"The culture there assumes it's your responsibility to keep things locked up. It's not someone else's responsibility to not take your stuff."

We were discussing, over lunch yesterday, the ideas summarized by Vishal Mangalwadi. One of my co-workers shared about her experience studying in South America. The culture of theft was just one of the radical differences there from what we experience here in the US.

Then, as I stood in the shower this morning, three key ideas suddenly clicked together. Here's my thesis: Piracy has created a culture of theft in the United States and, just as "adult entertainment" has completely changed, the digital revolution demands of us a higher level of holiness.

I'm sure you're aware of the ways the internet has changed the face of the "adult" industry. It is no longer required to go to a seedy part of the city and physically purchase a dirty magazine. Now, from the comfort of your favorite computer chair, you can obtain just about any kind of "adult" material you may be interested in... for free. And, as virtual worlds continue to claw their way into reality, Huxley's Brave New World of the Feelies inches closer. "How are men going to remain faithful to their wives in such a world?" one of my coworkers asked.

"The solution," I was quick to propose, "is to become more holy. Unfortunately, you can't legislate holiness and it's not easy. But these advancements in technology are forcing us to become more like Christ."

The internet--coupled with digital delivery--has made piracy a common practice as well. Right now, I could find just about any song I could imagine online. With a little more effort, I could have it on my computer. It's little wonder, then, that I get questions every week from Sonlight students asking about the legality of copying music. If you can find this stuff on major legal sites, how can it be illegal/wrong?

Well, teenagers aren't the only ones discussing this topic. John August recently blogged about sheet music piracy and both his post and the fascinating original article have been flooded with comments on both sides of this issue.

Here's what struck me this morning: The arguments often boil down to a fundamental disagreement over responsibility. Is it your responsibility to keep your stuff locked up, or my responsibility to not take your stuff?

Yes, just as we could argue about the complexities of obscene materials on the internet, we could go around and around with the issues surrounding digital copyright law. But as I stood under the hot running water of my shower--something my coworker did not have when she lived in South America--everything clicked:

I'd rather not live in a culture of theft.

Talk to your kids about being Christ-like and piracy.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester

P.S. I'm not a lawyer, but I'm happy to share what I know and think about this issue if you have specific questions. This is important because your children are growing up in a world where their morality is the only thing between them and an endless stream of instantly accessible sin. It's much easier to practice being like Christ in the little things right now.

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

How's the first month of the year been treating you?

Perhaps you've spent it chilled out by the pool, enjoying a green smoothie while your children play quietly with each other, taking breaks now and again to do their studies. Your family has done the cooking and the cleaning. In fact, life has been running itself so well, all you have to do is pick what meal you'd like your little helpers to make you.

Life's good.

Of course, your life may be good... but on the opposite end of that spectrum. You feel buried. Your children, your house, your husband, your pets all need your attention--not to mention the laundry and the dishes. If that's you, you may find some really great tips and reminders by watching the Organize Your Home for Success video.

I can relate to feeling swamped. Right now I've got a ton to do for the new catalog season, and I've got very limited time to get it all done.

When you think of it, please pray for us. We need wisdom as we work to make the website easier to use. We have a ton of code updates and content changes we need to make as well.

I haven't had much time today to do any preparation for blogging. I like to let my brain mull over an idea while I work throughout the day. That way, when the time comes to write, I've got something say.

Today, I didn't have that luxury. My brain has been fully occupied with other projects and tasks. The idea of creating a meaningful post felt overwhelming. "I wish I had it all planned out for me beforehand. A blueprint makes building a lot easier," I told myself.

Blueprint

Suddenly, I realized that we are constructing a blueprint for you.

The effort we are pouring into the design and function of Sonlight's homeschool curriculum today will be the blueprint you can use tomorrow. We do what we do so you don't have to do it. We want you to be able to do the things we can't help you with--such as spending time with your kids and cooking meals--without getting bogged down with the things we can do for you.

We can build you a homeschool blueprint.

One of the pragmatic goals of Sonlight's homeschool curriculum is to save you the time, effort and brain power needed to gather, schedule, plan, organize, and think about your homeschool lessons. So on days when you feel buried, like me, you can still offer your children a meaningful day of learning without adding one more thing to your plate.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester

The black plastic recorder contrasted nicely with the sheet music in front of me. I was at a weekly homeschool group. We were doing our music lesson. Well, we were supposed to be doing our music lesson.

Come to think of it, I wasn't thinking about my recorder or the music. I was goofing off. So where the handful of other kids. I don't remember what had us so amped. I can't recall why we were giddy. I don't even remember being that abnormally off the wall. But we mindlessly brought our teacher--a sweet homeschool mom--to the end of her rope.

