When Vision Forum asked me to choose one of their new albums to review, my immediate response was to accept the Let Freedom Ring:13 CDs from the Philadelphia Faith and Freedom Tour, being a PA transplant; but my husband said “No way, didn’t you say we should send DS to their Film Academy? Get the movie album!” Even after reminding him that DS was no were near the age to attend the Academy, hubby insisted that Lights, Cameras, Action! Highlights from the 2009 Christian Filmmakers Academy was the definite way to go; besides he’d listen to all 19 CDs with me…
Well, having a deadline negated hubby from listening (he heard about half of one) but I was totally blown away with the content included on these CDs! DS has been begging for the CDs and I think I will hold them out as the proverbial carrot if you know what I mean, if hubby doesn’t snag them for his car ride into work.
Why was I so impressed? Part of it may have been I underestimated the Christian Filmmakers Academy, I just didn’t realize how professional they really were nor did I understand the vast amount of information they would convey.
I learned so much about film making starting with the very basics of frame composition and camera selection to uses for color grading and even some stunt secrets – baby powder, who knew? How to avoid common mistakes for beginning directors, how to help your actors, contacts for networking, they even touched on proper padding for stunt professionals, camera angles, storyboarding, marketing and distribution!
What didn’t I like about the album? Speaking as a newbie here and really not knowing about the film industry other than as a consumer, what I know has come from DVD Special Features and what my DS has taught me with his stop motion films or camcorder shorts, my biggest disappointment was that it was only the Highlights. Next was that since we were discussing film, it would have been nice to see the clips under discussion; I realize however, that this may have not been possible due to copyright issues. So, I had to be content with PDFs of the slides used during the lectures.
Even more impressive than the massive technical information was the fact that, sometimes while listening, I felt as if I was in church. I know we are to live our lives through the lens of Scripture, but knowing that and doing that are two different things. I was extremely humbled hearing from men who truly see God as the center of all things, are excelling in their selected field, and are willing to educate others.
The Biblical foundation they laid certainly applied to film, but so much more: the arts in general, writing, comics, painting, graphic novels, and video games – all areas DS and other young men are interested in; not only in the creation of, but for the viewing of as well.
Certainly listening to successful producers, directors, and actors whom have movies in the theaters, on cable, and in DVD distribution; extolling the virtues of Christ while imparting the importance of maintaining and promoting a Biblical world view add credence to what many of us parents are already teaching our aspiring artists.
Thank you, Vision Forum and Christian Filmmakers Academy! We’ll be looking forward to next years CDs.
Wow – sorry about how long those lapbooks took to post!
But finally all of last years books are on the blog. We did the Shape Lapbook and the Opposite Lapbook at the end of DS preschool year and the Five Senses, Dinosaur, Oceans/Octopus (really Eric Carle’s A House for Hermit Crab), Insects and More!, and Butterfly Lapbooks during his Kindergarten year.
I had a lot more things I had wanted to post for the grandfolks and for the Homeschool community from last year for both boys – but let’s face it, with this year over half way done it is time to move on!
Hopefully, the next thing I will be posting is DS12’s posters from his 4-H DPA presentation, for which he came in second in the Art category, and some of the astounding artwork both boys are doing through Cindy Rushton’s Talk-a-latte On-line Kids Classes.
I’m an affiliate for Cindy Rushton – so if you are interested in joining the art classes please take a look through my links, I’d greatly appreciate it!
We are REALLY enjoying Sharon Jeffus of Visual Manna.The boys were ecstatic when their kits came and now enjoy Mondays!DS12 had taken “Geography through Art”, a one day workshop with Sharon, when we lived in SC so we were familiar with her business; which is why I took a gamble on on-line art classes. We (my husband and I) have been overwhelmed how well the classes are going, both in presentation and the boys work. So hold on Grands – and as soon as hubby downloads the pictures I’ve taken – I’ll be posting.
Talk-a-Latte Art-1 Classes – Family Pack This is what we are doing, both classes for 1 low price: which you can download and use for as many children you have for the rest of your homeschool! Not to mention Dad and Mom. PS: kits are extra — I know that is probably obvious, but it didn’t dawn on me until later.
I know what your thinking, why in the world would you pay for Astronomy classes as you have a minor in Space Science and your husband graduated with a Space Science degree! So, you don’t think I’m insane here are my reasons:
1st I heard of Felice through Cindy’s 2008 Ultimate Homeschool Expo so I know she is scientifically and Biblically solid.
2nd I wanted a low cost way to introduce DS12 (next week he’ll be DS13) to Internet Courses as a prep for High School.
3rd, I wanted DS12 to practice technical note taking from a lecture versus a more objective note taking you would do for say a sermon.
4th DS6 wants to do whatever, and I mean WHATEVER, DS12 does so by getting the family package…
by MrsSmile posted under Uncategorized | Comments Off
After reading Eric Carle’s The Hungry Caterpillar and discussing Collage Art we painted the folder, cut shapes from construction paper to be flowers and stems.
We printed the My Symmetrical Butterfly from http://www.homeschoolshare.com/butterfly_lapbook.php on cardstock and creased the butterfly down the center, upon unfolding the butterfly and using a much thicker type of paint, painted the body and ½ the butterfly’s wings before carefully refolding the butterfly and pressing firmly. Peel open and let dry, cut-out, and attach to collage.
Pages 5 and 6
Matching game form www.preschoolprintables.com– the way we played, as he was a bit older, was more of a Memory game.
All the pieces are in the envelope (printed on cardstock and cutout) with the addition of blank cardstock “squares” which we used to cover the butterflies on the folder.The cutout butterflies were placed face down on the floor and we took turns turning over one butterfly and uncovering one folder butterfly in attempts to acquire a match.
Books We Read:
How to Hide a Butterfly & other Insects by Ruth Heller
Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert
Born to be a Butterfly by Karen Wallace
Know It Alls Butterflies! by Darlene Freeman
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Butterflies Animal World by Donna Baily
Miss Emma’s Wild Garden by Anna Grossnickle Hines
Crinkleroot’s Guide to Knowing Butterflies & Moths by Jim Arnosky
Take two folders and place one file folder inside the other
Take the 3rd and cut it so the bottom expanding sections act as an attachment and place on the outside of the first 2 (so short side is on front of book and the full page is an extra page at the end of the book).Save the leftover piece to make a lift-up page later.
Open and staple in the middle, close book and glue/tape the front flap to the front of the file book
Exoskeleton book: we copied a picture from the encyclopedia that showed a grasshopper and it’s old exoskeleton then described the picture on the inside and pasted the definition from http://dictionary.reference.com
http://www.kizclub.com/craft/insectsbox.pdfI printed the bugs only on cardstock than colored and cut them out – gave DS a bug net and threw the bugs in the air until he caught them then “mounted” them to his lapbook (winter alternative to outdoor bug hunt)
Match a Ladybug pocket: Numerals to Dot Patterns on Ladybug Cards (My creation printed on red paper)
Lift up page (leftover from the page added to the back of the book):
Ladybug Clock on top, add brad before pasting Ladybug Lore on bottom of lift-up page so it covers the brad. I printed the clock twice: once on cardstock for the hands and once on red colored paper for the clock part.http://www.vickiblackwell.com/ladybugclock.pdf
Cover: Coloring page 
Pages 1 and 2
Pages 3 and 4
Pages 5 and 6
Cover: Color by Number (Dover Sample) 
Inside Left Page
Page 3: Ant
Eric Carle’s The Grouchy Ladybug layer book
Bee
Spider
MrsSmile
