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- #0061: What makes you fall in love with this 9 year old.
#0061: What makes you fall in love with this 9 year old.
Education Next- Sixty firstEdition
Reading time: 14.50 min
Hey !!👋
This week let's read about:
What made people fall in love with Adi
Adi and his flight adventures
Raising socially desirable kids
Hello,
I have been meeting a lot of parents lately who admire how we are unschooling, I can see that they are giving us a lot of respect.
They are amazed at Adi and I have found a way to make it work. The way we have developed trust in each other and are willing to take risks, try new things, fail, learn, and keep going.
All the people who we have met in the last 25 days of our travel have questioned us, asked us for advice, shared their stories, and given us immense faith in our journey.
We have been welcomed with open arms and are grateful to all the people who have shown trust in our process.
For most of them, the idea of my son alternate schooling is new and many of them are still getting their heads around it.
But they were curious and I can say that not a single person was judgmental and every conversation has been enriching.
I could see that people were curious to know how Adi learns, if is he socializing, is he going to be able to make it in the real world.
We have tried to answer these questions with patience and humility, allowing them to come to their conclusions.
I asked the people we spent time with on this journey to write their observations about Adi. I am sharing some of them here.
Aadi was calm composed and observant.. he just mingles with everyone without much noticing and I have to mention this because I have seen a lot of attention-seeking kids.
He knew about the circular water movements to recognize the movement of water so he remembers the right thing at the right time.
He kept exploring the rock at the safer height as much as he could till he was tired which was really great.
-Shweta. We carpooled with her and went camping with her family in Hyderabad. Our family shared a room at night in the camp when our tents were blown away because of the wind.
Adi with Swati’s Family
Adi, as a toddler and kindergartener was very quiet and a good observer. Very active. Being unschooled I am amazed to see Adi speaking very clearly about almost all the topics like AI, Trekking, Metro trains, Project presentations, and whatever subject is being discussed. I’m surprised to see him mingling with my sons so easily. Cracking timely jokes. Shared and discussed what he learned from his mentors from different places. Makes me think that unschooling really makes a child feel learning is a joyful thing.
-Nithu. She knows us since Adi was 2 years but we met now in Chennai after 5 years. We spent time with her over breakfast and met her family over organic lunch.
Adi with Nithu’s Family
“I was meeting Adi for the first time, well the last time I met him, he was all of 6 months so don't think that counts. :)
I will be honest and say that I had this curiosity and excitement almost to meet the kid who is being home-schooled and following an alternate learning system. After all its not every day that one gets to meet someone following the road traveled
I ensured that when I meet him I should go without any prejudice. The first thing that struck me was how mature he was for his age. His way of communication and the logical ideas, questions that he threw at us was amazing. Despite being at my place for the first time, he hardly showed any nerves. He never shied away from discussing any technical matter with me who is way beyond his age bracket!
Another thing that stood out was his observational skills. Reading his environment, surroundings, and people around him seemed to come naturally to him.
And not to forget his social skills. I watched him play with my 4 years and 2-year-old kids and the way he was taking the lead in creating games for them and supporting them like a big brother would do was heartwarming. Despite himself being a kid, not once did I see him lose patience while playing or interacting with them.
A great kid overall and would love to meet him more regularly.”
-Shreyansh- my childhood friend's husband. We lived with their family for a week. we spent a week with them and their kids in Bangalore
Adi and Shreyansh having a good time
I met Adi and Priyanka over a sumptuous Andhra meal on an overcast day here in Bangalore recently. We had several free-flowing conversations on a wide variety of topics ranging from science, education, parenting, travel, tinkering, and, of course, coding!
Adi came across as a curious child, ever keen to observe and absorb the new experiences that he had been going through in his travels. He was visibly intrigued seeing the ongoing metro rail work and the scale of it, counting the number of pillars and track sections he could see. His eyes lit up as the conversation turned towards science and I showed him some pictures and videos of some of the home-grown science experiments that I had done in the past. As we developed more familiarity, Adi shared his coding projects done in Scratch, and I gave him a few problems to think about to enhance his projects!
As we were enjoying our post-lunch coffee, it started to rain. Adi was suddenly, rather cutely, worried that the rains may inundate Bangalore streets, as he had probably seen in the news reports from a few months back. Assured by his mom that there was no such concern to worry about, his mind shifted to the more exciting prospect of visiting the ISRO and HAL museums. Unfortunately for him, those plans had to be postponed as the museums were closed due to public holidays. Taking it all in stride, we walked in the slight drizzle to the bus stop. Adi and Priyanka got into the public bus, and I got back to my work, after an enjoyable and memorable afternoon.
Wishing them both all the very best! Keep learning!
Vineet Shrivastava, Founder of Wibyte. Vineet and I connected on LinkedIn and we love each other’s work and we support each other.
