The Indian Homeschooling Experiment: Lessons From Our Journey

We began homeschooling our two sons in October 2021, when they were in 7th and 4th standard. At the time, I wrote a few posts here and there. I never imagined it would turn into a defining experiment of our lives.

On July 1, 2024, The Indian Express featured our homeschooling journey. That article brought us many questions. To answer them, I started writing more intentionally about what we are learning along the way.

This page brings together all those posts. I hope you find them useful, whether you are just curious about homeschooling or are considering it for your own family.

If you’d like to ask me something directly, you can reach me on LinkedIn, X, or Bluesky.

It all began with teaching storytelling to kids. At that point, homeschooling wasn’t even on our minds.

Later, I met Mahendran, who had homeschooled his two children in India. I interviewed him for my podcast: Homeschooling in India. That conversation gave me many insights. Most importantly, he helped me see that homeschooling isn’t a one-way door. If needed, kids can return to regular schooling. That thought gave us the courage to try.

Since I like to document my decisions, I wrote down our reasons and approach in Why And How I'm Homeschooling My Kids. Even before that, I had shared How we started with homechooling.... Both pieces capture the doubts, excitement, and early struggles of our journey.

Slowly, we found our rhythm.

Along the way, I noticed some families who started homeschooling gave up within a year. Curious, I spoke with them to understand what went wrong. That led me to write Why homeschooling fails in India. It wasn’t the idea of homeschooling itself that failed, but the fact that it was the first contrarian decision they had ever made—and they couldn’t sustain it. If you are considering homeschooling, you should read that post to see the pressures you may face.

Of course, every child responds differently. For example, my younger son’s journey with reading was completely different from his elder brother’s.

I will keep writing about our experience. If you are interested, please follow me on one of the above social channels.

# Talks

• Our Homeschooling Journey