It seems that no matter where you slice the American Pie, homeschoolers can be found sticking out of it! The response to our recent search for a family for our film was to say the least, amazing. From Hawaii, to Alaska and everywhere in between, we received applications from families in all walks of life, from city-dwellers to rural homesteaders, some with one child, some with many, and all of them with different reasons for choosing to educate their children outside of the traditional classroom.

We read each application very carefully and were really moved by the stories people shared with us. I wish we had the time and resources to travel the entire country and film each and every one of the families who applied. It was difficult to narrow it down to just one, but we’re happy to announce that we’ve made our decision. We’ve found a family who are just stepping into the amazing journey of homechooling and over the next few months will be filming what will become an integral and important part of the film.

We’re so grateful to everyone who took the time to apply and to those who helped spread the word and recommended families to us. We look forward to this next step of the film and sharing the journey with you.

The time has come for us to find the right family for the next step of our film and we need your help!

Many of you know that over the past year we’ve been focusing on interviews with  individuals and families who are already homeschooling, including many who have shared valuable knowledge and wisdom from years of experience. But if you’ve read our synopsis, you’ll also know that a big part of our film is centered upon documenting a family who are just starting out; a family who are making the transition from public or private school into the world of alternative education.

We’d like to follow their journey and we believe that documenting their experiences will be an effective way for people in the general public to gain a real understanding of what it means to make the commitment to homeschool. There are a lot of preconceived notions within the general public about what homeschooling is, who does it and for what reasons. We hope that the average person watching the film will be able to relate to this family and by doing so, will have many of their questions answered. They may even be inspired to do the same thing!

So if you know of someone who is considering pulling their kids out of school to homeschool them who might be interested in being involved in our film, please let them know about our film (or ask them if we can contact them). Or if you have recently started homeschooling or are considering doing so, please contact us directly by using this form.

Here are some of the guidelines and answers to FAQ’s you may have:

Q: What part of the country will you be filming in?

A: For practical and financial reasons, it would be easier if you are located somewhere on the west coast, but we are open to finding the right family for the project and will not turn anyone down because of location.

Q: Do my kids still have to be in school?

A: Ideally, you should still have kids in the traditional school system and be committed to pulling them out to homeschool them. But if you’ve recently done that and are relatively new to homeschooling that might work also.

Q: What kind of time commitment will this involve and what will you be filming exactly?

A:  In total we have 20 days of filming set aside for this part of the film, but don’t panic, it’s spread out over 8-12 months. Here’s how we see it working: Initially, we would come to your house and film for 3-5 days. This would include on-camera interviews with family members and footage of everyday interactions around your home and neighborhood. We would then go away for a couple of months and return for another 3-5 days to see how you are doing and to follow up. This scenario would repeat 2 or 3 times during the course of a year so that we get a sense of progression and a developing narrative story as you make the transition to homeschooling.

Q: Will we get paid for this?

A: Unfortunately, there’s no pay for your involvement, but we would be willing to pay for consultations with expert homeschooling advisors to help guide you and your family in your decision making process as questions come up. You’ll also get to be the “stars” in the world’s first feature length documentary about homeschooling, and help many people who might also be interested in making this lifestyle choice!

Q: What if we start filming and then change our minds?

A: We hope that doesn’t happen, or we’ll have no film! You’ll be required to make a commitment to see the project through to completion by signing a release form and agreement and we’ll make every effort to make sure you are comfortable with the process as we go along. We are not out to make anyone look bad, or to impose any kind of false agenda. We simply want to present an honest and compelling story of one family’s journey into the word of homeschooling.

We hope this answers some of the questions you might have. We realize it’s a big step to take so if you have any other concerns or questions please contact us by email and we’ll be happy to answer them for you.

Fill out this form to get started. We really look forward to hearing from you!

To all of you who donated money in these financially challenging times, to all of you who blogged, posted on facebook, tweeted and otherwise helped us spread the word, to all of you who simply emailed us with messages of encouragement and offers of support, we thank you!

We’re profoundly grateful to each and every one of you. Making a film is an enormous undertaking on so many levels; it really does take a village, and the fact that so many fellow homeschoolers from all over the country (and even a couple overseas) stepped forward in support of our efforts is both humbling and affirming. Simply put, we couldn’t do it without you!

We especially want to thank the National Home Education Network (NHEN) and the Oregon Home Education Network (OHEN) who made generous donations and helped propel our campaign further than we expected.

Although we fell short of our initial goal, we raised a total of $11,515 which will really help move the project to the next stage and well into 2012. And if you intended to make a donation but didn’t get to it before the campaign ended, don’t worry, you can always make one anytime right here on the website by clicking here:

http://www.homeschoolfilm.com/get-involved/donate-money/

As we close out 2011 and move into the new year, we’re beginning to formulate our plans for the next few months, so stay tuned and be sure to check back after the holiday season to find out what’s next for Class Dismissed.

We wish you all Happy Holiday Homeschooling Adventures and many blessings for 2012.

In deepest gratitude,

Jeremy, Dustin and the Class Dismissed team.

