Twenty one years ago, a princess of the flowers was born to me. My friend gazed down upon the little baby and declared her princess of the stars. We laughingly agreed that she was a star-flower princess. Sahya knew nothing about our secret, yet, three years later, she returned from a walk in my ancestral […]
Healing Relationships, Healing Mother Earth Read More »
When I decided to present a paper for The Homeschool Conference (http://www.homeschoolconference.com), I was not sure what would be the theme of the paper. Each day for a month I sat down at my lap top and opened a blank word document and stared at the screen, with nothing coming forth for me to write.
How do I explain Unschooling to skeptics? Read More »
Sejal: Hello, Ruchir! Can you briefly introduce yourself? Ruchir: My name is Ruchir and I live in a small village half way to Gandhinagar from Ahmedabad. I am 24. I have never been to school. I learn from things and people around me in that order! I love to travel and talk to people. My
I am Ruchir and I never went to school Read More »
Even before we had a child, back in summer of 2008 I met a child who was like most of her peers, but yet different. Confident, expressive, loud and free are the adjectives that come to my mind. It was fascinating for me to watch her and somehow she made me feel very happy. When
Most of us feel uncomfortable when our children exercise their freedom to be silent, walk around seemingly doing nothing of importance. This is because most of us feel uncomfortable ourselves being silent and doing nothing. Modern culture, which is obsessed with activity and productivity, calls it ‘laziness’ and conjures up proverbs like ‘An idle mind
Please don’t disturb the still pond! Read More »
Shaju Philip of Indian Express writes about 13 year old Minon who won the National Award for the best child actor this year for the Malayalam film 101 Chodyangal (101 Questions). Minon’s father is sculptor-craftsman John Baby and mother Mini John is a painter. They wanted their children to enjoy life and the freedom it
Learning to be Free Read More »
We have a log cabin set that our kids play with, building different kinds of log cabins or other structures or sometimes combining it with other construction sets, giving form to their imaginations. There are three kinds in this set – small, medium and long. This morning after breakfast, Aniket as usual put away the
This article grew out of a stray conversation with a friend who dropped in over the weekend. His daughter apparently hates math. My friend shrugged it off to lack of aptitude. “You either have it or you don’t”, he said. It makes his parenting style relaxed, conscious. He doesn’t want to stress out his teenager.
Who’s Afraid of Mathematics? Read More »
After visiting Kanheri Caves and hearing the stories of Angulimala, Megh was introduced to Buddha. While crossing Sardar bridge I showed him the full moon and said, “today is birthday of Bhagavan Buddha, this full moon day (Sharad Purnima) is thus known as “Buddha Purnima.” He replied, “Hmm… so God has come with cake!” What
Imagination of the Child Read More »
Purba Sen Mitra writes about homeschooling and homeschoolers in her article for Good News Tab. The article is being reproduced here with the permission from Good News Tab. What if learning could be a journey without any beginning or end where children could design their own curriculum and become their own teachers? What if children
When Learning Comes Naturally Read More »