Category: Parenting

Parenting, Personal, Well being

Unschooling Diaries #8: Busting the Biggest Homeschooling Myth

Pihu

The most prominent question that I have been asked when it comes to homeschooling is:- Won’t it impact your social life? And the concern here is understandable since the kid spends a considerable amount of time indoors and has no structured institution to go to. But may I first ask how exactly is this so-called ‘institution’ helping in developing the child’s social skills? Do you meet new people? Is there any real exposure to the outside world? No, they don’t and no there isn’t. 

Homeschooling or Unschooling on the other hand has real outside exposure. The lack of structure or timetable calls for unexpected situations and meeting new people. We learn who to trust and who not to trust. Some social skills that I have learned are:-

  1. I have improved my English
  2. I am not as shy anymore
  3. I can talk to people more openly now
  4. I now know how to dress properly and carry myself
  5. I am more confident

Some things I hope to learn

  1. To be more creative and resourceful
  2. To get over my shyness completely
  3. Be more direct

Meeting the same people every day for years won’t help you learn anything or gain life experiences. But getting out of your comfort zone -which you have to in homeschooling- most certainly will. So what do you think? Don’t you agree that social skills are important and they are in fact completely ignored in school? Please write your thoughts in the comment section below. 

 

Money, Parenting, Personal

Unschooling Diaries #6: Life Lessons from Monopoly

Pihu

I have already stressed the importance of good economic education for children in my previous post. But since schools remain uninterested, here is a fun way to teach your kids (and yourself) about money. Getting teens or even ourselves to read books can be a challenge. More often than not we will be caught dozing off, so here is a fun, interactive, and simple way to grab a few financial guidelines.

MONOPOLY! Yesterday I was playing this amazing board game with my friends and I was surprised to notice how many ideas from the book Rich-dad Poor-dad it reflected. Property building, debt, financial planning, etc being a few. We all learn better from practical and experimental methods. In fact a recent study has concluded, board games are the best way to retain information. 

Have you played Monopoly, if yes, what are some lessons you took away from it? Or, do you know any board games which can be good teaching tools? Please tell me in the comment section.  

Parenting

We Don’t Need Your Money

Pihu

A big-time mistake modern-day parents are making.

These days so many parents are obsessed with leaving huge figures of money behind as inheritance for their kids. For this they have to work many-a-times day and night, sometimes both the parents. But they forgot that their children do not want or require their money because they need something else. But what, let us find out – 

  1. Time, effort, and love

The first thing a child wants from his parents is their time. A good way of showing that you love and care is not showering anyone with gifts, but taking out your time for them. One needs to put his energy and effort to make them kind, responsible, and mature.

  1. Give knowledge and life skills

These days attitude and life skills are a necessity for someone who wants to live an independent and free life. Parents should teach their children these skills and cultivate a positive attitude towards life. Instead of endowing your child with money, endow them with the capability of making money anywhere and anytime. 

  1. Gratefulness for money

Children should understand the hard work that goes into bringing food to the table. Then only they will understand the value of money. Take them to work with you, to an orphanage, or if they are old enough ask them to set up a stall; this will teach them gratefulness. 

  1. Money can’t buy everything 

There are some things that are priceless like happiness, kindness, family, etc. which cannot be purchased but have to be earned and understood. Parents need to teach their children to be happy, kind, and fun; that one can enjoy without paying. These values and teachings are the lifelong riches you can and should give to your child. 

  1. Show them problems 

Creating a perfect childhood without any difficulties will destroy your child’s life because problems teach more than the best teacher. Facing problems gives one confidence, maturity, and a sense of responsibility. Difficulties are a part of life, one cannot run away from them. Showing them problems in their childhood will prepare them for the bigger problems in life and also instill a problem-solving attitude. 

Conclusion

These small but crucial steps go a huge way in shaping your child’s future. Not only children but parents too can learn a lot by following this advice. Let us end with a quote- 

“ If you want your children to turn out well, spend twice as much time with them and half as much money.”                                                   

                                                                                                                             – Abigail Van Buren 

Parenting, Uncategorized

Is School Just a Social Norm?

Pihu

Why sending your child to school might not be the best option

A single system can’t be perfect for everyone. Schooling is a great system, let’s rephrase that – schooling is a great system for a certain number of people. A system is best for a person based on his or her characteristics, personality, and individuality. So, how is it possible for 99.97% of children to have the same persona? Why are only 0.3% of all children opting for alternative education methods? Do all of them have the same disposition, I don’t think so. Below are 3 reasons stating it’s high time parents started reconsidering their approach towards education.

  1. Mediocrity

School produces mediocres and followers. The system is designed in such a way that achieving excellence in anything is near impossible. Rather than focusing on a particular field attention is divided in several different directions without reaching specialization in any. 

2. Roots are important

To finish the problems in our society, one must understand the roots and basis of it. We can say that the building foundations of children are; family, school, and society, they are largely impacted by these three factors. A child learns about social dogmas like gender discrimination, warfare, etc. quite early in school. Slowly as he grows older these ideas of politics, money, social acceptance are firmly established in his mind. If the system fails to acknowledge these matters then how can we blame the individual if he grows up to become a misogynist, illusioned, and vacillant person?

3. But are not values too?

One Value Education class in an entire week is not useful for instilling ethics in children. Why doesn’t the schooling system give happiness, love, and health as much importance as studies, jobs, and opportunities? Ethics like not littering, caring for the environment, being more mindful and thoughtful, etc. are also a crucial part of education. We need to teach children that being happy, peaceful, and free is more important than being rich, successful, and famous. 

With the evidence stated above, we can safely say;  school is just a social norm.