Do you dream of rubbing elbows with Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson or the recent sensation Oren Peli who created “Paranormal Activity” for under fifteen thousand dollars? If so, you might want to consider going into a Los Angeles film school - simply because most of the industry is right here. Before you indulge in such a luxury, ask yourself first: how much are you willing to spend?

The first school that should pop out of your mind is the renowned USC - where the maestros George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis, Bryan Singer and Judd Apatow came from. How much would a year cost you? That would be over USD 30,000 - not including supplies and room and board. That’s two “Paranormal Activities”. They do have great professors but many classes can have hundreds of students in them.

The American Film Institute is another lauded Los Angeles film school. A year’s tuition would cost you approximately USD 40,000! To some people, that amount is nothing compared to the fact that you would have the reputation of graduating from the same school where Darren Aronofsky, Ed Zwick as well as Terrence Malick came from. But then again, there may not be enough space for one-on-one activities with a class size of over a hundred.

The cost of education at UCLA varies according to your residency: if you are from California, then you need about USD 6,000 per year, otherwise, you need USD 20,000! Once again, classes are huge, even if you are being taught by such luminaries as Peter Guber as well as Joe Roth.

Another notable school that provides an undergraduate degree on film and television is Loyola Marymount. Their tuition is around thirty-four thousand dollars per year. Student-teacher ratio is ideal, around thirteen-is-to-one.

And there is the Los Angeles Film School, which was established in 1999. Among its renowned guest speakers are Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody. Tuition fee: more than $41,000, with a student body of 595. A recent graduate co-directed the feature film “Gamer” starring Gerard Butler.

All of these programs are prestigious, but they are also the typical classroom atmosphere. None of these provide courses that give the students the chance to observe and work with an industry professional on-the-job.

Women in Film looks like a promising institute but searching the internet proved to be futile - there were no success stories associated with their program.

CBS offers a mentor program for television writing - in fact, they offer two mentors. One is a senior-level writer on a current CBS drama or comedy series. The program boasts of a segment where creative feedback on their writing and tips on their career goals are given. The other mentor is a CBS network or studio executive with whom they meet regularly to discuss their work, get feedback and also get support in advancing their career. The best thing about this program and the school in general is the fact that it’s offered for free.

It seems like many a Los Angeles film school are missing out on a great opportunity - if they provided such one-on-one mentoring programs, there would probably be a lot more stories of great achievements from their students.

Film Connection Los Angeles Film School
6253 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA
(800) 755-7597

Parents who choose to home school their pre-school youngsters have analyzed the value of teaching your own kids at home. Beginning home school at the pre-school age is a superb way to get the parent and the kid used to the idea of learning at home. This is also a good way to ease into learning how to teach and organize the home school schedule. The kid is not used to attending a school; so there isn’t any adjustment period. Also, pre-school youngsters are incredibly easy to coach because it is generally in playing that they learn.

When making a tailored preschool curriculum couples provide a secure environment with interactive toys. In fact many parents also operate their own home business selling instructional toys for youngsters. Agree with it or not, the parent is the child’s first teacher. Kids at this age imitate everything their parents do by observation, playing, helping, chatting, and listening. Reading to youngsters at this age is one of the finest ways to develop ardent readers. At this age, a standardised curriculum isn’t obligatory. Youngsters learn from coloring, cutting, pasting, counting, singing, rhymes, games, playing with clay, playing in the playground, and learning to gel with others. It’s really important to incorporate a number of these activities daily in an unstressed, relaxed manner. Youngsters at this age need your love and attention more than they require academics and organization.

The key to learning at this age is to provide a lot of hands on projects, particularly with arts and crafts. Many kids in this age group have play dates where they meet with other kids and go to parks, farms, even trips. Pre-schoolers love to be included in everything you do, whether it be emptying the dishwasher, or sorting mail, and particularly baking. Even though it may appear that their short attention span doesn’t make allowances for intense learning, they’re learning real life experiences.