We just got back from Oregon where we spent 5 very busy days shooting footage at Village Home, an incredible home education resource center just outside of Portland. In addition to shooting a total of 12 interviews with families, we also filmed hours of awesome footage of the various activities, classes and workshops that Village Home provides to the Portland area homeschooling community. The experience was nothing short of amazing, from the staff members and  teachers, to the kids, parents and volunteers; it’s rare to come across a community as vibrant and dynamic. We’ve certainly never seen anything quite like it. What Village Home has created is truly unique and revolutionary and we left deeply inspired by what can happen when people with a common vision rally together to create something extraordinary.

Although on the surface, Village Home looks like a school complete with classrooms, teachers and schedules, in action it’s anything but. For a start everyone is there because they’re choosing to be! The kids who attend choose classes that interest them and are allowed to learn in their own way at their own pace, and their enthusiasm about life and learning is palpable and infectious. Every city in America needs a place like Village Home.

We’d like to extend a very special thank you to Lori Walker and Cathie Clifford who made it all happen, and we’re so grateful to the entire community for giving our film crew such a warm welcome and making sure we felt like part of the family. They even made us a cake!

Thanks also to Ben Dominguez and Mitchell Lenneville-Hutchinson, two budding filmmakers who volunteered their time to help us with our filming and to all the families who shared their inspiring stories about homeschooling with us. What we saw and captured at Village speaks volumes about how great alternative education can be and will add so much dimension to our film.

To help us achieve our fundraising target, we are thrilled to announce a generous $5,000 challenge donation from the National Home Education Network (NHEN), who will match dollar-for-dollar all donations on our IndieGoGo campaign up to $5,000. That means that every dollar you contribute will count as TWO.

In case you’re not familiar with NHEN, here’s a little more about them:

The National Home Education Network exists to encourage and facilitate the vital grassroots work of state and local homeschooling organizations and individuals by providing information, fostering networking and promoting public relations on a national level. Because we believe there is strength in a diverse network of homeschoolers, we support the freedom of all individual families to choose home education and to direct such education. http://www.nhen.org/home.html

We are so grateful to Sue Patterson, Pam Sorooshian and everyone at NHEN for this incredible offer. This extraordinary gift, along with your continued support will put us that much closer to reaching our goals and getting Class Dismissed and our message out in the world!

So please step up to this challenge by visiting our campaign site at http://www.indiegogo.com/Class-Dismissed-Fund and contributing what you can. And remember, all your donations are tax-deductible!

With deepest appreciation and thanks,

Jeremy Stuart, Dustin Woodard and the Class Dismissed team

The past few months have been an exciting time for Class Dismissed. In August we presented some never before seen footage of the film at the Homeschool Association of California (HSC) Conference in Sacramento, and filmed a terrific interview with Dale Stephens of Uncollege fame.
Then in September we did it again at the Good Vibrations Unschooling Conference in San Diego. Along the way we’ve met so many great people who are just as excited about the film as we are and it’s great to see the momentum growing.
We have many more big plans upcoming in the next few months, including some fantastic interviews and a visit to one of the country’s leading alternative education programs. But in order to keep filming we need your help!  Our financial well has run dry and we need immediate funds so we can keep moving forward with the project.

We just launched a new fundraising campaign at http://www.indiegogo.com/Class-Dismissed-Fund

Please take a moment to visit the site and read all about the details of our campaign and how you can help us reach our goals. And remember, every dollar helps and the great thing about IndieGoGo is that all donations made through them are fully tax-deductible!

Thanks so much for your continued support.

Jeremy Stuart, and the Class Dismissed team.

We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve been asked by Flo Gascon, the organizer of the Good Vibrations Unschooling Conference to come to San Diego and do a presentation. The conference runs from September 8th-11th.  So, if you didn’t get a chance to attend the recent HSC Conference and get a sneak peek at what we’ve been up to lately, head down to sunny San Diego and come say hello. Unfortunately, my crew won’t be able to make it this time, so it’ll just be me.  I’ll be there on Friday September 9th at 7pm in the Torrey Pines room, showing the teaser trailer along with some additional footage and answering questions about the film after the screening.  I’m really looking forward to this event, there are some excellent speakers and presenters as well as loads of exciting and fun things to do for you and your family.

Hope to see you there, Jeremy.

We’re back from the Homeschool Association of California (HSC) conference and gathering ourselves after three days of work and fun. On Saturday, we had  a great turnout for the screening of the teaser trailer and the additional footage we showed, lots of applause and some good comments and discussion. Overall it was a great success and everybody in attendance seemed very excited about the film and where we are headed.

On Sunday, we interviewed Dale Stephens which was fantastic. If you didn’t get a chance to hear him speak at the conference, then please check out his website. The work he’s doing is really inspirational.

Special thanks to Jen Prink for making it possible for us to present on such short notice and thanks to all of you who attended, it was wonderful to put faces to names of people that have been following us for a while and to meet lots of new folks also. For those of you who had information and stories to share with us, please be sure to contact us and let us know. We’d love to hear from you as it was impossible to remember everything everyone said and we don’t want important information to fall through the cracks.

We’re pleased to announce that the filmmakers behind Class Dismissed will be at the Adventures in Homeschooling Conference Aug. 4-7 in Sacramento, CA.

Not only will we be attending, but we’ll be presenting during the lunch hour on Saturday (see the conference schedule for the location). We’ll be sharing the trailer, extra footage including footage obtained at HSC in 2010, and hosting a Q&A session so attendees can learn more about the film and where it is going.

Want a sneak peek? Here’s a teaser trailer for Class Dismissed: