For Students · Ages 14–18

Every family
has a story.
Celebrate Yours!

Use a smartphone and AI to create video portraits that matter!

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"Sitting across from another human being and saying tell me everything — that's where filmmaking begins. That's where this course begins."
— Nikos Theodosakis, Founder

Who this is for

Not just a course.
A project that matters.

Preserving Our Stories is designed for homeschool students aged 14–18 who are ready to do something real — interview a real person, make a real film, and leave something lasting behind.

🎬

The Student Who Wants to Create

Not worksheets. Not essays. A 10–15 minute cinematic portrait of someone in your family or community — filmed, edited, and shared with the world using your smartphone and AI.

👨‍👩‍👧

The Homeschool Family Who Wants Depth

A project-based curriculum that covers storytelling, media literacy, digital technology, research, interviewing, empathy, and ethics — all in one meaningful creative endeavour.

🌍

The Student Who Wants to Matter

Somewhere near you is a person with a story the world needs to hear. A grandparent who survived something extraordinary. A neighbour keeping a tradition alive. You'll be the one to capture it.

📱

The Family Ready for the Future

Students learn to use AI as a creative partner — for research, scriptwriting, editing, and distribution. The skills they build here are the skills the world will need.

Skill development

What your student
will actually learn.

This isn't a passive course. Every lesson builds a transferable, real-world skill. By the time they finish, your student will have a portfolio piece and a skillset that spans technology, communication, and the arts.

01

Documentary Filmmaking

From shot types and camera angles to lighting, composition, and movement — students learn to think like a professional director, using whatever camera they already own.

Camera craftCompositionVisual storytelling
02

AI as a Creative Partner

Using the C.R.A.F.T. prompting method, students learn to direct their own "AI Film Crew" — a researcher, story editor, director of photography, and sound mixer — all powered by AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and NotebookLM.

Prompt engineeringAI literacyCritical thinking
03

Research & Journalism

Students become researchers, historians, and anthropologists. They investigate their subject's world — the times, places, and events that shaped them — before a single question is asked.

Historical researchSource evaluationCuriosity
04

Interviewing & Deep Listening

The art of asking questions that unlock real stories. Students learn the difference between surface questions and the kind that make someone feel truly seen — and how to listen without filling the silence.

Active listeningEmpathyCommunication
05

Video Editing with CapCut

A professional post-production workflow: the radio edit, B-roll overlays, lower thirds, auto-captions, music levelling, colour, and export. Students finish with a polished 10–15 minute documentary.

EditingAudio mixingDigital production
06

Project Management

Five phases of professional filmmaking — Development, Pre-Production, Production, Post-Production, and Distribution — teach students how to take an idea all the way to a finished product on deadline.

PlanningOrganisationFollow-through
07

Ethics & Consent

Students learn to handle real people's stories with care — obtaining consent, building trust, presenting subjects with dignity, and understanding their responsibility as storytellers.

EthicsRespectTrust
08

Distribution & Publicity

Students don't just make a film — they share it. YouTube SEO, press releases, community screenings, film festivals, and building an audience for work that matters.

MarketingPublic speakingDigital literacy
09

Self-Knowledge & Voice

"This project will teach you to tell other people's stories. But it will also teach you something quieter — that your own voice is already worth hearing." Learning about others is how we learn about ourselves.

IdentityReflectionConfidence
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The C.R.A.F.T. method

How students direct
their AI Film Crew.

Every student learns to use AI as a creative collaborator — not a shortcut. The C.R.A.F.T. prompting method teaches them to communicate with precision, think critically, and stay in the director's chair.

C

Context

Explain what you're working on and why it matters

R

Role

Choose which AI crew member you need — researcher, editor, DP

A

Action

State the specific task you want completed

F

Format

Define how you want the response delivered

T

Teach

Ask AI to explain its reasoning so you stay in control

"You are young right now. One day you will have your own stories — things you've lived, things you've survived. This project will teach you to tell other people's stories. But it will also teach you something quieter — that your own voice is already worth hearing."

— Nikos Theodosakis · Preserving Our Stories

The curriculum

11 chapters · 70 lessons.
One finished film.

A complete professional filmmaking journey — from the first spark of an idea to a screened, distributed, archived documentary.

