#0026: Letter from an unshooler to adults!

Reading time: 8.50 min

Hey 👋 - Hello, there!!

There are many different ways to raise a free learner. Some parents choose to homeschool their children, while others opt for unschooling or self-directed learning. No matter what approach you take, some basic principles will help you create a successful learning environment for your child.

Here is a letter from a free learner that captures the essence of what it means to be a free learner:

If you want to read the full letter, find the link at the end

Today as I took a bite of Milk Bikis biscuits I was reminded of my childhood when I would have them with my afternoon tea. The simple biscuits with almost the same packaging design today, were a part of my growing up years.

I never knew much about the business behind them but I recently decided to find out more and was surprised by what I discovered. I shared the same with my son and he mentioned a very interesting thing, he said "ma is the consistency of the product over all these years a business model for them?"

The company that manufactures Milk Bikis is called Britannia Industries Limited and it was founded in 1892 in Kolkata by an Englishman named C.H. Holmes who partnered with the Gupta brothers. It started as a small enterprise selling biscuits under the brand name ‘Britannia’.

What made milk bikis a popular choice?

Emotions

Price

Taste

Consistency

Availability

Advertising

A little moment of tea and biscuits with my son made all this conversation and research possible. I never thought that a simple question from him would lead to such an interesting story.

Adi is very fond of such business discussions and I am sure that he will be keen to follow up on this story to see how Britannia grows in the future.

Read more on my Blog on the business aspect of it

Bonding over deeper gratefulness exercise with kids

So I started a grateful exercise with my son a couple of months back, every night before sleeping we sit down and talk about 3 things that made us happy that day.

Like last time he mentioned that he is grateful for the chocolate he received from his friends, and I asked him why, but he was unable to answer also for him being grateful was being thankful for the materialistic things he received, but he was not thankful for what he had or things that happened to him during the day.

I asked him to start noticing emotions he felt during the day, and things he did that made him feel good. I asked him to notice feelings that made him really good emotionally like when someone helps him when he helps someone, when his friends play with him nicely, or when he shares his toys with others.

Yesterday he mentioned that he was grateful that his aunt saved his favorite food for him while he was out playing with his friends, and I asked him why, he said because he was really hungry and she knew that so she saved it for him.

I asked him what gesture she showed by saving his favorite food for him when he was not even there to ask for it, and he was unable to think of anything, then I prompted him by saying that she showed him that she cared for him, and he immediately said yes!

And I told him that this is what being grateful is, when we appreciate things people do for us which might be small or big because it shows that they care.

I asked him how did this make him feel, and he said it made him feel loved. I asked him if he said thank you to her to which he said no, and I asked him why, he said because he thought she would know that he is thankful to her.

I told him that it’s always good to say thank you when someone does something for us because it shows our appreciation. So today morning as soon as his aunt came, he went up to her and said thank you for saving my favorite food for me, I was really hungry and it was so nice of you. And she was really touched by his gesture.

Now he is more involved in the grateful exercise, and he takes time to think of things that made him feel good emotionally.

If you want to read the full article on this topic, find the link at the end

cheers, Priyanka