When the world's your classroom

If you scroll through Bengaluru-based parent Ananya Chandrashekar’s Instagram posts about her homeschooling journey, you too will fall in love with learning. In one such post, her six-year-old son Aditya arranges a periodic table made with colourful, handmade cardboard squares in the order of the atomic number. His fascination with periodic tables began when he was around three years old. Ananya got him a lift-a-flap periodic table picture book and he was hooked.

Ananya and her husband started homeschooling their son in 2019 and they intend to make it a lifelong family journey. “When Aditya was around 2.5 years old, we decided that we wanted him to explore how beautiful the process of learning and education can be,” she says. “Our homeschooling began with just playing and reading books together. Later, we followed his lead and started teaching him what he wanted to learn. Aditya has always been a curious kid. We realised that he loved to learn about the world not by just reading books but also through experiencing it.”

Ananya posts on Instagram as @amma_of_little_aditya. She puts together some incredible resources and learning materials. “Other parents tell me that they wish schools too taught like this,” she says. “We do not follow a strict curriculum. Aditya loves math and science. Our activities on countries and continents were huge hits, especially the ones that involve Indian art activities, ancient games, and learning about the human body.”

While conventional schooling may have hemmed in Aditya’s explorations, homeschooling truly allows him to go where his curiosity takes him, she believes.

A shift in perspective

Why does a family choose to homeschool their children? Each family has its own reason and each reason is equally valid. Sandhya Viswan, co-founder of EdDeed and one of Bengaluru’s well-known homeschoolers, chose to homeschool her older son Pranavswaroop so that he could focus on his music. “He was doing extremely well in school and we felt we could handle the academics,” she says. “My younger son, Omkar who was only three at that time, joined in. Over a period of time, our thoughts on education and homeschooling changed and that also affected the choices we made.”

Viswan believes that every family has a different reason for homeschooling. Some families are disillusioned by the school system. A few cannot meet the rising cost of education.

“Parents must be clear about why they want to choose homeschooling,” she says. “A stop-gap arrangement doesn’t always work. They should be committed to taking it forward and be prepared to take risks.”

In India, cities like Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai, and Hyderabad have vibrant homeschooling communities. The pandemic truly moved the needle in terms of a change in perception. A huge number of parents switched to homeschooling effortlessly and once the pandemic waned, many of them chose to continue their journey. The shift in thinking is remarkable.

One such parent is Bengaluru-based Hari Rao, who started homeschooling his now 10-year-old daughter during the pandemic when her school shut down. “I picked up grade three books and taught her English, basic math, and comprehension,” he says. “I learned to be consistent and provided her structured learning.”

One day, during their homeschooling journey, Rao gave his daughter a paper on economics that he was reading. She was very curious to read and understand it. Rao, who has a background in cognitive psychology, was intrigued that his daughter was hungry for more complex material. He encouraged her natural vocabulary and numerical ability, to the point where she joined him when he tutored a 7th-grader in their neighbourhood and even worked on the problems with them.

“Seeing my child’s development was a huge revelation because never once did we test her or tell her to memorise anything,” he says.

Where do you start?

For younger children, Viswan recommends that at least one parent or caregiver is at home. “When the child is 10 or older, both parents can work and continue to homeschool, provided everyone is comfortable with this arrangement,” says Viswan. “If either or both parents work in an environment where the child can also be taken, that is a great experience. If the parents are academically inclined and capable, they usually handle the academics themselves. If not, they can hire teachers, tutors, or mentors. Most families work on making the child an independent learner. The exam options available to private candidates also offer a lot of flexibility in the choice of subjects. If the children struggle with any subjects, they can drop them.”

Homeschooling afforded Bengaluru-based Padmashree Palavalli and her two sons many opportunities, including the chance to travel and learn. Palavalli began her homeschooling journey because she was not happy with the quality of education and teaching in her children’s school. “When we started, my sons Vedanth and Siddanth were 11 and 9 years old,” she says. “I followed the Cambridge curriculum to teach them. After a year, once we fell into a pattern, I worked towards getting them to be independent learners.”

The family travelled to the UK and stayed there for some time, with Palavalli’s sons planning everything they would see and learn there.

“When we came back to India, one of our sons was in the tenth grade,” she says.” He appeared as a private candidate for the IGCSE exams but he fell short of a few marks in math. IGCSEs have the five-subject criteria and this really worried me. We are not academically oriented but we still needed to fit into a system and we did not want to lose a year. It was then that I heard about the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS.) We realised that we could appear for on-demand exams in a matter of 15 days and we could also transfer credits from Cambridge to NIOS. We transferred three credits to NIOS and my son only wrote his home science, economics, and data analytics exams. He cleared them while simultaneously getting enrolled in a PU college in Bengaluru.”

What about social skills?

A big misconception about homeschooling is that children do not develop social skills. Unlike the restrictions of a classroom, the outside world is filled with people from different age groups, with opportunities for meaningful interactions.“Our children are encouraged to interact a lot,” says Viswan. “In Bengaluru, a few homeschooling families get together and plan activities that are useful or interesting for the child. There are many companies that offer internship opportunities for homeschooled children.”

Both Palavalli’s sons transitioned seamlessly into the college environment. What’s more, they brought something with them that probably had to do with the freedom and fulfilment they found as homeschooled students. “They are much loved by all the teachers and the students in the college,” she says. “When they were homeschooled, the other kids in our community would only come out when they came out to play because they were so kind and popular. They played with all children, both young and old.”

With many alternative resources now available to support families, homeschooling can be a legitimate option for students everywhere who want to pursue their interests at their own pace and add many dimensions to their learning experience.

The author is a freelance journalist based in Mumbai and the founder of India School Guide, an upcoming website with curated information on schools in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Chennai.

Homeschooling FAQs

* Is homeschooling valid in India?

Yes, it is. B S Rishikesh, who leads the Hub for Education, Law and Policy at the Azim Premji University in Bengaluru says, “The Right to Education Act (RTE) states that all children between 6 and 14 years have to mandatorily be in school and any child who is not in a recognised institution called a school is out of school. This was devised to prevent children who belong to economically disadvantaged households from being forcefully kept out of school for work, including household chores. The RTE does not, however, state any punitive measures against homeschoolers. In fact, at present, the National Education Policy (NEP) recommends strengthening the open board so as to enable multiple pathways to learning, both in the formal and non-formal education modes.”

* What are the resources available to homeschooling parents?

To support them in their (and their child’s) learning journey, parents can opt for online learning platforms like Wolsey Hall and EggHeads. In Bengaluru, many schools like the Buddhi School in Thanisandra support homeschoolers. Buddhi is also an exam centre for IGCSE and IAL examinations, apart from offering study support for these exams.

* Which curriculum does a homeschooling family follow?

Families have full freedom to pick and choose any curriculum, national or international, that they think suits their child’s interests and aptitude. 

* Which exams can they sit for?

Homeschooled students can write the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) secondary and senior secondary exams as private candidates, and directly apply to college. Students can also write the IGCSE, AS and A-level exams as private candidates and even appear for a few state board exams.

The Association of Indian Universities (AIU) has granted equivalence to the Cambridge IGCSE and International AS and A Levels. However, when students write the AS and A level exams as private candidates and not as part of a school, the AIU does not issue an equivalency certificate. This may pose a problem for homeschoolers because the equivalence certificate is compulsory for admission to most colleges in India.

* Can homeschooled students shift to regular schools?

Yes, there are homeschooled students who move to schools affiliated with national and international boards in Bengaluru in the higher grades. Families shift their children to schools only if the students are interested. The advice is to approach prospective schools a year before and plan ahead in terms of documentation and entrance requirements.