credit: Shatterpoint Entertainment, behind the scenes of Jericho

Stop motion animation (using any medium such as LEGO® bricks, clay, or action figure)  is a skill that many children (and grown-ups alike) would love to learn. It takes determination, a great attention to detail, creativity and a whole lot of patience! It can literally takes months to film one small scene.

My friend Wendy Rondina is the founder, along with her husband and 2 children, of Shatterpoint Entertainment, a production company with seriously amazing skills in stop motion animation. I asked Wendy to share her experiences with us today. Be sure to read all the way to the end, Wendy has a giveaway for you!

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We started this journey into film making completely by the Hand of God. You see, He gave Mark and I two wonderful and wonderfully DIFFERENT children.  Jessica, our first born, was very goal oriented and people-pleasing, while Anthony, was a sweet, good hearted little boy that couldn’t seem to stay on task. When we enrolled them in private Christian school, I thought, “Now I can volunteer and help out at their school.”  Anthony was diagnosed with ADHD (with emphasis on the “H”) and my sweet little boy was beginning to get a bad label from some of the teachers at the school. After 3 years in this environment, we knew God was asking us to homeschool our children.

When I started to teach Anthony, I discovered that he hated the sound of the pencil touching the paper when he wrote his assignments. He told me the sound “hurt his ears”. For the first 6 months our school day went as follows: School in the A.M., followed by the afternoon of Anthony crying in his room and me crying in mine! During one of those “crying” sessions I asked the Lord to show me how to teach my precious son. He said, “Teach him with what he loves. That’s how I made him.” All he loved doing was playing with LEGOS®. I was very nervous, because 16 years ago NO ONE was doing anything with these plastic pieces. We did math, reading and storytelling with bricks. Eventually Anthony’s entire curriculum revolved around lego bricks.

When Anthony and Jessica were in high school I gave them an assignment. Work together on a project of their own choosing, showing mastery of some part of the ancient history we just went over. Jessica wanted to make a quilt. Anthony wanted to make a movie with lego bricks because THAT came naturally to him. So Wars of Humanity I: Attack of the Plagues was made. When I read that Doug Philips, of Vision Forum, was starting a film academy and festival for aspiring Christian filmmakers, my only prayer was, “Lord, please use this competition to allow my children to hone their computer skills, so some day they can get a job!” Boy, did God have other, larger plans for them and our entire family! 

We entered “Wars” and were absolutely blown away by the response to our film. The people in attendance loved the movie, Christian producers and filmmakers started sharing their knowledge and talents with us, and encouraged us to make more films. After Wars of Humanity II: The Price of Rebellion, Jericho: The Promise Fulfilled became our third film.

We were blessed to be led to many Godly men and women who encouraged not only our children, but Mark and I also. Since there wasn’t a “film curriculum” to go by, we went all over the country to learn from these people, sometimes meeting for a few hours, other times spending a week in a make shift “film camp”. The journey has been wild and wonderful. We have all learned SO much.

Since “Jericho” our daughter’s vision was to make a companion comic book to go along with the movie. However, she wanted it to be more than just a comic– it is actually a Bible study that takes children through 9 different books of the Old and New Testaments, through cleverly placed “yellow back story” boxes. The child can read, or the parent to take them on a journey through the Bible to learn more facts about Jericho. Two very important things are accomplished with this:

1. The children go on a “treasure hunt” through God’s Word.
2. It shows them the continuity of His Word.  The last page of the comic book allows children to share their faith with their friends by taking them through the “Roman Road”.

We are currently working on a “How to Animate” DVD curriculum. The first level (there will be 3) will be out shortly.

The best advice I could give to parents is to pray and ask God to “unlock” the creativity in themselves. Then God will instruct them how to release the creativity in their children. We were created to be creative… as God reveals your creativity, He will teach you how to challenge, inspire and instruct your children. He will show you their bents and how your “twig” needs to be encouraged! You may not see the fruit for a while– but you WILL see the fruit. Just be faithful in the smaller task He asks you to do each day and He will make you overseer of larger things.

I had no idea when I started using lego bricks to teach my son math that God would someday turn our family into filmmakers. Mark and I didn’t study filming in college, we don’t have backgrounds in movie making, but God has us producing movies and ministering to people around the world… All because we were faithful to walk day-by-day with Him.  What can He do with you and your family’s willingness and talents? He is truly AMAZING and so much BIGGER than we ever imagine!!

