer.  Then you can use a software such as Windows Movie Maker to edit and add effects to your film.  When you finish that step you can publish your video to Youtube or share it on social media.

Christian absolutely loves Stopmotion Explosion!  A few weeks ago we had a 4 H Talks and Talent competition.  He competed in a category called Technology Showcase.  His talk 5 minute talk was about making Stop Motion films using the Stop Motion Animation Kit.  He demonstrated how to use it and made a very short film in front of the judges.  He won 1st place and will move on to the district competition in June.  And after hearing about his interest in film, a local person who makes promotional videos offered to mentor him and teach him how to use Green Screen and film a 4 H Promotional video.

Here is a Stop Motion he made called Lego Disco Robots.  The lighting in our house is not great and the lamp he uses for extra light broke but it still turned out really good!

StopMotion Explosion teaches children about many different aspects of film making such as sets, lighting, and sound.  The kit is easy for children to use and helps them be successful.  There are many different ways you can use this kit in your homeschool.  Besides the obvious lessons in making films, you could also reinforce things that they have learned in many of their other subjects.  We are studying the lymphatic system in science and Christian thinks it would be a great idea to film a white blood cell destroying all the germs.

Stopmotion Explosion also recently released an iOs app.  Now you can make movies on the go!

To see what my Crew Mates had to say, stop by the Crew Blog!

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Homeschool Wrap Up Week 31

 Week 31 in our Homeschool

Bible: We did 3 lessons in the 10 Minute Bible Journey.

Read Aloud: We finished The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis ending our third trek into the Narnia series.  We are finally halfway (Chapter 28) in DragonKnight.

History: We started on Week 4 of Pathway to Liberty.  We read a couple of chapters on Henry Ford and in the Age of Extremes (not completely sure what I think of the author's perspective in this book) and watched a documentary on inventions on the 1930's. 

Science: We completed the lessons on Leonardo da Vinci in Techie Homeschool Mom and made a parachute.

Poetry: We started working on The Hayloft by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Art: This week's lesson in ARTistic Pursuits was on Ancient Egyptian Murals.  The children were supposed to tape their mural papers to the wall and use pastels to create a mural that told a story.  Emmie though she would rather tape her paper to her tray and that was fine too.  Somehow I did not get completed pictures of Lily and Anthony's work.

Individual School 2-7th

Emmie finished the unit on Bats in Homeschool Complete.  When there are suggested picture books that we don't have, we have been watching them being read on Youtube.  She enjoys this though some readers are better then others.  She watched Stellaluna and Bats at the Beach.  She completed 3 days of Math in Singapore Dimensions and one lesson in AAR Level 2.  The soft g sound is giving her a bit of trouble.

Lily completed 3 lessons in MLFLE.  She read chapter 10 of Little House in the Big Woods and worked on some of the pages for her binder.  She also did 3 lessons in IXL.com language arts.

Christian and Anthony completed step 17 in AAS Level 6.  They did 3 days of Rod and Staff math and watched the video for SWI A (I think it was lesson 13) and started working on their papers.

Other Activities this Week

Tuesday the girls had music lessons and then we headed to trap.  It was a very long practice and we did not get home til 7:45.  It was a beautiful summer like day.

Wednesday we had an appointment at the range because we were not going to be able to be there on Thursday for practice.  Christian shot his best ever 18/25 and was really proud of that.  Afterwards we met Chelsea and Liam at the park for lunch.  It was another beautiful day and we had not been to the park to play in awhile.

Then we had Kid's Club and Children's Choir.

Junior High youth helped stuff the eggs I needed for the upcoming  Easter Egg hunt

Our lesson was about Paul, Aquila, and Pricilla so we made tents

Thursday Emmie had dance.  Lily and I went to walk on the Nature Trail.  She found 3 painted rocks and this really weird thing.

After dance the girls and I went to Nick's soccer game.  It got pretty cold by then.  They won 6-1 and he got to play some at the end of the game.

Friday we finished making some modifications to the SeaPerch which  we tested the next day in the bathtub and it actually made it much heavier and harder to swim through the water so the boys will be making some changes this week.  We only have about a week and half before our final design needs to be submitted.

Then we participated  in a Broiler BBQ workshop/contest.  Alex is the only one that has really cooked on the grill before.  Nick has got it ready and lit it a few times.  I know nothing about cooking on charcoal.  We had Lily working with Nick, Emmie with Alex, and Christian and Anthony together.  Christian and Anthony's chicken did not make it up to temperature and could not be judged.  Lily got 3rd, Emmie 2nd, Alex 2nd, and Nick 3rd.  I think Alex will go on to the Distric Competition in May.  He plans on practicing a bit first.

Trap Shoot was cancelled Saturday because of storms.  We got a ton of rain, thunder, and wind but not as bad as they were predicting.

