Learnings & Experiences
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Webinar on #Unschooling
Nandini, Advay and I were guests on a webinar hosted by Aarohi Life Education about #Unschooling and #OpenLearning. We were asked to share our journey of #Unschooling Advay on the Webinar and be available for open Q&A. Preparing for the Webinar, actually being on it and taking questions was a revealing experience for us. The…
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It’s not a problem, it’s just what’s so.
Recently I bought “Speaking Being” and started reading it. The book is more like a screenplay of a specific 4 day and 1 evening Forum that was held from 27th December 1988. That particular Forum had 502 participants PLUS 40 Forum Leaders attending as participants PLUS another 100 people participating as observers. The 4 days…
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My son knows how to create his relationships
Yesterday evening, I was working on something. Advay, my 8 year old came by and without giving a damn about the fact that I was occupied with something, he started telling me something and demanded that I pay attention to him. I was super-pissed. In a angry tone I said – “Please give me some…
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How dare you? Because, obviously…
My carbon footprint is significant. I have driven bikes/cars that run on petrol for ~24 years now. I use flights almost 6-10 times a year. I have bought clothes knowing that they come covered in plastic. I have bought products off the Internet knowing that they come covered in plastic. I have bought parcelled food…
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Swayam – a chance to meet alt-schoolers
Omnio Parenting is a group of people (adults and children) dedicated to the exploration of new ways of schooling and learning. Many of the people from this group are also part of Temple Of Excellence, a learning centre in Bengaluru where they explore new ideas in the domain of learning and education. Learning here starts…
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From Nandini’s travel diary
My wife Nandini and Advay (our 8yo) had been to Mysore recently along with her Tripster Buddies. There were many moments in the whole trip, but one moment clearly stood out. The following is a note from her travel diary. Today, we went for the light and sound show at the palace. Just before we…
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Is “love” a scalar or vector?
When Chandrayaan-2 launched, my wife Nandini and son Advay (8yo) watched the launch live stream together. Emotions ran high as it took off. Nandini used that moment as an opportunity to explain about launch vehicles. To explain the difference between a rover, lander, and orbiter. Advay was clearly smitten by all that tech. On Sunday…
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Carpentry & Flute aid Advay in learning the Keyboard
Advay (my 8-year-old) has a friend in our gated community who is in his second year of engineering. When he was at home for his semester break, Advay would visit him often and watch him play the keyboard. In roughly a week’s time, Advay would come home and share with excitement about this new tune…
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Have you considered typing in a form?
My friend Murali Krishna loaned us his old typewriter. Advay loves to play with it, to type stories using it and in general explore different kinds of writing. One afternoon he decided to fill out a form using the typewriter. His answers are quite accurate. Whats interesting is that he read long sentences on the…
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Letting questions linger without answers
As a child, whenever I got myself to stick around for long in the vicinity of this phenomenon called “question”, it was always followed by something called “answer”. Q&A – Questions and Answers. They never existed in isolation. It was scary to just be with a question. If there was a question that I no…
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Nurturing the habit of reading
One key skill that every self-directed learner must nurture is the ability to read books of interest. I am not saying that reading is a skill that is more important than other skills like making friends, playing, etc. I am saying that reading is a critical skill that one must pick up as a self-directed…
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Multiplication tables
The word “multiplication tables” brings back memories of only one thing from my childhood – “mugging”. As a child I simply had to learn multiplication tables. I couldn’t ask for a reason why. My parents would explain to me the benefits of learning tables by-heart. They would even give me sufficient time to learn it.…
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The MBP Reborn
About two weeks ago my MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013) decided to call it quits. I was writing an email. The display went blank. I connected an external monitor; nothing. I tried to cold reboot; nothing. Nothing I did could reboot it.
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Carpentry season
Advay, my 8 year old, has developed a liking for carpentry off late. His first tryst with carpentry was two years ago when he was frequently visiting Aarohi. Since then he would take up carpentry projects every once a while. One of my close friends, Murali Krishna, has recently renovated his house and dedicated half…
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What is the meaning of meaning?
Advay (my 8 year old) asks me: “Appa, what is the meaning of meaning?” Having read a lot of philosophy, this question appealed to the philosopher in me. I paused for a while, pondered over the question and tried to grasp the depth of such a question. After spending a while in deep thought I…