Learning begins at home

What is homeschooling?

Homeschooling refers to a method of education wherein the child is taught by parents, guardians, family members or other members of the society outside of a traditional school setup. Usually taking place largely at home, alternative locations are also employed for homeschooling a child.

At the core of homeschooling is the fact that the learning is tailored to an individual child’s needs and requirements, as opposed to the one-for-all kind of system that is employed in every other method of education. This means that there is plenty of customisation in homeschooling as the interests of a child are taken into account while preparing the curriculum, in addition to providing a well-rounded programme that keeps in mind the needs of children of any particular age.

In these pictures from 2019, a mother-son duo from a family practising homeschooling in Bengaluru are seen learning, both from the textbooks and through hands-on experiences. | Photo Credit: BHAGYA PRAKASH

History of homeschooling

If you come to think of it, homeschooling is one of the oldest methods of education. Agreed, some of this might predate the existence of universal schooling, but the idea of schooling children at home isn’t alien to most societies and cultures.

In the centuries that have gone by, wealthy families and royalties have often hired private tutors to teach their wards. There are other not-so-wealthy communities too where learning through collective efforts and play have been intrinsic to the spread of knowledge.

Modern homeschooling as we know it today has been around for a little more than half a century. In countries like the U.S., parents dissatisfied with the school system were the early adopters in the 1960s and 1970s and the numbers have been growing worldwide ever since.

Is it even an option in India?

It is. Homeschooling is legal in India and remains a valid educational option. While the numbers are not huge, thousands of families have taken this route and are working towards providing a nurturing environment for their children to become well-rounded individuals. Some homeschooled children have even made waves already by procuring admission into prestigious institutions for higher education.

Homeschooling parents or guardians can register their children for various examinations as the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), a government agency, provides that option.

Indian families taking to homeschooling have been forming communities, both offline and online, to share their collective experiences, learn from it, and take things forward.

Ensuring that a child undergoing homeschooling gets adequate opportunities to socialise and make friends is the biggest challenge confronting caregivers. These children can socialise with peers and other children through organised activities and impromptu play sessions. | Photo Credit: SUDHAKARA JAIN

Advantages and challenges

Flexibility and personalised attention are the greatest advantages that homeschooling can afford a child. The curriculum can be devised keeping in mind the child’s needs, interests, and the pace at which learning takes place. One-on-one instruction is largely the default in homeschooling set-ups, enabling easy identification of strengths and weaknesses. While strengths can be honed further, weaknesses can be ironed out with proper attention. The parents or guardians devising the educational needs of the child are unshackled from rigid school structures and have the freedom to make informed choices.

That said, even though most homeschooling families adhere to either a particular existing educational philosophy or a mix and match of best-practices from the different systems, the onus is on them. This can not only prove to be challenging, but might also be time-consuming – time that caregivers would have to cull out outside their working hours.

The greatest challenge that a child undergoing homeschooling faces is socialisation. Spending time with peers fosters learning for children of all age groups and this might be lacking when undergoing homeschooling. Families need to go out of their way to ensure that the child has adequate opportunities to socialise and make friends, through community events, playgroups, sports and extracurricular activities. These social skills are not only important for the individual whenever they integrate into mainstream education or the workplace, but are also crucial for leading a healthy life.

Believe it or not, parents are the first teachers for almost all of us! In this 2016 photograph, homeschooling parents get together at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai to discuss their ideas and learnings with like-minded peers.? | Photo Credit: VIJAY BATE

But wait, isn’t Teachers’ Day about celebrating teachers?

Of course! Only that, there might be more teachers out there than those you traditionally associate with the word.

The best teachers (and students for that matter) would be aware that learning doesn’t stop at the classroom and that it is, in fact, an ongoing continuous process. You learn while you are in school. You learn while you are in college. And you learn once you set foot at a workplace. Not to mention having to keep learning more and more about life every single day. This is at the heart of homeschooling, the fact that learning can happen everywhere and anyone can be a teacher if they wish to.

If you begin to understand that the Earth is your home, then the entire planet is in fact your classroom. Considering that you spend only one-third of your day in your current school, this might be a good time to start thinking about all those others who teach you various things, big and small, when you aren’t in a school-like set-up. Once you’ve done that, make sure that you wish them on this Teachers’ Day!