You are a one man band.
...so to speak. I realize you are probably not in a band and most of my readers are female. The band man thing is a metaphor. As a homeschool mom (parent), you do most of the teaching on your own. The common critique of such a system--by those with a different educational model--is that you can't possibly be proficient enough to compete with a "professional educator" who is armed with an educational degree and tends to teach but one subject... a subject said educator has "emphasized" in their formal studies.
My formal college studies involved a general overview of filmmaking. I didn't "emphasize" a single aspect of filmmaking. I never took a course on cinematography or lighting. I didn't have a class dedicated to sound design or animation. No one taught me how to color correct a sequence or normalize an audio file. I've had to constantly teach myself the ins and outs of web compression as they change from year to year. I am the epitome of the one man band filmmaker. If it needs to be done, I need to make it happen.
Am I limited? Absolutely. I wasn't able to have a monster shot I needed for Sonlight Field. I don't have a studio where I can control the lighting and sound of my productions. I have to get people who really don't want to be on camera to look great. My mom is a good sport, letting me force her to be in my videos. And I've been quite successful at getting people to agree to be on tape <smile>.
But am I ever going to be on the same level as Hollywood?
No.
And that's okay. I have incredible flexibility and control over what I produce, when I produce it, and how I go about it. I don't require budgets of millions of dollars. I get to learn new things on a regular basis. I am free of the political and moral nastiness of "the industry." And what I create just so happens to bring joy to thousands of families all over the world.
Not bad for a one man band.
As a homeschool mom, you have incredible flexibility to teach your children in a way that benefits them the best. You don't need to spend thousands of dollars per student each year (even if it may feel like that sometimes <smile>). You get to learn new things. You are free of the political and moral issues surrounding "the industry." And what you do also brings joy and meaning to you children who will ultimately have the opportunity to spread that throughout the world.
Not bad for a one man band.
~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester
