1. cover
story
me withng
at ho schooli
home BY NIRUPAMA RA
GHAVAN
-time
, whether part
H omeschooling
reschooler or
or full -time, with a p
ng
seems a daunti
a n older child, ol
ear-total contr
task. Taking n ot
education is n
o ver your child’s at
e made lightly
a decision to b re,
e moment. He
the spur of th
at sorting the
then , is an attempt
nt to
arents may wa
basic factors p
meschooling.
consi der, before ho
W
hy do you want to that covers a plethora of options in reading/researching/asking around/
homeschool your breadth and nature. Many parents googling; so take the time, and do
child? homeschool up to the first standard; the work. Not only will it make your
There are as many reasons for some up to the sixth or eighth; others work easier when you begin, you’ll
homeschooling as there are past the twelfth, as my parents did. The find yourself more confident of your
homeschooling parents. Some choose safety net that the Right to Education ground, and more relaxed with
homeschooling for geographical Act provides, should eliminate most your child.
reasons (isolation, emigration); some parents’ worries about enrollment
have gifted children who may not do possibilities. Curriculum covers a range However clear you may be on how you
well in group schooling; some have of methods from traditional instruction would like to homeschool your child,
children with various mental/physical to Waldorf, Montessori and Doman there are some basic pre-requisites for
challenges; a surprisingly large number methods, from Vedic math to Abacus. the plan to be a success:
withdraw their children from school in Some even enroll their child in a school,
response to bullying, discrimination and and then take partial responsibility for A well-educated primary parent
plain old dissatisfaction with teaching, only sending the child to (PP): This refers only tangentially to
the system. school for tests and exams, with the formal education; given the state of
administration’s blessing. education in this country, I would
What type of homeschooling consider it infinitely more important
are you planning? Finding full and comprehensive answers that the PP is extremely well-read, a
‘Homeschooling’ is an umbrella term to these questions may require some logical and organized teacher. The
10 Parent Circle / January 2012

2. Important external resources:
Libraries, TV shows, museums, galleries Expert Speak
and the internet are important.
They provide you with sources of Mohana Narayanan,
information, both for your child and Psychological Counsellor,
for the research that you will need to Aatmika Centre for
complete in order to teach. Cable TV Counselling
and the internet will rapidly become
your best friends for video clips, articles, Even home schooling has its
documentaries and research; you can flipside. A regular school provides
teach music by using YouTube or an environment where the child
practice organizational skills together learns to give and take, and
through Farmville. The box is only as develops other soft skills which
Nirupama Raghavan
idiotic as the priorities of its user. are often missed out in home-
schooling. School life also has an
pool of knowledge required to teach While the basics are universal, organized structure with rules
a young child is extensive, more than homeschooling offers virtually unlimited and regulations - this is what
what is expected of any one teacher in possibilities for tailoring them to the makes the child self-disciplined.
any primary school. learning style and preferences of the A child feels safe within this
child. A quick google search or a visit structure.
A supportive and enthusiastic to a bookstore specialising in textbooks
secondary parent (SP): Ideally for will enable you to cross-check the The children need to blend with
the emotional stability of the child and boards that cover the topics you want, the present day education system
the family as a whole, both parents and in the style that you prefer. to know its importance. I know
need to be involved in educating the of some children who do not
child. The secondary parent, however, How to bring about Learning know even the importance of a
may not have as much time to invest in the child? graduation and shun education.
in it, and might have to take over With each topic, list out what your child
more household/logistical support, as has to know, what else is connected
is the case with most homeschooling with it, and what more is available if he
families that I have seen. These roles are is interested. He could just develop a
completely gender-interchangeable; my deep interest in a facet of Taxonomy!
father handled half of my primary and a Don’t be surprised if your child develops
good chunk of my highly arts-oriented obscure and highly specific interests
secondary education, and I don’t think and skills; it’s an advantage - some
he is an exception that proves the rule. say a side-effect - of getting to learn
the way one likes. You may have to
A consistent and comprehensive bear in mind that your child may not
syllabus: Whether you choose to necessarily be interested in pursuing
adopt a syllabus (IGCSE, CBSE, State some - or many - things beyond the
board, etc) or integrate multiple basics. Do not push too hard when that
syllabuses, do have clear three-year, is the case; but don’t compromise on
one-year, and half-year plans; these them learning what they need
should be tailored to your child’s gifts, to know, either.
needs and preferences. This prevents
the classes devolving into interesting A most important tip: Branch out
but goalless meandering, which is from textbooks! The best way to learn
always a risk when everyone is is from an expert (who writes from a
having fun. place of passion and expertise)8
www.parentcircle.in 11

3. cover
story
rather than a textbook author (who encyclopedias and educational CDs
is primarily focused on being readily come in.
comprehensible). I learnt geography
and zoology by reading Gerald Durrell’s Some resources: DK’s encyclopedias
books on his expeditions, James and Picturepedias are a treasure trove;
Herriott’s stories of country veterinary so is the Childcraft series, which covers
practice, and watching/reading David poetry and literary needs as well as
Attenborough’s The Living Planet. I science and general knowledge. Collect
learned world history through reading posters, flashcard sets and quiz-based
James Michener, Leon Uris, Jawaharlal board games; they will always come
Nehru; science - from Isaac Asimov’s in handy. At a more advanced level,
books on basic astronomy and physics. you can find the Time-Life series,
Of course, this approach leaves gaps National Geographic archives, and a
in knowledge (particularly in the raw plethora of Discovery Channel and
basics), but that is where the textbooks, BBC documentaries on everything from
aardvarks to zygotes.
up by 3:00 pm, I had a whole evening
Meet some On the internet, Youtube is a valuable to run around with other kids, climb
home schoolers resource (when used right), as are other trees, play in fields, get very muddy,
child or information-oriented websites play in irrigation canals, photograph
S Esha is a 12-year-old girl living such as the BBC’s, or the USGS (United cloud formations, or even just sit and
in Pondicherry, who did not like States Geological Survey), or NASA. read and listen to music, if I was in
regular school. She is being home- the mood. I was not athletic, but was
schooled now and also runs her A quick Google search will run up very interested in getting wet/muddy/
own magazine Raindrops in which enough math or grammar exercises to covered with stray foliage and dog fur
other children contribute articles. keep even the most grimly industrious in the shortest amount of time. My
Ask her whether she misses school little quiz-lover occupied for years. For loneliness – and I was, at times, very
and she says: I do get irritated that I the literary-inclined and an older child lonely – had more to do with being far
have to wait for a weekend to meet with a computer, Project Gutenberg more intellectual than my age group.
a school-going friend. But I feel uploads, html and notepad versions of There are millions who have undergone
good when most of my friends say all books with expired copyrights, are a perfectly traditional education who
that they would prefer to be home- cheap, efficient and legal alternative to have felt precisely that isolation.
schooled like me. spending huge amounts on buying up
the classics. The socialization and social skills that
Ruchir Raju Deepthi lives in Koba, children need, are not always acquired
a village near Gandhinagar, Gujarat. For the rest... keep your eyes open by passing out from the modern
He is 23 years old now, has been and keep looking. For every resource Swargavaasal (Gate to heaven) of
home-schooled, and publishes his in here, there are a hundred out there, schools. They come from spending time
own online magazine, care4nature. that your child might adore. Have a with other children, and around their
“Everything in regular school was wonderful time exploring! mental/emotional age group, which
so mechanical; other students were may be quite different. They also come
just repeating what the teacher said. Can homeschooling bring from spending time with adults.
They had no ideas of their own. about loneliness in a child?
I learnt better when I went along There were other children around for NIRUPAMA RAGHAVAN WAS HOME
with my parents to conferences. me, for a significant chunk of the day. SCHOOLED. SHE WAS 16 WHEN HER
Also, there are many professors and I attended Tamil, civics and physical TRANSLATION ‘PARTHIBAN’S DREAM’
engineers in my family. Whenever sciences classes with other children; all WAS PUBLISHED; SHE HAS WRITTEN ‘PAVO
they had lengthy discussions, I picked my extra-curricular activities were in AND CAVO’ A PICTURE STORY BOOK FOR
up a lot of information,” he says. groups. Since my school-time wrapped CHILDREN; BESIDES A NUMBER OF POEMS.
12 Parent Circle / January 2012

4. the different
shades of
homeschooling
BY SHASHWATHI SANDEEP
R
uchir Raju Deepthi is a
23-year-old who has his own
publication and so does 12-
year-old Esha S. The other common
link between them is the fact that they
have been home-schooled. Contrary
to perception, home-schooling has its
share of successes, and brings out the
individuality of a person to the fore.