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Jericho: the Promise Fulfilled is a stop-motion animation film made entirely with bricks and minifigures. The Rondina family are offering two lucky readers a set of one DVD and the companion comic book. All you need to do to enter is to leave a comment. Wendy and I would love to hear what your kids’ passions are. If you would like more than one chance to enter, there are more options via the Giveaway Tools Widget. 

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As an official LEGO Education Blogger and Homeschool Ambassador, I am partnering with LEGO Education to help bring attention to the many wonderful products that LEGO Education offers for homeschoolers and educators. All opinions are entirely my own and my love of LEGO products is real and genuine. How could one not love these products!
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Join me for a 10 day Hopscotch about using LEGO products in your homeschool, April 15-19 and 22-26. This Hopscotch is organized by iHomeschool Network, a collaboration of outstanding homeschool bloggers who connect with each other and with family-friendly companies in mutually beneficial projects. Visit us on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. And of course, click the image below to visit all the other Hopscotch articles from these homeschool moms of the iHomeschool Network.

Be sure to scroll down as I have a giveaway today!

Renewable energy is energy that comes from our sun. LEGO Education has an add-on set just for this as well! My son is fascinated by solar and kinetic energy, so this set held his interest for a very very long time and he is still building on it with more ideas. This set contains a solar panel, energy meter, motor, LED lights, fan blades, and more.  With this set, you will learn about energy sources such as solar, wind, hydropower, wind power, and tidal power. In contrast to fossil fuels and other non-renewable energy sources, the energy that comes from the sun is continuously renewable and sustainable. You’ll discover exactly how these sources work to bring various forms of power to our planet.

I have been raving all week about all the LEGO Education curriculum and here is an example why…the curriculum guides follow the format of Connect, Construct, Contemplate, and Continue.

1. “Connect” simply connects the new learning experience to one the student already knows. For example, the main hand generator model might remind students of a flashlight that is charged by hand cranking.
2. “Construct” is the section where the student follows the building instructions, engaging both hands and mind.
3. “Contemplate” deepens the understanding of the model just build. This is where the experimentation, investigations, predictions and worksheets come in.
4. “Continue” is the section for advanced learners where more investigation is encouraged.

What you can find in each and every teacher’s guides for the add-on sets, like the Energy Set and Pneumatics Set:

• For transcript purposes, the guide tells you exactly which science requirements you are meeting.
• A check off learning grid.
• A historical background on the science.
• Discussion topics.
• Enrichment activities
• Worksheets
• Vocabulary terms

Keep in mind that this set is an add-on set, which means you do need the Simple and Motorized Mechanisms Base Set that I wrote about previously. With these sets, you can create:

• hand generator
• solar station
• wind turbine, like the one pictured at the top
• hydro turbine
• solar vehicle
• boat pulley
• lawn mower
• moving sign
• motorized fan
• court light

Check out this video to get your kids excited about renewable energy:

• Base set (includes pieces and instruction booklets) $99.95
• Activity Pack (includes printed activity pack in a 3-ring binder, CD with notes/worksheets) $69.95
• Homeschool set (includes both of the above) $161.95

And now for my giveaway…

it really has nothing to do with renewable energy, but it is a very fun prize. In additional to being an official LEGO Education homeschool brand ambassador, I am also a blogging ambassador for DK Publishing, the company that is a homeschooler’s dream come true. DK is providing 3 books, 1 book each for 3 winners. Please enter via the widget below and be sure to leave a comment stating which book you’d love to have if you are chosen.

• LEGO Ninjago: Fight the Power of the Snakes Brickmaster
• LEGO Friends: Brickmaster
• LEGO Harry Potter: Characters of the Magical World

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As an official LEGO Education Blogger and Homeschool Ambassador, I am partnering with LEGO Education to help bring attention to the many wonderful products that LEGO Education offers for homeschoolers and educators. All opinions are entirely my own and my love of LEGO products is real and genuine. How could one not love these products!
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Join me for a 10 day Hopscotch about using LEGO products in your homeschool, April 15-19 and 22-26. This Hopscotch is organized by iHomeschool Network, a collaboration of outstanding homeschool bloggers who connect with each other and with family-friendly companies in mutually beneficial projects. Visit us on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. And of course, click the image below to visit all the other Hopscotch articles from these homeschool moms of the iHomeschool Network.