I have been telling him that I have run out of options of schools in Kolkata which could be a good fit for us. Most schools are Gender-segregated. I studied in a Co-Ed schools through my life and I truly value the learnings. So there goes 75% of our options. Then the distance, travel time, campus, by the time we look at all the factors, we are left in a bit of a pickle. That apart, there is no promise of a better education.
And so I have two options: One to send him to a boarding school which has a more open curriculum. Two, send him to my parents and siblings, who I know are doing a brilliant job with their schools.
He has been fighting me tooth and nail about it and I have been happily using the threat in a way to get him to speed up at his current school.
But two weeks ago, he comes back from school and tells me, I’ll go.
Where, I wonder.
To Appacha and ammachy.
What do you mean?!
My doubts were confirmed.
School had become every bit the terrible place to go to.
And then I realise, I have a third option.
I let my child be a child a little longer.
And We guide his path of learning.
We Home School.
So, we have been discussing this option at home.
We ask each other for some more time, to explore our options and I begin to gear up.
A white board and a pin board become part of my room.
I begin reading up, filling my pages with resources, making calls to find classes he could sign up for.
And begin scribbling some options of things I could get him to work on.
But the naysayers around me have also left me a bit concerned.
The doubts were making way, slowly creeping in.
That’s when I walk into my room to find added scribbles.
 |
| Yehoshua adds Watch (cartoons, Nat Geo Wild and Sports matches); Meditate; Baking; Hindi and English – Comprehension, handwriting, speed, read and vocabulary to the list. |
I feel terribly reassured.
The boy who apparently never involves himself in the classroom had, without any urging, nagging or me even asking, made his way into the learning process.
He had conquered the first step: Willingness and Acceptance.
He had opened his mind.
The rest will follow.