Sunday Emmie sang with Children's Choir in the Cantata.  That afternoon we had a Cookout and Easter Egg Hunt at the church.

And we discovered some dwarf rabbit babies.  I did not mention the last litter we had because they killed them.  I told Nick we would try again and see what happened.  She had them sometime yesterday morning. He found the nest in the nesting box after church.  We did not want to disturb her so we do not even know how many are there, but saw at least three.

I hope you had a great week!

Happy Homeschooling!

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Homeschool Crew Review: Transcripts Made Easy: The Homeschooler's Guide to High-School Paperwork

Many homeschool parents dread the high school years.  They worry about tracking credits, making transcripts, and doing it well enough to ensure that their children will be be able to pursue their future goals.  Everyday Education takes the fear out of record keeping and makes it easy on the parent with Transcripts Made Easy: The Homeschooler's Guide to High-School Paperwork.  I received a digital version of this resource to use and review.

Janice Campbell from Everyday Education has graduated 4 boys and since 2011 has helped homeschoolers with a variety of resources, information, and curriculum.  We have used and loved her literature series, Excellence in Literature and also used her Handbook for Writers and found it very helpful.

Transcripts Made Easy: The Homeschooler's Guide to High-School Paperwork came as a138 page PDF download ($19.95)  It can also be purchased as a physical book for $24.95 or you can buy a combination of both.  It is divided into 6 parts:

Part 1: Meet the Transcript- This section gives you all the basics of transcripts.  You will find out what it is and what the different parts are, who needs one, and who sees one.  You will get an overview of the transcript process and suggestions on where to start in the book depending on where you are in your transcript making journey.


Part 2: Plan with the End in Mind- This section talks about planning high school with your end goal in mind.  It has suggested course schedules for college bound students, sample high school requirements (every state is different), skills and habits to cultivate in high school, 7 strategies for a successful 1st year of college, and alternatives to college.  It also has a high school Q & A and 6 things your child can do while homeschooling high school.


Part 3: Keep Simple Records- This section talks about how to keep your high school records, gives suggestions on different ways to keep records (class profile worksheets, subject worksheets), and naming courses.  It also has a section on Special Needs Transcripts and Special Needs Resources.


Part 4: Grades, Credit, and the GPA- This section is everything on grading: how to grant credit, grading written work, grading scale, how to calculate a GPA, granting credit for honors courses, or dual courses, grading for unschoolers. and more.


Part 5: Create the Transcript- Here you will information and samples on creating the actual transcript.  It also talks about creating a high school diploma.


Part 6: References, Resources, and Reproducibles - Here you will find a glossary and your reproducible forms for record keeping and making transcripts.  It also has a resources section.

This is the 4th Edition of Transcripts Made Easy: The Homeschooler's Guide to High-School Paperwork.  In this edition Janice made changes based on the changes in the admissions process to college, added more information and transcript formats.  The section on transcripts for students with special needs was updated, an all new section was added on what college freshman need to know to succeed the first year, and the information on college alternatives was added.

I have already had one child graduate and my next oldest will be as senior next year.  I have written articles on this blog and other websites about tracking credits and making transcripts.  I live in a state that has a group that works for homeschoolers and creates their transcripts for them when you provide the information.  But, I still found Transcripts Made Easy to be very helpful to me.

One of the sections I found to be the most helpful was Part 3: Keep Simple Records.  I learned the hard way with my oldest how important keeping records is.  I had not done a very good job of it and when it came time to make her transcript I was searching through books and notebooks to find grades and class names and descriptions. It would have been much easier if I would've kept everything in one place.  With Nick I have gotten better at keeping track year by year but I loved the suggestions in this book and the reproducible forms included.  All you need to do is print them out, fill them out, put them in a binder for that student, and everything you need is in one spot.

Another thing I found VERY helpful was the discussion and the listed resource on naming classes.  A friend and I were just talking about how hard it is to come up with course names sometimes.  How many different ways can you say Home Ec or Ag?  Well, the link provided will give you names and class descriptions for many different types of classes and may give you ideas for what types of classes your child will want to take based on their interests.

Even if you have a service that will make your transcript for you you still need to be knowledgeable about the process.  You need to keep records and send them information.  You need to look it over and make sure no mistakes were made ( we have had mistakes on ours before.)  And honestly sometimes it is just easier to do it yourself.  I have been in a position the last few weeks that I am waiting for an updated copy of Nick's transcript and found out just yesterday that they had held it and not even updated it yet.  It would've been easier to do it myself instead of depending on someone else.

If you are at the end of your middle school journey or the beginning of your high school journey,  Transcripts Made Easy: The Homeschooler's Guide to High-School Paperwork will be a resource you will want to have.  But even if you have experience with grading the high school years and making a transcript you will still find very helpful information in this resource.

