English & Language Arts: Writing a Back-Story in the homeschool
By Mimi Rothschild
Before your homeschooler picks up a pen (or turns on the computer) to start her screenplay, no doubt she goes through quite a bit of contemplation first. She asks herself what would be fun to write about. What would happen? What would happen next? Would the main character have a brother? What would his name be?
The answers to these questions help your homeschooler decide the structure or through-line of her plot. With these details, your home school screenplay writing curriculum can then focus on each scene, making it as compelling as possible, always moving the story forward. You need to make sure that your home school student doesn't throw away any of those original notes. These will help her develop the back story in order to make the details of each scene and character specific.
First, what is a back story exactly? The back story is what happened to the characters, the town, etc., before the first scene of the screenplay. The back story is the "why" behind the plot, the incidents that led up to the current situation. It allows your homeschooler the opportunity to really get into the story and create complexity in everything from the scenery to the character's speech patterns.
Of course, even though your home school student may have thought through some of what happened before the opening scene, she won't have thought of everything. Devote a section of your screenplay writing home school curriculum to the discovery of the past. Have her answer the following questions:
You know what your protagonist looks like. Did she always look this way? Has she changed something recently? Does her look say anything about the kind of person she is and what she believes in?
One thing leads to another. What were the chain of events that led up to the screenplay's opening, the important events and decisions that created the twist and turns? How will that same decision-making skill be mirrored or changed in the screenplay?
For each of the characters, have your homeschooler ask what kind of education they have; what their family was like, how big, and if any of these people still play a role in their lives; what their political views are; if they have a bank account; if they floss regularly; if they have a gerbil or a pit bull; where they live and how long they lived there; where they lived before that; where they were born; how they feel about themselves; how they want other people to see them; if they're success oriented or scared of anything or lazy; where they work.
Basically, guiding your homeschooler to create a solid back story is asking her to write the life story of all her characters and the place in which the story is set. Details, details, and more details!
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mimi Rothschild is a homeschooling parent, children's rights activist, author, and Founder and C.E.O. of online education company Learning by Grace, Inc. Rothschild and her husband of twenty-eight years reside in suburban Philadelphia with their eight children.
Feeling that “our current system of education has broken its promise,” Rothschild co-founded Learning By Grace, Inc. to provide families with Internet-based multimedia education to PreK-12 children all over the world.
In addition to her twenty years of experience as a homeschool mother, Rothschild has written a number of books dealing with education published by McGraw Hill and others. Her Home Education Websites Blog consists of helpful online content and activities for Christian homeschooling families.
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