The term homeschooling has been
understood vaguely by the general
public. They perceive it to be a system
where the child is taught at home by
his parent with the same kind of text
books and even a blackboard. It is
usually understood and followed as ‘the
home replacing the school’, following
a similar syllabus, having similar goals,
preparing for exams, etc.
daughter what subjects/areas of life second home, why would any parent
“For us, homeschooling means that are more important than others,” want to home school their child?
there won’t be any syllabus. This explains Sangeetha Sriram, a writer,
is because we feel that ‘setting a an urban farmer and a parent who is Homeschooling need not have fixed
syllabus’ means deciding for our homeschooling her child. timings, and it gives you many choices.
“Thanks to its flexibility, holidays and
Genie Kids (a school emulating home- vacations are not dictated by the
schooling) in Bangalore encourages school schedules. Learning happens
and practises the kind of learning at the child’s pace and there is no
where there are neither text books nor stress to keep up with the grade levels.
a syllabus. “There is no teaching that Competition is only against oneself, so
happens. No faculty, equipment or there is no one-upmanship or bullying.
activity imposes learning on children. Learning happens for the joy of it,”
Over here, children construct their says Meena Srinivasan, a software
own learning. All children learn in their professional and a stay-at-home mom
own style, in their own way, at their from Puducherry.
own pace, in different quantities and
intensities,” says Aditi Shah Mathur, Some parents also feel that schools
founder of Genie Kids. have a distorted way of measuring a
child’s intelligence. “We don’t really
Why homeschooling need much of what we learn in school,
When school is considered to be a and most of what we need to learn 8
www.parentcircle.in 13

5. cover
story
in life, we learn from life. Yet,
children start believing themselves
to be clever or dumb, based
on what a few teachers and
educators decide as life-skills.
Students are carefully moulded
and measured according to their
ability to conform,” says Vidyut
Kale, a parent from Mumbai.
When to start
“I would personally advise parents
to start as early as possible.
Just as children express freely
their hunger for food, they will
also express their desire for
learning if parents listen and
learn with them,” says Vidya
Shankar, who is setting up
CASCADE (Creating Alternative
System for Children Aiding
Development Experientially), a
common platform for the home-
schooling parents of Chennai and
Puducherry.
How does the child actually instead of resorting to remote facts WEBSITE RESOURCES
learn from a text book. Often we end up 4www.alternativeeducationindia.com
Well, from everything that is around devising our own curriculum”, 4homeschooling creatively
him! “We prefer a child led - project says Meena. (Yahoo group)
oriented approach. We use an eclectic 4living math forum (Yahoo)
collection of material – textbooks Some other children learn from 4living science forum (Yahoo)
from different schools, workbooks their day-to-day activities. Explains 4www.indiahomeschoolers.ning.com
that we find in second hand stores Sangeetha, mother of a two-and-a-
etc. The internet is a huge boon with half-year-old daughter, ”Our ‘method’
its unlimited resources. We have is to expose our daughter to varied becomes the chemistry lab, the garden
subscribed to a couple of sites which environments like the beach, park, the biology lab and so on,”
gives us access to grade level and railway station, bus journeys, buying explains Meena.
subject level worksheets/books when from vegetable markets and small road-
we feel a need for them. side shops, family functions, temples The option of writing exams is also
and even our maid’s home, where she left to the child. There are exams at
We are part of several online groups can see and experience sensorially, two levels - the 10th and the 12th.
and forums. We support each other a variety of things. She soaks it all in “Children can currently write the NIOS
by sharing our thoughts, concerns and and ask us questions and thus makes (National Institute of Open Schooling)
more importantly, resources. Materials sense of the world around her. We also and Cambridge board exams with ease.
and resources cost a lot of money and involve her in work, as in the kitchen.” I would suggest that children write
we get very creative when it comes to the NIOS exams for the 10th grade
study material. In our case, we would “As for the Sciences, most of the and both the Board exams at the 12th
also like the curriculum to be relevant experiments are performed hands-on grade level,” advises Vidya Shankar.
to the child’s immediate surroundings with day to day materials. The kitchen IGCSE is also an option for children.
14 Parent Circle / January 2012