Homeschooling Documentary Concept

I am going to make short form documentary later this spring. Therefore, I have been juggling several potential topics I could make the documentary about. I have not been decisive until I read about “passion” in Sheila Bernard’s Documentary Storytelling: Creative Nonfiction on Screen. Bernard says that Passion is “a commitment to the notion that this idea is exciting, relevant, and meaningful…” After reading that section, I set my sights on a topic that is meaningful to me — homeschooling and the stigma surrounding it. There are three well known potential issues surrounding homeschooled children: their social skill development, their parents’ qualifications to teach, and indoctrination by their parents.

So, in my documentary I would like to do a case study on homeschooled student. I would explore: the parents’ reasoning and methods behind the homeschooling; the homeschooled student’s goals, aspirations, and opinion on their schooling; and the homeschooled student’s social life. Ultimately, the focus of the documentary would be to answer three questions: Are homeschooled students to deeply indoctrinated to become independent thinkers? And are homeschooled students socially unprepared for life after school? For those that are now determined to homeschool their kids, are there any lessons that can be learned from my subject’s experience? I hope to find some semblance answers to these questions in my documentary.

Finally, I as a former homeschool student have personally experienced being stereotyped and discriminated. Recently though, it seems of the homeschooling stigma has lifted from at least from some people I know. (They are considering it for their children). The reason behind this change of heart is, according to the people I know, the growing frequency of school shootings. In fact, just a few months ago a school shooting in a town close to mine made national news — the Santa Fe high school shooting, and shortly after a coworker, whose child was in the Santa Fe school system, had her child considered for homeschooling. This shift in perspective due to recent events makes the issues of homeschooling more relevant than before. That is why I am passionate about this documentary.