A few years ago, during my visit to the States and stay with old friend Dilip Nagarkar, I found a home school close to his residence to which students of Gujarati families were enrolled.
I tried to find out the reason of opening of a home school by licensed teachers and local body funding through educational voucher scheme.
Reasons for opening and running a home school
· Can be opened in a room or two at home itself for the neighborhood children
· Allows innovation of vertical grouping and self-paced learning
· A pupil-teacher ratio 20 to 30 is allowed
· Enjoyment of socialization with the elders in the family and the available parents
· No frills of uniforms, bussing, uniforms and school bags
· Looking after the premises of the home school is the daily project of the students
· Learning and mutual care becomes the group norm and contagious
· Vacation can be the family field work and a collective project
· Teacher is senior co-learner and a generalist rather than a specialist
· Use of worksheets and work-cards as the main learning materials
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