NOW Available On DVD!

ANIMOTO: How to Create a Video Masterpiece
From Average Joe to Spielberg in Minutes

By Ryan Yee of NerdBoyTV

ON SALE NOW: CLICK here to purchase

Digital photography is booming. Everyone has the capability of taking instant, stunningly beautiful pictures with today's technology. But after you fill an external hard drive with tons of digital photos, what then?

Enter ANIMOTO, a fantastic web application that quickly transforms your photo memories into an amazing and professional video. ANIMOTO was created by techies and film/video producers who wanted a user-friendly program that takes photo images, videoclips, and music and renders them into a video production with the same sophistication of a seasoned director or film editor.

Forget the cheesy transitions that come with many consumer video software on the market—ANIMOTO will definitely make you look like a pro!

In this video tutorial, Ryan Yee of NerdBoyTV shows you how to use ANIMOTO to quickly transform pictures, videoclips, and music into a stunning movie masterpiece in minutes that you could then download, burn to DVD, or share on Facebook.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Ryan Yee is the host of NerdBoyTV, a video podcast focusing on consumer technology that's syndicated on both iTunes and YouTube since 2007. He has over 20 years experience as a trainer, instructional designer, and writer and has consulted with many Fortune 500 companies in California. Not surprisingly, Ryan is also on all social media, including Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, and YouTube.

Meet The Masters: Interactive Multimedia Art Education

Meet The Masters is an Interactive Multi-Media Art Education Based on the Lives and Works of the Master Artists. Your Homeschool students learn Art by studying the greats: Van Gogh, Picasso, Monet, Degas, Rembrandt, and MANY, MANY MORE!



Meet The Masters uses a 3-step learning approach:

* Art History - This interactive step contains audio clips of the master artist's themselves, period music, and fun review games with Pierre (our friendly French companion), all designed to capture the attention and imagination of home schooled children.

* Art Technique - Your students will learn to implement the art principles that correspond with the artist they have just been introduced to with the downloadable Art technique packets. These are available within the program in .pdf format for you to print, as needed.

* Art Activity - Your students will then move on to use the techniques and styles of the Masters to create their very own masterpieces using our step-by-step instructions. As they progress through the program, the children develop their own unique artist style and art portfolio! This Group Buy offers something for every artist at every age level -- ALL at Group Buy savings!

The great Baby Einstein scam

By Parenting on Shine

"Of course it was too good to be true.

The New York Times reported Thursday that Disney is offering a refund to buyers of its ubiquitous “Baby Einstein” videos, which did not, as promised, turn babies into wunderkinds. Apparently, all those puppets, bright colors, and songs were what we had feared all along—a mind-numbing way to occupy infants.

This news has rocked the parenting world, which had embraced the videos as a miraculous child-rearing staple. Videos that make your kid smarter while you prepare dinner? Genius!

Or not. According to the article, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children under two years old stay away from watching screens. In the letter threatening Disney with a class-action lawsuit for 'deceptive advertising,' public health lawyers hired by Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood cited a study which found a link between early television exposure and later problems with attention span.

For many parents, this was the most unsettling of 'duh' moments, and a confirmation that nothing, when it comes to child-rearing, is as ever easy as we'd like to make it. So why were we so quick to seize on Baby Einstein videos as technological tutors?

Call it the perfect storm of parenting. Who doesn’t want to believe that there is a magical, wondrous, no-parental-guidance-required product that will turn their kids into Mensa members? The combination of our lack of time, our paranoia over our kids performance, and our faith in technology primed this generation of parents to accept the clever advertising around 'Baby Einstein' as truth, just as parents before us have seized on corporal punishment, or the teachings of Dr. Spock.

Still, the idea that a caper this big could be pulled off (according to the Times, in “a 2003 study, a third of all American babies from 6 months to 2 years old had at least one 'Baby Einstein' video') is mind-boggling. Disney’s refund is about as close as we’re going to get to an actual admission that we were sold snake oil, and it casts a pall over the other 'educational' toys out there."

Toys That Make Learning Fun

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Tim Hawkins - A Homeschool Family

Found on YouTube...hilarious ;-)

YouTube description said, "Oh, the misconceptions and realities of homeschool life, from comedian (and homeschool dad) Tim Hawkins."

Homeschool Freedom

Another homeschooler demonstrate the "freedom" that comes with homeschooling.

The YouTube description said, "Showing how much freedom I have to learn to play to do whatever I want to do in my life. I love homeschooling! Thanks Laurel Springs for the opportunity."

Thoughts on Homeschooling by AOEGuy

This is a video from YouTube by a guy named AOEGuy--good to hear what kids think about their homeschooling experiences. This guy seems quite genuine and very well-spoken...good for him ;-)

Here's what he wrote on the description:

"I make videos when feelings come to me. If I pass up the chance to make the video, I find that I forget an insight I have on something. I was Homeschooled up until 10th grade. If you are thinking of homeschooling your kids, then definitely check out my experiences. Peace yo."

Homeschool Homies

Oh jeez, another hilarious video found on YouTube. Homeschoolers are soooooooooooooooooooooooo clever! Good job.

Homeschooling with an Attitude

I thought this was very funny...humor based on the truth ;-)