"That's it!" she finally bellowed. "If you're not interested in learning, just take your games outside."

The room fell silent. What were we supposed to do?

"Go," she commanded.

We went.

I placed my recorder on the railing of the back deck. The joy had left our game. We tried to play, but it was half-hearted. We had failed. We had broken the system. And, I learned that day, there comes a point where being a rebel isn't fun anymore.

I realized I needed to share this story after Susan blogged about her unmotivated son. I am definitely one of those bloggers who extols the benefits of homeschooling when it comes to the love of learning. I mean, I'm blogging for a company that guarantees you'll love homeschooling. Even so, there are times and there are subjects that simply require putting your nose to the grindstone. There are days when it may be better to just go outside and play. Effort isn't always equated with joy.

But when you see progress because of your effort?
When you begin to gain mastery?
When you use tools that resonate with you?
When you've got a system that works for you and your family?

Then--then--homeschooling is a joy. Not always. Not in everything. But in general. Overall you and your children will love learning together. And it could be that you need to find those resources that inspire your students. I had to switch math programs one year because the one I had was boring me to death. After we moved to a math program that was more in line with my personality, I again rocked in math.

When do you notice your students are unmotivated? What do you do when you feel like you're constantly reminding them to keep working? Have you ever kicked your kids out of class?

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester

One of the things I hope to try this year is a "trailer" video of the new things from Sonlight. I shot three segments today. I'm scheduled to film the last one early next week. I need to keep moving if I'm going to get this thing cut together in time to share it with you.

As I was packing up my equipment, I noticed a blog worthy picture. I had set up an easel and draped paper over it to block the sun shining directly into my lens.

Creative Sun Shade

Two weeks ago I taped a clear trash bag to a window. I needed a little diffusion, and a trash bag was what I had on hand.

This kind of life hack is nothing new. My brother once used a baseball bat to flip a light switch when he was too short to reach it. My wife often substitutes ingredients. None of us have the luxury of acquiring absolutely everything potentially useful.

We work with what we have.

Here at Sonlight we seek to provide you with what you need for your homeschool. We offer some things, such as the Sonlight Microscope, that--while not essential--could be a huge boon to your studies. But you are free to hack it without such a device.

What's the craziest/coolest thing you've ever done to hack your life? (NB: Please don't tell me about any literal computer hacking or similar illegal behavior. Thank you.)

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester

Blogs have finally taught me a skill I had failed to master until now. I couldn't do it in high school. I still couldn't do it in college.

I realized I had made a breakthrough when my dad recently asked me, "How do you keep up with all the blogs you follow?"

I'm the kind of guy who reads at the speed of writing: One word at a time. There's no way I could burn through several hundred posts every morning in a couple of hours.

But I do.

The skill required to pull off such a feat is something called "skimming."

Skimming is the art of letting your eyes pick out important words within large amounts of text to get a gist of the meaning or topic. This was, in theory, how I was supposed to read my college History textbooks. I was supposed to somehow glean the information I needed by burning through dozens of dull pages of drivel to find the important meaning buried within the poor writing.

I couldn't do it.

I read, word by word, through a few paragraphs before my brain crashed. I would wake up a couple hours later, having learned nothing. I had no idea how to find the "important" words within the chapters. Shouldn't every word be important? Clearly not. But in college I was still stuck with the idea that published books selected by my educator should contain a significant amount of important information. I blame it on my Sonlight background. Every book my mom handed me had meaning and was a joy.

Blogging finally broke me of thinking that written words must contain deep meaning for me. Not because your posts are lame and meaningless. Not at all. But I quickly discovered that I personally was not interested in certain topics. On the other hand, I found myself reading any post that had to do with a few particular subjects. The more I read blogs, the better I become at recognizing the key words and phrases that alert me to a topic of interest or importance to me.

In reading the headline and scanning a post for a few key words, I can now decide if I should read all of it, skim sections of it, or move on to the next post. It is incredibly freeing. I can cover so much more ground because of it.

Sadly, because I was raised on Sonlight's incredible literature, I grew up believing that every block of text contained a goldmine of value. This hindered me in college (and a bit in high school) when I began to encounter flat and pointless texts.

Text

I'm thankful for the Sonlight Difference. The pain I experienced from reading dry textbooks in college says far more about the nature of those texts than it does about Sonlight.

Still, it is nice to have finally mastered a skill I'd heard about all these years.

Do you find it hard to skim great literature? How did you learn to skim?

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester