Letter to homeschooling groups.

Hello Homeschoolers,

My name is Kedar and I have a 7yo daughter, Kymaia (pronounced: Kim-maya). Kym's mother, Natasha, and I are no longer together, but we co-parent and are both very involved in her future. We live in Pune, MH, India. Also, we are late parents and Kym is 42 years younger than I.

For the pre-school years, Kym went to a very nice Montessori-pattern school and learnt a lot. She joined one of Pune’s (and India’s) best all-girls schools in Std I, but the pandemic hit and everything went into lockdown. The school shifted to an online mode, which allowed both of us parents to observe education in the 21st century. What we saw surprised us. We have always believed that the education system in India is built for the average student, an animal that does not exist. Every student is above average in some subjects and below average in some. No one is a perfectly average student. What this does is:
1. The subjects in which the student is above average become boring for the student because the teacher is going too slow.
2. The subjects in which the student is below average become a whirlwind of missed ideas and blank spaces because the teacher is going too fast.

In both cases, the student loses interest. I spent 16 years of my life studying to become an engineer, something I believe did not need more than 12-14 years. Some others may have taken only 8, while some took 20 for the same. In short, it was a waste of a lot of precious time I could have utilised productively. That said, our education system is good for only one thing: learning how to socialise, make friends, deal with disputes, and learn to handle human relationships. If these objectives can be met outside school, via family, friends, housing society, parks, picnics, and so on, school becomes redundant and the child can then study fast where they are above average and slow where they are below. They can study at their pace and enjoy the process. Hence, we decided to homeschool our daughter.

Since March 2021, we have engaged a home tutor who teaches her for 2 hours a day (following the ICSE syllabus), and during the rest of the day, Kym learns the piano, Mandarin, Indian Sign Language, and chess. She also loves to run and exercise and takes part regularly in 10km races held in and around Pune. Soon, she will begin training for a formal sport.
She eats well, has lots and lots of friends to socialise with (and cousins too), sleeps soundly, and is a happy, well-adjusted child. Indeed, I am chronicling this exciting journey on Facebook with the hashtag #LearningWithKymaia, as also on my blog. Till now, our experience has been one of joy and excitement, new discoveries fuelled by great curiosity and new realisations and epiphanies. And it is not even one entire year yet.

Why am I telling you all this?

Because I am scared.

We don’t know anyone else who is homeschooling.

We don’t know whether Kym is keeping up with other kids of her age.

We don’t know if we are doing the right thing.

We don’t know what happens when she reaches Std V and has to take an exam.

We don’t know anything about NIOS or any other system that will allow her to sit for examinations.

We don’t know what will happen when she reaches Std X or Std XII.

We don’t know about her college or university education, should she wish to pursue a degree.

We don’t know about the acceptability of her scores in open examinations (provided she is allowed to take them).

We don’t know about her job or livelihood prospects going forward.

We are unsure, hesitant, and confused.

And we are sure there are others out there like us.

So, we need a support group.

That is why I am here. As Kym’s father. And someone who needs help. As well as someone who can offer help based on the limited experience I have had.

So, ask away. Is there anything you want to know that I may be able to answer? Is there any answer you may have to the countless questions I have? Feel free to connect with me. I could do with some handholding myself!