The Homeschoolers Aggregate

HSA: The Immersive Fiction Game

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Website:The Homeschoolers Aggregate
We play by the rules. And yet information wants to be free.

Homeschoolers Aggregate Online website

Homeschoolers Aggregate Online is a fan creation that began in October 2006 with some short, text based “advertisements” for an online program for home schooled students. The videos shared the strict rules that participants need to follow in order to remain in the program. Many viewers questioned the relationship of these videos and the HSA website to the Lonelygirl15 production. Lonelygirl fans and HSA viewers soon realized that the videos and site were an independent production that ran parallel to Bree’s story. Some viewers speculated that Bree was a former participant of the program due to HSA's strict policies. Others speculated that it was a cult, trying to lure students to enroll. As it turned out, HSA was a game that followed the idea of immersive fiction more that a traditional ARG. The HSA offered no dead-drops or computer codes to break. To participate in HSA, students register by the deadline and complete written tasks that often help them find the password to the class notebook, a password-protected message forum. Since HSA discourages students from interacting or socializing, this class notebook/message forum is the place where students leave the answers to their “assignments.” Assignments range from replying to philosophical theories, to making personal connections to these ideas, to discussing issues relevant to Bree's situation, to responding to specific pieces of art, and even creating and sharing one’s own art work.

Students find the assignments posted on the website. Videos either reinforce a lesson’s focus, provide insight to an area of examination or offer clues to the participants to figure out the assignment’s password. At HSA, when students solve the password and are ready to post their answer in the school message forum, they are said to “Bring It” to the class notebook. Interested students are free to post links to their own in-character blogs on the HSA website.

The head of school is a woman known as Rose Marie Crandall Crowley Kelly, who is married to Phillip Crowley (no relation to Aleister). She is a very strict, yet supportive instructor who encourages her students to do their best. She expects students to follow her rules without question, and those who have questioned her have had their IP addresses banned from the site. Assignments receive responses from Ms. Kelly and student work is exhibited on the website.

Throughout each term, a back story emerges involving Ms. Kelly’s exploits and those who seem interested in harming her for reasons that remain unclear. The website offers clues, blogs for additional characters such as guest instructors or former students, and links to related material. At the end of the term, students are treated to a graduation ceremony video and a certificate of completion. HSA has a small group of followers who seem to enjoy the intellectual stimulation of this game.

This is the first time that HSA’s creator has ever been involved in such a pursuit. Participants have been forgiving and patient as her stories unfold and her skills improve.

For an explanation of this game for potential participants, see How to Play: HSA<ref>How to Play: HSA</ref> from the HSAO website.

HSA: On the Lonelygirl15 Forum

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The Homeschoolers Aggregate appears to be a secular forum for gifted homeschoolers to receive informal assignments in and to discuss Literary Theory, Poetry, Art, and Moral and Ethical Philosophy. Whether the Aggregate is an accredited institution, and whether it supports other subjects outside the liberal arts, is unknown.

Internet fans of Bree stumbled across the HSAOnline introductory and training videos hosted on YouTube. The source of the lonelyfans' speculation that Bree was a student of the Homeschoolers Aggregate is unknown, but several participants of the Tribute to Lonelygirl15 Phorum flocked to register for a new session to be administered by HSAOnline's strict but supportive educator, Ms. Kelly, who continually exhorts the students to "Study up!"

Ms. Kelly and the HSAOnline administrators seem very solicitous regarding the online privacy of their student families. During its primary stages, HSAOnline appeared to be recovering from some sort of major hack of its computer systems as well as from a suspicious fire, based on some oblique comments from Ms. Kelly.

Many of the new HSAOnline students, like many of the fans of the lonelygirl15-inspired internet game cassieiswatching, which was in its heyday when HSA arrived on the scene, use Bukanator's forum as a secondary clubhouse to discuss the mysterious Aggregate.

Characters Often used to symbolize Ms. Kelly's relationship to fire, "Burn" is a piece by artist Kara Walker Teachers and Administrators Ms. Kelly's YouTube Channel & HSA videos on Revver --Ms. Kelly, the bright, stoic and opinionated head of HSA, spends much of her time focused on the importance of structure, order and education. For reasons that have yet to be made clear, Ms. Kelly seems to be a target for sinister people who bring trouble her way. While very supportive of her students, she is very judgmental about situations that she feels lead to immortal student behavior. TWJaniak -- The former site adminstrator on the forum, notable among the lonelyfans as the creator of a series of videos giving advice to Bree and Daniel on their growing relationship. Ms Kelly invited Mr. Janiak to be a guest speaker for the new course. TW produced a video on the topic of Truth in Friendship for the orientation class. For many Orientation 2006 students, he was viewed as a guest instructor, who offered wisdom and guidance. Professor Boone -- Cedric Boone is an educator who joined Ms. Kelly for the term in 2006 to provide help and additional instruction to students. For a short time, he was involved in some covert work for TiKO Foundation. Notable Students to Date: taiya -- a lonelyfan puzzle solver, who became much-respected member of Ms. Kelly's course due to her prowess with the initial registration problem. Josh -- a student who was briefly shunned for spoofing Ms. Kelly in guestbook comments; Ms Kelly unblocked Josh before the end of Registration. Josh was subsequently blocked again for telling Ms. Kelly that he couldn't complete his assignments because he had "a life." This "life" has been made clearly evident by Josh's 3652 (and counting) forum posts. JoannaChildsface -- Jo is a lonelyfan who could be counted on for keeping students updated on Guestbook Gossip and other mysteries of HSAOnline. Violet -- Not only did Violet convince her cousin to enroll with her, she also corresponded with former student Lyn, who was accused of setting fire to HSA headquarters. Mayati -- Marisa or Meritmenat Byrne was a mysterious student who appears to reside in a different time zone from most of the HSA students. Mayati describes herself as a 17 year old girl who attends a very small school and who has religious and work chores which take up much of her time. She has hinted that she practices a minority religion which incorporates Kemetic elements, and she may have known Bree when both girls were younger. Truth_n_sc -- This student offered his supportive suggestions and comments in Lyn's blog entries and quickly became her friend. KT- As the student who has been enrolled the longest at HSA, KT is the student who convinced Ms. Kelly to allow students to socialize. In her interactions with HSA staff, KT once used the colloquial phrase “drop the ball.” The acting director students, the incompetent Dean Warren Reed, assumed KT was an events planner and refused her services. He often asked her if she would send back any deposits from HSA because he would not approve of a ball or dance at the school. KT is not an events planner; however, she is a bright, motivated student whose work demonstrates why Ms. Kelly has grown fond of her. MysteriousC- Perhaps the youngest student at HSA, MysteriousC has been enrolled for several terms. Notable, she often had difficulty with the class notebook passwords. In the history of HSA, she is the only student who was given the password through email by Ms. Kelly. Because she was so earnest in her studies, Ms. Kelly was willing to make this exception. Sister,- Otherwise known as GuillotineCalamity, Sister enrolled in HSA for a short time, but had to withdraw when faced with a more pressing personal matter. As a participant in the HSA Term graduation in 2006, Sister offered her former classmates a congratulatory video. Rumored Former Students: Lyn -- This teenage girl is a former student who was expelled from HSA for violating Ms. Kelly's rule about contacting classmates. She and her mother, Ms. Kelly's former employee, moved away from their old town, and currently reside in an unnamed town with Lyn's grandmother. Lyn stresses that she was not involved in any of the problems that face Ms. Kelly's program. Lyn and her mother wish to move on from their experiences with HSA. Bree- HSA has never been acknowledged by Bree or any of the official lg15 characters. Although she openly refuses to address the rumors of Bree’s alleged participation, Ms. Kelly has responded to the lonelygirl15 story in light of her students’ interest in Bree’s life. Referring to her as “your peer Bree,” Ms. Kelly often uses Bree’s exploits as the basis for lessons