SANDPOINT — Each year as the fall session comes to a close, the Homeschool Academy celebrates with an “Elf Party.”

With the kids dressed in holiday-themed costumes, the fourth annual celebration was chock full of entertainment, with the students singing and playing instruments, as well as doing short skits, playing games and more. New this year, the wall of Sandpoint Community Hall was papered with film posters from the school’s new “acting for the camera” class.

“The kids learned every aspect of filming, and even wrote their own scripts for these,” said Melinda Rossman, Homeschool Academy principal.

Rossman said she was able to acquire two film cameras, as well as enlist Darla Dreyer, who is a former Disney choreographer and director. Dreyer’s son is a home-schooled high school student who has a passion for film making as well, so he served as the cameraman and editor for the project. The younger students, the “littles,” created the commercials, the “middles” did a video about elves against toys, and the “bigs” — the oldest Homeschool Academy students — created a film titled, “The Cake Mystery.”

“This is big,” Rossman said. “We have already come up with three more classes we will teach, one in the spring and two next year, in acting for the camera.”

The Homeschool Academy opened in the fall of 2016 with 16 kids signed up. As of Dec. 19, 103 students were enrolled, with 11 more who will return in the spring, Rossman said. The school provides supplemental education for home-school students in the Lake Pend Oreille School District, grades K-8. Experiential learning is a main focus, with outdoor education, culinary arts, music and theater, as well as lessons in English Language Arts, math, art, science, American Sign Language and Spanish. Some of the classes vary by session, with new ideas such as the ‘acting for the camera’ class coming up each year.

“The engagement this year nearly brings me to tears sometimes,” Rossman said. “I am witnessing something that I always wanted in public school ... We are constantly growing.

Rossman said one of her goals this year is to teach her staff about standards-based education. According to the online education glossary, standards-based refers to systems of instruction, assessment, grading, and academic reporting that are based on students demonstrating understanding or mastery of the knowledge and skills they are expected to learn as they progress through their education. It is gaining popularity across the nation, and Rossman said her staff is taking the knowledge driving their instruction in that direction.

“They (the staff) are writing really great objectives ... the kids can tell you what they are learning about and where they are going with it, so there is some really good growth this year in my program — I am just really excited,” Rossman said.