"Plant your words where Profit lies; Whiter cloth takes faster Dyes": This from the Panchatantra.
Both Sonati and I have been feeling/wondering for a while now about putting up a blog. to "interact" as it were. After all, we do read blogs, visit other sites etc.
Then came Sumana's article on Home Schooling
This made both of us think that we should probably write from our experience.To let people know that this "Home Schooling" is not some elitist or faddist thing. It is actually about being more with our children than most people seem to be nowadays.It is also something that happens to everyone and their children.
Kids are around their parents and they learn/imbibe/whatever.
It is actually the parents' fear of consequences ("But what about their marks/certificates/chhapas of various sorts?") rather than a fear that the children will not learn anything which keeps people from home schooling. A little reflection shows that the latter is quite absurd.Children learn like Fish swim.
If one spends time and watches/listens one will be truly amazed at the things children know and can do without any formal instruction. They do not make a big deal of the things they know or can do. The day a child learns to cycle may be a big day; the next day cycling is a given!
We adults need to resolve the confusions in ourselves first. For a start we have to separate the Exam Industry from Learning.
And if you feel that your child has to write an exam, put it to him honestly: "I am scared, so you must write an exam". The child will take it on and learn to cope with the exam industry. (I speak from experience: tell the kids that exams have nothing to do with learning and they will handle it much better than half truths like exams are necessary to gauge how much you have learnt and so on)
We need to look back at our childhoods, schools, honestly and not through romantic rose tints. What, about those days, were The Good Old Days? Certainly not the monotony of the classroom and the preparing for an exam!