“We dropped my daughter out of school and let her pursue her interests. I started my platform, Homiskool, and posted on LinkedIn about homeschooling my kids, which got two million views. People reached out from all over,” Nitu, who lives in Sohna, Gurugram, says.

Homiskool didn’t meet Nitu’s expectations due to her mental health and tepid market response. However, her daughter Mannat learned baking through homeschooling and started a venture with her parents’ help.

“She is ten and a half years old but started the venture at nine. She handles baking and calculates the per unit cost, which is how I taught her mathematics,” Nitu adds.

Joseph Jude, a Tamilian in Chandigarh, realised as a young parent that he had only “12 summers with his kids” before they would likely move away. As a chief technology officer, he observed that busy parents often fail to bond with their children, who then lead their own lives.

During the pandemic, his children’s grades declined with online schooling, and his wife ended up doing their homework. Joseph saw a disconnect between what top university graduates knew and what was needed in the workplace.

“I was involved in hiring students from some of the top universities, and that too the top-ranked ones. We found that we could not take them for any job in the first six months. They would have studied Java and we would require C++ or vice versa. Even after six months, we could not place them in front of the clients because in our schools, we are telling our kids to shut up and listen to the teachers. And as soon as they come to office, we are telling them to speak up. So if someone is told to shut up for 21 years, how could they suddenly start speaking. That made me think,” Joseph says.

Facing the prospect of spending Rs 20-30 lakh per child on education only to be told they weren’t good enough for jobs, Joseph considered homeschooling. Initially, his kids were unhappy, but his wife researched, and a contact in Bengaluru provided insights on homeschooling.

In the mid-1990s, Poonam Singh from Chandigarh, editor of Punjabi magazine Preet Ladi, saw her five-year-old son say, “main paagal hu (I am mad)” because he felt different and slow. “My son had lost respect for himself,” Poonam (66) says, adding that she then decided to homeschool him.

After a few days at home, her son asked to do math. Poonam then enrolled him in a school where parents and teachers collaborated, creating a supportive environment. “Parents contributed to teaching; my husband taught farming. The school was not intimidating,” Poonam says. Later, she sent her children to Rishi Valley, a school based on Jiddu Krishnamurti’s philosophy.

Sandhya Gupta, educated at the University of Minnesota, settled in a village outside Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, when her daughter was five and a half. She didn’t want to be a “soccer mom” and wanted her daughter to learn at her own pace. “Homeschooling sounds like school at home, but that’s not the case for Shamli. She loved carpentry and learned to use tools, made her own dolls, and learned math through measurements. Her learning was based on her interests,” Sandhya elaborates.

The Inspiration

Nitin Sharma, co-founder of The Thought Bulb, a team-building company in Gurugram, works with adults using experiential activities for learning. He thought, “If adults can learn this way, why not kids? Kids can do these activities even better.” Nitin and his wife, Aarti, discussed that if memorisation is a key part of schooling, activities enhancing memory could be beneficial. “At parent-teacher meetings, we realised teachers judged students by the subjects. A science teacher would say a child isn’t good if they didn’t excel in science. Parents know their kids best,” Nitin (41) adds.

Nitin’s son Aaran started wildlife photography at nine, and now, at 12, his works are published in newspapers, and he attends exhibitions.
Joseph observed homeschooling among his European colleagues and was influenced by Sugata Mitra’s experiment, detailed in a TED talk on rural areas of India and Africa. “This experiment took place 10 years ago when everyone in the rural areas did not have access to computers and other related devices. Mitra put up a kiosk/computer connected to the internet. There was no coach or teachers. And he would watch. Over a period, these kids would write something. After some time, at all the points where he had put up these computers, he found that all these children knew how to access Wikipedia and learn with it. His point was that kids by nature are curious. Don’t force them to learn something. You just facilitate their learning. Give them tools, books, computers. Let them figure out what is interesting to them and then learn that. So that’s where I am deriving whatever I am doing right now. There was also a talk by Peter Coffman. He said we need to develop multidisciplinary thinking. What he meant was that you need to learn something about science, something about history, and so on. And we don’t teach these subjects properly in schools,” Joseph elaborates.