on such topics as appropriate behavior, proper decision-making and the negative consequences of an unstructured life. Ms. Kelly’s “Lessons from Bree” videos usually focus on insignificant and trivial elements in the episodes such as Bree’s wardrobe, perceived immorality, Jonas’s automobile and the minimal use of profanity in a few videos. Ms. Kelly’s tone is often harsh and sarcastic, and she rarely offers reasonable suggestions that could actually help Bree. Ms. Kelly has offered praise to Bree, Daniel and Jonas on several occasions when they have made decisions that Ms. Kelly found to be appropriate. The End of Orientation 2006 HSA Certificate of completion Orientation 2006 ends with a rousing speech by LordGreystoke422 entitled HSAO: What is Reality. This 18 minute and 48 second video completes the term with a presentation that students are not expecting. "It has been suggested that this was the longest graduation speech in history. Though long it is actually exceeded by others such as a noted 24 minute graduation speech once given by Warren Beatty, it is definitely the longest in HSAO history and may be one of the only Graduation speeches involving the removal of clothing." <ref>LordGreystoke422</ref> Graduates who completed the necessary assignments are issued diplomas and are treated to HSAO online yearbooks. The graduates are as follows: Alystra Amy#2 Blair D.Kimble Faith Joanna Childsface Josh Kevin Seige Summer KT Taiya Violet Disorientation 2006: Transcendental Train Trip For a short period, HSAO's director Ms. Kelly, is institutionalized for reasons that are unclear but vaguely addressed in a video entitled Rose Kelly. There is some speculation as to whether Ms. Kelly suffers from spontaneous combustions. During this period, students are invited along on a train trip by a mysterious host/architect. This train ride turns into a surrealistic and confusing journey that leads nowhere. On the train, the characters, Lyn, her mother Rebecca, laughing, Indigo (gogo) James, and Ms. Kelly, realize that they are, in fact, fictional characters whose situations, struggles and lives have been plotted by the architect, their host on the journey. The host mistakenly believes that the characters will happily join together to discuss this new development. However, the characters express their shock and anger that this author’s whim has forced them to experience such difficulty and hurt. The characters refuse to oblige the author/architect/host and stay in hold up in their rooms. One by one the characters confront the author. They each leave the train, vowing to become real and take hold of their own lives. Although the lounge, library and drawing room art offer much to occupy the travelers, many of whom are Ms. Kelly's students, there is little else to do but watch the characters grow into people and leave the architect's story. Ms. Kelly jumps off of the train part way through the trip to get back to her family, her school and the consequences she would face for some fraudulent behavior. In a drunken stupor, the architect finds herself left forever on an empty train, alone to wander the halls of the fictional train wreck she created. Back at HSA and with her life now in her own hands, Ms. Kelly vows to turn things around. She applies for 501(c)(3) nonprofit status for her school. Back at the helm, she begins planning a new term for her students focused on technology and art. Term 2006: Technology and Art Students spend the term focused on examining technology and art, as well as learning from the examples set by lonelygirl15 in a series of Lesson from Bree. HSA becomes sponsored by a charitable foundation called TiKO. This foundation is rather mysterious as its sponsors choose to remain anonymous as they work under the TiKO name. TiKO demands that HSA hold a very public Open House, so the sponsors can assess the school's work. Some paperwork in Ms. Kelly’s officealludes to a conflict between TiKO’s intentions and Ms. Kelly’s curriculum. Professor Boone is revealved to be doing some secretive work for TiKO as stated in some emailsfound in his classroom. Ms. Kelly explains to students that she is concerned about continued funding for her non-profit school. As graduation nears, Ms. Kelly solicits some of her friends to contribute their words of wisdom for the graduation video. Contributing friends included ApotheosisAZ, Simian Liberation Front, Nikki Bower, Dr.Immant, Jonas, TWJaniak, Sister and Daniel's friend Paul. Students’ final projects are displayed on the HSA website. The graduates for this term are as follows:<ref>HSA Final Student Exhibition 2006</ref> "Faith (our dependable little spark) Joanna C. (so faithful and bright) rustydevil (whose