Teaching their own lessons: ‘Home-Schooled?’ film uses fiction to propel case for home schooling

By Donna O'Neil, Staff writer
doneil@williamsonherald.com

A roomful of viewers laughed and cried at all the right moments as a local independent Christian film company, Starbreather Studios – a Franklin-based, family-owned studio (Don and Kayla Jarmon and their son and daughter-in-law, Ryan and Sarah Jarmon and son Caleb Jarmon) – and a host of unlikely actors and film crew, debuted a powerful message recently at the local premiere of “Home-Schooled?” at the Brentwood Library. The movie is a fictitious story about a situation where home schooling becomes illegal and the civil rights of dedicated parents are called into question.

The story is a touching and realistic tale of parents who home-school their children as they face the dilemma of enrolling their children in public or private schools or be in violation of SB0593, a law that makes Georgia the eighth state to render home schooling illegal.

Randy and Susan Hayes, played by Kyle Graves of Franklin, and Daphne Minkin of Antioch, respectively, are parents who have opted to home school their children for personal reasons – reasons that are discovered throughout the thread of the film. With the passing of SB0593, they are put in the dubious position of enrolling their four children in public or private school or face violation of the law. Opting to continue to educate their children at home and subsequent violation, they send their children to Canada to stay with and be educated by Randy’s parents. In the movie Canada still permitted home schooling.

The movie winds its way through the Hayes’ incarceration and subsequent trial where Susan tells the story of her own high school experience – one of the contributing factors for the Hayes children being home-schooled. The story she tells is one that is not so unfamiliar in real life. As a student she found her homework disconnected from her lessons. She started skipping and not participating in middle school, except to take tests, which she passed most often with high grades. Then she faced an unfamiliar high school setting as her neighborhood was rezoned and her new schoolmates were unknown to her. Although she continued to score high on her exams, the fact that she opted not to attend was reason enough for school officials to ask her not to continue, essentially expelling her from public school. She tells of her journey to obtain a GED and cites her experience as a main reason for her and her husband’s decision to home-school.

Randy, a man who shuns the spotlight, also takes the stand and makes the most powerful statement in the movie. This shining moment brings the story full circle as viewers cry with the unbridled passion from which this man speaks. He cites that the downfall of public education began with the landmark 1962 Supreme Court decision of Engel vs. Vitale, where government-directed prayer in public schools was ruled unconstitutional and a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. He claimed “rights and wrongs are muddled and now there is no distinction.” Critical thinking was not being fostered and he wants to be able to teach his children based on the “Charters of our Forefathers.”

The story is a realistic tale of Christian values and the rights of two parents who cite the Declaration of Independence and the intentions of this country’s forefathers as the basis for their moral stance.

The Jarmons’ real-life Christian values are woven into the fabric of the story as Randy and Susan try to impress upon their antagonists their right to teach their children, not favoring the way public schools teach evolutionism, abstinence and alternative lifestyles. Randy feels that taking God and the ability to pray in school out of the daily educational routine has spurred an increase in teen pregnancy, STDs and unwed mothers.

The idea came to first-time scriptwriter Kayla Jarmon, a mom who opted to home school her children. The story tickled her interest until she locked herself away and wrote it from start-to-finish. At each step of the way, unsure as to her next move, a door opened to propel the project forward. Friends came along with video equipment, volunteered to be extras in the movie and even fed the cast and crew.

The film features a number of parents and students from the local home-school community.

The movie debuted at the Michigan Information Network for Christian Homes Conference (INCH) in May, where after seeing the two-hour movie at the

INCH Conference, Victoria Gulder said, "This film was made by a home schooling family. I saw it at the HS convention in my state. The majority of the film centers on the courtroom drama. The film sensitively considers what sort of possibilities exist when the fate of a family lies in the hands of a jury of people, who themselves are victims of the dumbing down that we are trying to avoid. It also presents the reality of the founders of

our country's intentions, (based on documentation) in the context of the court room. "Home-Schooled?" is a very well done film, with good intentions, believable characters, tremendous history lessons, and a motivational movie."

The movie will also be shown at the annual Christian Home Educator’s Association of California, July 16-18 and will be entered into the film competition in the prestigious San Antonio Christian Film Festival in October.

For information on the film, visit www.homeschooledthemovie.com.

Posted on: 7/1/2010