1

Welcome

The invitation to preserve stories, and why this project matters to the future

2 Lessons

2

Your Home Studio

Film gear, AI tools, NotebookLM setup, and mastering your smartphone camera

6 Lessons

3

The Language of Cinema

Camera shots, angles, movement, and composition — the visual grammar of film

4 Lessons

4

The Filmmaking Process

From idea to screen — the five professional phases every filmmaker follows

2 Lessons

5

Development

Journaling, brainstorming, contacting your subject, the pre-interview, location scouting, and consent

11 Lessons

6

Pre-Production — Interview Questions

AI-assisted research, historical context, story selection, and crafting questions that unlock real stories

10 Lessons

7

Pre-Production — Visual Plan

Storyboards, shot lists, audio planning, and meeting your AI Director of Photography

11 Lessons

8

Production

Arrival, setup, the interview itself, and capturing B-roll footage

5 Lessons

9

Post-Production

Assembly, rough cut, picture cut, sound, music, titles, and test screening in CapCut

12 Lessons

10

Distribution

Publicity, premiere, online release, film festivals, and the Preserving Our Stories gallery

6 Lessons

11

Reflection

The final director's reflection — what was learned, what changed, and what comes next

1 Lesson

+

WOBO Story Notebook

An integrated personal notebook for reflections, prompts, and project notes — built into every lesson

Included

Made for homeschoolers

A curriculum that
fits your family.

Preserving Our Stories was designed from the ground up for homeschool families. It's self-paced, project-based, and built around real learning — not grades.

  • Fully self-paced — work at your own schedule, revisit lessons as many times as needed
  • Cross-curricular — covers media arts, ELA, social studies, history, ethics, and technology
  • No expensive equipment — a smartphone is all that's needed
  • Family-centred storytelling — students often interview a grandparent or family elder, deepening intergenerational bonds
  • Portfolio-ready outcome — a finished 10–15 minute documentary film is a meaningful addition to any college application
  • Lifetime access — $100 one-time, no subscription, no expiry
11
Chapters
70
Lessons
14–18
Ideal age range
$100
One-time · No subscription

"Long after this project is over, future citizens will be able to hear these stories — because you pointed a camera at a human being and said: your life's story is worth sharing."

— Nikos Theodosakis

Simple pricing

One price.
Lifetime access.

Complete Course Access
$100

One-time payment · No subscription · Lifetime access

  • ✦11 chapters, 70 guided lessons
  • ✦WOBO personal story notebook — integrated into every lesson
  • ✦C.R.A.F.T. AI prompting method + full AI Film Crew toolkit
  • ✦Complete CapCut editing curriculum
  • ✦All worksheets, checklists, and templates
  • ✦Consent forms, shot lists, and production guides
  • ✦Distribution guide — festivals, YouTube, community screening
  • ✦Certificate of Completion as a Legacy Storyteller
  • ✦Access to the Preserving Our Stories gallery
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From students & families

What people are
saying.

My daughter interviewed her great-grandmother about growing up during the war. They both cried. We all cried. The film she made is something our family will treasure for generations.

Sarah M.

Homeschool parent, British Columbia

I thought filmmaking meant expensive cameras and fancy software. I made my entire documentary on my iPhone. It looks genuinely cinematic. I had no idea that was possible.

Ethan, 16

Student, Alberta

The AI tools changed everything. My son learned to use ChatGPT not to cheat, but to think harder — to research deeper, ask better questions, and push his own work further.

David K.

Homeschool parent, Ontario

The people behind the course

Meet Your Instructors!

Your Instructors
"Every family has a story worth telling — and we're here to help you tell it."

Nikos Theodosakis · Founder

Many years ago, Nikos's grandfather sat on a garbage can in a Vancouver back alley, washing dishes late at night, staring at the moon and thinking of his family on the other side of the world. He told Nikos that story when Nikos was young. And Nikos spent the next thirty years making sure stories like that one would never be lost.

A filmmaker, educator, and author, Nikos has spent three decades helping students use filmmaking to explore the stories around them. His book The Director in the Classroom helped educators see the potential of film as a learning tool. His follow-up, Mattering: Engaging Students with Creativity, Relevance and Purpose, argues that learning should be fun, creative, and meaningful.

"The next great documentary filmmaker might be watching this right now. I believe it could be you."

Nikos has Parkinson's disease, which sometimes affects his mobility. So he made a creative decision: he built Avi — an AI avatar who serves as his voice throughout the course, delivering his thirty years of teaching with considerably steadier hands. Everything Avi teaches comes directly from Nikos's research, his methods, and his work with students just like yours.

📚

Author of two books: The Director in the Classroom and Mattering: Engaging Students with Creativity, Relevance and Purpose — Founder of The Mattering Studio, Penticton, BC.

"You are standing in the middle of the river of time — upstream your ancestors, downstream the children you haven't met yet. This project is how you build the bridge between them."

— Nikos Theodosakis · Mattering

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Get in touch

Let's talk stories.

Questions about the course, homeschool curriculum fit, or just want to share a story you're hoping to preserve — we'd love to hear from you.

Email[email protected]
CourseHosted on Thinkific

"Your own voice is already worth hearing."

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