Decoding the curriculum: Music, traveling, blogging, and more

“We don’t follow a fixed curriculum. The idea is for the child to do everything they like,” Nitin says, adding that this approach helped Aaran discover his love for photography and nature.

Joseph’s children, Josh and Jerry, wake up at 6.30 am, except on weekends. “From 7.30-8.30 am, they exercise, like cycling or walking. At 9 am, we have breakfast together, discussing the previous day’s learnings, issues, and doubts,” Joseph says. They then learn music for an hour, and his elder son is preparing for a music certification.

“After lunch, from 1 pm to 6 pm, the kids work on their blogs and YouTube channels. We do industry visits quarterly, where they make and edit videos. Monthly, they create a joint music video,” Joseph explains. Joseph uses a rewards-based system to motivate learning and teach personal finance. “Points are given for music videos, blogs, etc. If they earn 2,000 points in a month, I match it, and at Rs 2 per point, they get the amount in their bank accounts. They manage their accounts, learning personal finance,” he says, jokingly adding, “I take 30 per cent tax.”

Mannat, learned baking through homeschooling. Nitu later found that a professional homeschool, StayQrious NeoSchool, could provide a structured curriculum. The school uses neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) to train the mind. “We tried books from CBSE, Oxford, and Cambridge, but she didn’t like them. StayQrious integrates the best of Finnish, Gurukul, and Cambridge education systems,” Nitu explains.

Breaking off the employee mindset

“There is a difference between fixed and growth mindset. Unschooling challenges traditional practices and breaks the employee mindset, where one works hard from 9 am to 5 pm and only sees their performance reviewed annually. This needs to change,” Nitin says. Nitin and other parents assert that homeschooling is more affordable than regular schooling. “It is not the money, it is the mindset,” Nitin emphasises.

Society first rejected, now curious

Joseph’s parents initially rejected homeschooling but changed their minds after seeing the positive results. “They are surprised by my kids’ communication skills. Now, everyone says, ‘Joseph, you are doing an awesome thing.’”

Nitin encountered three types of reactions when he decided to homeschool Aaran: some thought there was something wrong with the child, others were offended, and many were curious. As results showed promise, opinions, including those of Nitin’s parents and in-laws, shifted.

NIOS: A certification that helps

The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), which allows students who do not belong to any particular board to appear in exams to get certifications, is also acting as a facilitator in homeschooling. Children can take board-level examinations through NIOS and the certification can even allow them to pursue conventional schooling or higher education opportunities.

“This is a very good initiative. People like my son can go and take exams there. We are considering if my son should appear for his 10th board from NIOS as after that he can even join regular schools. It is a great comfort for me as a parent because in case I cannot support my children in the future, then through NIOS they can further go to schools and colleges,” Joseph says.

Young ones become bird rescuer, artist, writer

Aaran’s father tells that his son is famous in their society as the 12-year-old who has rescued about 15-18 birds. “As this young age, he knows the art of making money too through investing,” Nitin adds.

“Travelling became one of the elements of learning. Aaran was 10 when he did his first solo trip from Delhi to Goa. We used to think that this kid does not talk. During the trip, he was able to express his confidence, ask for help, and talk to various people.” In Mannat’s case, when her love affair with baking took a hiatus, she decided to write a book and is now awaiting its publication.

Shamli, now 21, learnt carpentry when she was hardly 12 from carpenters who were helping her mother build her educational institution Aavishkaar.

“She loved to draw. She met an artist who visited our area. He really liked her work, got together with her and put together an art exhibition. Now I see people buying her art works,” says Sandhya, adding that now the 21-year-old is on her way to become a physicist.

Not for everyone

Joseph clarifies that homeschooling is not for everyone and depends on parents’ maturity levels. “If both parents are working in a nuclear family, homeschooling might not be suitable,” he adds.

All parents are pleased with their children’s progress. Poonam, who experimented with unconventional schooling early on, says, “My children are happy and proud of me. There was a path for them to take, which helped them grow.” For sceptical parents, Nitu advises, “Work on your fears first. The biggest takeaway is that it’s not the children who need help, but the parents. Traditional schools are not making children world-ready.”