To see what my Crew Mates had to say, stop by the Crew Blog!

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Homeschool Crew Review YWAM Publishing Heroes of History Laura Ingalls Wilder

Books from YWAM Publishing are a staple in our house.  We fell in love with them back in 2013 when we did our first review from YWAM,  George Washington True Patriot.  Since then we have chosen many of their books for family read alouds.  I was very excited to have an opportunity to choose a book to review from the Heroes of History series on one of my favorite people from history, Laura Ingalls Wilder.  For the last several weeks we have been reading and using the study guide for Heroes of History- Laura Ingalls Wilder.

 YWAM Publishing commits themselves to producing and distributing books that encourage Christians and make a difference in the world.  The Heroes of History series is a biography series that tells the story of fascinating men and women who shaped the course of history.  The series contains books on presidents, scientists, authors, inventors, explorers and so much more. Recommended age for the series is 10 and up if they are reading independently, but it can be used with younger children if you are reading aloud.

Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Storybook Life is a 193 page paperback book with 15 chapters.  It tells the fascinating story of one of the most well known pioneers in history who lived through many changes  over her 92 years and wrote her family's story as pioneers in a well loved children's series that children are still reading today.  Laura never set out to be w writer, she was a hard worker helping out on the farms, in a hotel, as a seamstress, a teacher, a farmer's wife, and many other things.  She started writing newspaper articles on homesteading and over time and with the death of many of her family members desired to preserve her father's stories and the tragedies and triumphs her family went through as pioneers so she started writing them down.  With the advice of her daughter Rose, a famous writer, ended up becoming a published author.

The book focuses quite a bit on Laura's younger years.  Her families many moves, and the memories she had, both happy and sad.  Happy memories such as the stories her father told and music that he played, the Sugaring Off dance at her grandparents and her times playing with her cousins and sad memories such as the plague of grasshoppers and the death of her brother.  Then the story moves to her teenage years in South Dakota and her marriage to Almanzo Wilder.  Their struggles continued including fire. illness, and the death of a child.  After a few more moves (they even spent some time living in Florida) they ended up in Mansfield Missouri where Laura eventually began writing and they lived the remainder of their lives.

The downloadable study guide to go along with the book is 84 pages and is split up into two parts.  The first part contains:

Key Quotes: quotes that relate to the topic of study that your student can memorize, discuss, or use as copywork.

Display Corner: Ideas for things you can collect or gather to display relating to Laura Ingalls Wilder's life.

Chapter Questions: Each chapter has a vocabulary question, a factual question, a comprehension question, and an open ended question.

Student Explorations: Suggestions for a variety of activities students can learn from such as essay writing, creative writing, hands on activities, audio/visual projects, and arts and crafts to enhance their studies.

Community Links: Suggestions of places students can go or people they can talk to that relate to the study of Laura Ingalls Wilder

Social Studies: Has 6 different sections: places, journey, terms/vocabulary, geographical characteristics, timeline, and conceptual questions.

Related Themes to Explore: Suggestions in the areas of science, literature, folk culture, history, and geography for your children to explore.

Culminating Event: Ideas for an event to mark the end of the study.

It also has a list of books and resources for further study and  answers to chapter questions.

The second part has forms you can print out and fill out such as: a fact sheet on Laura Ingalls Wilder, maps (we colored all of the states she lived in), and a timeline.

 I have been reading Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Storybook Life aloud to my 8,10, 12, and 13 year olds.  I chose this book because Laura Ingalls Wilder is one of my favorite people from history and though I have studied her extensively I had never read this biography.  The timing was good for us because my 10 year old has been reading Little House in the Big Woods and was curious to find out more about Laura and though I have aloud a few of her other books to my boys, I had never read a biography. 

We love the YWAM books.  The chapters are the perfect length for a read aloud and we can finish a book in 4-5 weeks.  The books are written in a way that is very interesting to read and understand.  It is full of facts but written in a story like format. I love reading these books aloud to my children because I have a chance to learn right along with them.   Often things that we read in the books cause us to go on little rabbit trails to learn more about the topic. After reading about the grasshoppers destroying everything they wanted to do some research on that.  We all find it fascinating that even though there are no surviving direct descendants of Charles Ingalls, their family will be forever remembered through the Little House series. Reading this biography has stirred their interest in the pioneer culture and they have been doing further research. My 8 year old even started wearing a bonnet and pinafore (even to church one day!) and wanted to be assigned more chores like Laura..  She was so cute!