enthusiasm was a pleasure) MysteriousC (whose gift of a ribbon left me red in the face) Fitzroy (who was no longer a stow-away, but instead an important part of our group) Ashley (who worked so hard and shared so much) KT (who convinced Ms. Kelly to loosen up a bit) Amy#2 (who is really #1 to Ms. Kelly) Momo (who came, shared and helped us grow) Jules (who I allow to remain) Luminous (who is just that) Blair (who is always level-headed and creative) Term 1 2007: The Philosophy of Good and Evil HSA continues to receive funding from its anonymous sponsors through TiKO Students are busy at work completing a variety of exercises and receiving help with class notebook passwords from Professor Boone. However, students begin to notice Ms. Kelly’s sporadic attendance and lack of responses to their class work. Professor Boone shares some information with students in the form of a notice. A video credited to The Executive Director of the TiKO Foundation explains some concern over Ms. Kelly’s last few video lessons, which seem to be targeting Bree and her situation. The video does not give specific information other than to say that Ms. Kelly needs to learn how to better serve her students. Along with the text, the video also shows firefighters battling a blazing building and an unknown man engaged in actions that appear to be suspicious. Professor Cedric Boone, left to run the school in Ms. Kelly’s absence, discusses his concerns with the students. Suspicious of the sponsors, TiKO’s public relations video and Rose’s plight in the hands of these individuals, he leaves copies of sensitive material that he had delivered at his time as a go-between for TiKO and the sponsors, and posts a lesson involving pieces of art that allude to sinister behavior on the part of those holding Ms. Kelly. Surprisingly, a new video is released, again credited to both HSA and TiKO. It includes a calm voice-mail message from Ms. Kelly, who states that the seminar has “opened [her] eyes.” Professor Boone and the class are left to wonder if Ms. Kelly willfully joined forces with her captors or if she was influenced through more sinister means. After Daniel appears on camera under the influence of his captors, convincing Bree to do the ceremony, Ms. Kelly offers a new lesson, suggesting that the Order could provide a helpful career boost for Bree and her friends. Back at the school, with the term ending, a number of the students ask for extensions to complete missing work in time to receive certificates of completion. However, with her sudden time away, Ms. Kelly is not able to provide the necessary assistance to help these students complete their academic tasks. At the end of the term, only four students complete the necessary requirements to receive their certificates. These four students are as follows: Keyi KT MysteriousC Selena Winter Course 2007: Examining Ms. Kelly As Term 1 2007, ends with neither fanfare nor a special graduation ceremony, Ms. Kelly seems too preoccupied by her recent experiences to focus on lessons. Ms. Kelly’s weekly visit to her therapist is presented as a voice-over, unlike her previous text-based videos. The continuation of this visit sheds no real light on the dreams that seem to plague her. It still remains to be seen whether or not Ms. Kelly accepts the seemingly sinister intentions of the TiKO Foundation. Ms. Kelly steps away from her self-reflection to share a lesson called Perception Vs. Reality that alludes to the family issues afflicting Daniel. With another voice-over and the continued water motif, Ms. Kelly shares her suggestions for ways to approach the future. Assignments Student responses to assignments are exhibited on the HSA website. These list poems, which are showcased as a response to an assignment, were created and submitted by students. Assignment 1--October 9, 2006 -First Orientation Assignment Assignment 2-- October 12, 2006 -Second Orientation Assignment Assignment 3--October 18, 2006 -Third Orientation Assignment Assignment 4- October 19, 2006 -Fourth Orientation Assignment Assignment 5- October 25, 2006 -Fifth Orientation Assignment Assignment 6- October 25, 2006 -Final Orientation Assignment Registration Task- November 23, 2006- First Academic Task of 2006 Term Open House Exhibition- Showcase of Student Work from 2006 Term Technology & Art Final Projects- Final Student Exhibition from 2006 Term Current Student Responses- On-Going Showcase of Student Work: 2007 References <references/> External Links Homeschoolers Aggregate Online Homepage Professor Boone’s Classroom Ms. Kelly’s Video Collection on Revver Ms. Kelly’s YouTube Channel TiKO Foundation Homepage HSA discussion area for fan-created videos on the lonelygirl15 forum