First off, the previous post is incorrect. The work has NOT just begun. It has been going on since we started the project. Jason and I have been researching the homeschool group, homeschooling in general and selecting the right people to tell the story through. The trip was pushed back so late because of a failure to respond to texts or on our google doc page about when the whole group could go. After waiting for a week for a response, we planned what worked for us and assigned another part of the project.
Now that that has been cleared up, on to the fun stuff about the trip! (Jason should be posting about his experiences soon as well.)
Since we did not know exactly what the situation would be like once we got to the Brewster home, I loaded up Jason's little car with our own little radio shack. We had multiple video cameras, still cameras, different kinds of microphones, lights, tripods, tapes, memory cards, laptops, etc. You name it, we had it. Preparation, for the win.
After a pit stop for breakfast at BK, we arrived at the Brewster home just after 8:30am. Jason met the family for the first time (I already knew them from my time in the group.) We got our equipment ready as Lori gathered the kids to begin their day. I wish I would have had the camera running for some of it. Levi, the 2nd grader, told his mom that he was bored with clothes and had decided to stay in his pajamas for the day. Keaton, the 7th grader, was wearing a KU shirt and had to tell us about KU's superiority. I found it rather amusing.
The kids settled down and went through their morning routine. Jason recorded audio and i filmed them studying. Keaton did not seem to enjoy the camera being pointed at him, but tolerated it. The still camera I had checked out from JMC refused to work, so we took still photos on our phones and on the small video cameras that we had. That really hurt us on quality of the photos, but it is better than nothing.
Throughout the morning, we sat down with Keaton and Kayla (who graduated this past May) to see how they view the educational experience they are living. Keaton wasn't very talkative, but it was interesting to hear how Kayla viewed her homeschool years in retrospect. This project has made me look back at my time as well, so I found our differences in opinion interesting.
We had a long chat with Lori about the teacher's perspective on homeschooling. She was very honest about their day to day life, which was really cool. Having been there, I know from first had experience that it ideal days are few and far between. No two families are ever the same in how they approach homeschooling. I really enjoyed getting to peek in on someone else's day and compare with my experiences.
Unfortunately, speech class was cancelled due to sick kids, so we were unable to get footage of that. Leigha, the sophomore, had spent the night at her debate partner's house to prepare for an upcoming competition, so we did not get to see her as part of the home classroom. We did go to debate practice to sit down with her. Debate was pretty boring though... Leigha was not participating in that particular day's practice round, so we left early.
Our next stop was with Kent and Christy Vincent, and boy was it interesting! They were involved in the forming of Cornerstone over 25 years ago and are still homeschooling some of their 11 kids. They had such interesting background that I didn't even know. When they asked how long it would take, I said 15 minutes. It turned into an hour long conversation about legal, local and personal stories about homeschooling. Definitely a worthwhile stop!
Once we wrapped up there, Jason needed to head back to Manhattan so his wife could use the car, so I met up with my family and went to basketball practice. It was QUITE the trip down memory lane for me. All the red practice jerseys and siblings playing around reminded me of the semi-good times in high school. I filmed there devotions and practice, which was actually harder than I realized it would be. First off, they practice on 4 courts at the same time, so I was moving around quite a bit. The second challenge was the speed. After filming K-State's mens and womens teams for the past year, this felt incredibly slow. I found myself getting ahead of things instead of being a bit behind. :) The photos were REALLY challenging. The movement did not work so well with my phone's camera and it wasn't so hot from the video camera.
(RANDOM OBSERVATION!) This trip made me feel pretty dang old. I have only been gone for 3.5 years, but all these kids have grown up so much! I can't believe it! Kids I knew as little ones when I was in high school are now sophomores and seniors. Keaton is almost as tall as I am! It's just crazy to think about how much has changed in the past couple years...
Anyways...
2.5 tapes and tons of pictures later, the visual side of the story is shaping up.
Up next, editing what I currently have and hopefully sitting down with some homeschool grads in Manhattan/ at K-State!
-Stephanie
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