Biggest problem with the word homeschooling is that it consists of the word home.

Homeschooling generally means that parents take charge of the child’s education. It doesn’t mean that the child is going to be bound within the 4 walls of the home. Only conventional schools do that – treat schools like factories, offices and jails.

In fact, quite a lot of parents, like us, that are protesting against conventional schools, take issue with the fact that modern education system binds kids within 4 walls rather than them being out in the open.

That is why, in our conversations, Homeschooling is being supplemented by Unschooling, FarmSchooling & similar terms. 

We use all of these terms interchangeably based on the audience that we are addressing. 

Common Question #1

Whenever people see Vanya with us during the day in the farm, the first question that most people ask is “Didn’t you go to school?” Whenever she or I respond that she is being Homeschooled, the next thing people ask is that “How about socialization?”. 

We run an organic farm, an organic groceries business, and a farm stay : there is absolutely no dearth of people visiting us. In fact, the diversity of age and personality types, that she interacts with us much higher than a conventional school where children of the same age are clubbed together.

But, in real life, it is rare that one would be interacting with people of their age exclusively. The conventional school is clearly not preparing children for the rest of the world.

Common Question #2

“How will you find the time between your work and home duties to homeschool a child?”. My belief is that : If you can find the time to generate income to pay a teacher / school to impart mass education, you can find time to impart focused education to your child. This is more a question about priorities than a question about time, as you would have figured. 

We have reached a stage in the farm where it generates almost 50% of our food with the efforts of Noushadya and the farmers who work at Vaanavil. While the organic groceries business is in a nascent stage, it is consistently generating some profits, thanks to the efforts of the farmers & patrons who have chosen to support us. The farm stay is off to a promising start over the last 15 months and I am sure it will help us save enough for Vanya’s future. 

While the processes in all of these are quite stable, they are dependent on the people running them – and this variability will always need our active involvement. None of these are passive income streams. Our lives will be busy with these till we pass away – so, Noushadya and I will always need to be open to learning. Vanya, by the virtue of being home or farm or un or biz schooled, will accompany us wherever we are until she can find her wings. She, I am confident, will find enough opportunities to learn from us. For whatever skills we are unable to impart, I am sure we will impart the humility and awareness needed to pursue what she wants to. 

Common Question #3

The 3rd most common question that we are asked as soon as we mention homeschool is “How about secondary school certificate?”. I respond that NIOS provides the opportunity to secure certificates for Secondary and Higher Secondary while appearing for exams in district headquarters. Surely, a certification cannot be a major reason behind 10-12 years of separating a child from their parents for 8 hours a day. 

Learning?

Isn’t it preposterous that the top questions about schooling are not even about learning; but about the mechanics of homeschooling? These questions arise from a position of ignorance. Parents are not aware that homeschooling is a legitimate way of education. Alternative ways of schooling are not to encourage primitive ways of teaching. In ancient and medieval times, your whole world for most of the populace was restricted to your parents way of life. The outlook used to be limited and that often didn’t allow children to develop a scientific approach of thinking. But, in the modern world, with access to so much digital technology, there are plentiful ways to learn from one another and mother nature. 

Most parents know that children have an inmate ability to learn and the purpose of education is not only about providing opportunities to learn. It is also about building confidence, instilling discipline and integrating with human society. While these are important objectives, they can be achieved with out the modern McCaulay method of education. 

Regards

Sudhakar