The study guide is so much more then questions and answers.  It contains a variety of activities that will enhance your studies.  The different types of activities will suit may kinds of learners.  It is so easy for families to pick and choose the items they want to do, or they can choose to complete all of it.  By reading several books and completing the unit studies you can turn this series into a history curriculum.  We answered the study guide questions aloud and completed the fact sheet, map, and timeline.  There are so many great activities you will definitely be able to find some you will enjoy.  Don't tell my children but I am hoping to take them on a field trip this summer to the Laura Ingalls Wilder homes and museum in Mansfield Missouri.   I have been once before 13 years ago and it is an amazing experience to see all of the things that were written about in the books!  I think it would be a perfect ending to our study this year.

I highly recommend any of the books from YWAM Publishing.  We have read several from the Heroes of History including: George Washington, Thomas Edison, Orville Wright, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln and Meriweather Lewis.  We also have read several of the Christian Heroes: Then and Now series including: George Muller, Amy Carmichael, Brother Andrew, Corrie ten Boom, C.S. Lewis, William Booth, David Livingstone, Gladys Aylward, Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, and John Wesley.

Member of The Crew reviewed several different books from YWAM Publishing.  To see what my Crew Mates had to say, stop by the Crew Blog!

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Homeschool Wrap Up Week 30

Homeschool Wrap Up Week 30

Bible: We did 3 lessons in the 10 Minute Bible Journey.

Read Aloud: We finished the YWAM Biography on Laura Ingalls Wilder and completed some of the study guide pages.  I planned on playing some music from Experience History Through Music Musical Memories of Laura Ingalls Wilder but I could not find it anywhere!  I either misplaced it or loaned it out I'm not sure.  We read a few chapters of The Last Battle and DragonKnight ( I feel like we have been reading it forever and are still not even halfway finished!)

History: I jumped forward to week 3 in our review of Pathway to Liberty.  These lessons take a lot longer then our usual history and took up a big chunk of our school days this week.  As part of the course we watched parts 1-3 of a documentary called Seeds of Change, read two chapters in Henry Ford a Young Man with Ideas and a few chapters in Age of Extremes and completed the assigned pages to go along with the readings.

Science: We completed the lessons on Galileo in Techie Homeschool Famous Inventors and made a telescope.  We will get back to Apologia Anatomy in a couple of weeks and finish up that book.

Poetry: We are still working on memorizing The Happy Farmer.

Individual School (2-7th) 

Emmie completed 2 lessons in Dimensions Math and read Under the Carpet in AAR Level 2.  She started working on the unit on bats in Homeschool Complete.  For art she did a drawing of a bat. She also made a fleece blanket.

Lily completed her pages from chapter 9 of Little House in the Big Woods for her binder and completed 3 lessons in MLFLE.  Lily made her blanket too.

Christian and Anthony completed Step 16 in AAS Level 6 and 3 lessons in Rod and Staff Math.

Other Activities this Week

Monday was Christian's birthday!  That sweet baby boy is turning into a wonderful young man!

We went out to the range to practice (it was NOT warm!) had to run a few errands, and then went out for a birthday lunch. 

Tuesday Alex and Christian had Trap Practice.

Wednesday was Kid's Club and Children's Choir.

Thursday Emmie had dance. We worked on the SeaPerch and picked up our birds.  We got a batch of 20 Poultry Chain Chicks and so far they are doing great.  Chicks are so cute!  At least for a week or so. After this year I am retiring from this project. 

We drove out to Hope to watch the soccer game.

Friday morning was the local junior AYSSP Trap Shoot.  We had to be there by 7:30 am.  Christian shot 11/25.

I rescheduled music lessons.

Friday night was our 4 H Achievement Awards Banquet.  The theme was Ride High With 4 H.  Emmie was a greeter, Lily played piano for entertainment, Nick gave a speech on SeaPerch, Alex gave a speech on Adventure Challenge Camp, and Christian led the Pledge of Allegiance.  We had a silent auction to raise money for the SeaPerch Competition.

Emmie won a Cloverbud Journal Award

Lily won a county and district award for her Beginner Home Environment Record Book.  She also won County Champion!  She is very proud of that!  It is an award for 4 H Participation for ages 9 and up.  You can win every 3 years.  The first time you win you get a duffel bag with your name on it.

Christian won county and district for his Beginner Technology and Engineering Record Book.

Anthony won county and district for his Intermediate Technology and Engineering Record Book.

Alex won county and district for his Intermediate Animal Science Record Book.

Nicholas won State for his Advanced Technology and Engineering Record Book!  When you get to the advanced level it is more difficult.  You have to add a resume to your record book.  Only a few across the state are chosen as finalists in each project area.  Then the finalists have to go to an interview.  After the interview the state winners are chosen.  He will get to attend a free trip to Atlanta in November and also be eligible for 4 H state scholarships next year.

Nick also won County Champion. 

It was a big night!

Saturday morning was the local AYSSP Senior Trap Shoot.  We had to be there by 7:30 Alex shot 43/50.  Both boys are doing well for it being their first year to shoot.

I hope you had a great week!

Happy Homeschooling!

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