Meeting Adi, through you, was a wonderful experience. It is not hard to notice that the two of you share a strong bond, and are the world for each other. One might assume that such a bond exists between all mothers and their children. But it is much rarer to find one's parent being a co-learner and a co-traveler. And this he seems to very much enjoy.
Unfortunately, I could not spend as much time as I would have liked to, but even in our rather small interaction, he showed so much comfort and ease in interacting with adults who he met only a few minutes ago. He did not feel the need to inhibit himself and expressed himself without barriers, being funny through the evening. When children go through authoritative systems in school and at home, they create behaviors and expressions that they feel will be acceptable to adults and tend to avoid being their usual selves. Unsurprisingly thus, Adi, being an unschooler, is not bound in such ways and allows his genuine self to show irrespective of who is in front of him.
I hope I can see him again, and maybe he can help me continue my own unlearning journey.
Abhijit Sinha- Founder of Project Defy (self-learning centers) We connected on LinkedIn and we really wanted to get inspired by thoughts about learning.
Adi is really a Blessed Child being you beside him. U r giving him a perfect environment where his thoughts or curiosity is not curbed or taking a deviation from someone else's.
As I have observed him (though for a shorter period), he's a practical boy and likes to make theories of his own.
When he was given simple circuits, he made a few experiments and showed me with full enthusiasm.
Out of those, a project using a sensor appliance caught my attention.
To take him to the next level I just asked him how exactly it will be helpful in our everyday life.
He took time of 2 min and narrated a beautiful scene where if the child cries, the mother's alarm will ring even if she's far. That shows the boy's quick wit😊
I wish him all the best for his future and if he likes to come to our Nook again, we are ready to receive him with open hearts
Adi trying his hands in music at the nook
Honestly to say that I tried to take a little more advantage of interacting with Adi and also made a conscious observation on Adi's behavior, IQ communication skills, and a few other general aspects with a curiosity of understanding the merits and demerits of #unschooling or # home schooling. He has great maturity in the way he communicates about certain things for his age. For his age, he is very organized in his thoughts. His gaming and computer skills are commendable. Actually, me and Swetha was so impressed with his overall behavior and skills that it has given us confidence and trust in homeschooling.
-Raghav. we were hosted by him and his wife Shweta in Hyderabad, They were not awake till 2.30 am to pick us up from the station but they were kind to adjust their schedule for us, and educate us about Hyderabad city and its culture.
Adi sharing his projects with Raghav
I am thankful to everyone who shared their honest observation about Adi!
This shift has allowed us to explore not only what matters most to Adi but also create deeper connections with the people around us, and in turn, the world.
Above all else, unschooling has taught us both the importance of following our own paths, trusting our intuition, and how to live with curiosity.
We are constantly reminded that life is an ever-evolving process and there is no limit to what we can learn if we just stay open to new ideas and experiences. With unschooling, the possibilities really are endless!
Learning With Adi
Adi loves to talk about flights
Adi had an amazing time on the flight, he could talk for hours about the mechanics, the controls, and even the weather and other flight-related activities.
He taught me so many things about the wings, the retracting and deploying of the landing gear, and even the piloting techniques.
The view flying over the Chennai beach was amazing, Adi was so excited that he had to take multiple pictures of the beach and its surroundings.
He could hardly sleep on the flight, as he was too excited and curious about the entire process. He has made some videos, sharing the link here
Conscious Bonding
I have been thinking about kids being socially desirable a lot these days, and it’s clear to me that parents play a huge role in their development.
As adults, we should be setting the example of what is socially acceptable and desirable, as well as teaching our children how to interact with others, constructively express themselves, and develop positive relationships with other people.
We can also help them understand how social norms function so they know what is considered polite, respectful, and appropriate in certain situations.
By helping our kids learn how to be socially desirable, we are teaching them valuable life skills that will help them succeed in every aspect of their lives.
In addition to setting a good example for our children, we can also take proactive steps to help teach them about socializing with others.
We can start by introducing them to activities or clubs that involve interacting with other people and learning how to cooperate in groups.
We can also model positive social behavior ourselves, so our children learn from us what is expected of them in certain situations. Additionally, we can provide guidance and support as they encounter new social experiences throughout their lives.
Jordan Peterson on raising kids to be socially desirable
Making kids socially desirable is a key skill as they grow older. Teaching them about good behavior, respect for others, and how to interact with peers can help lay the groundwork for strong social skills.
Practicing active listening, recognizing emotions in others, and being able to navigate different conversations are also important steps that parents can take to help children develop their social skills.
But it's also important to understand why will kids listen to us, so unconditional love and trust are paramount to build up a strong relationship and make it easier for them to follow our directions.
Trust is the linchpin for everything else. Our kids need to feel that we are invested in their well-being and security before they can even begin to consider following our directions.
Finally, parents should be mindful of modeling good behavior and social skills themselves. Setting a positive example will go a long way toward helping children learn how to interact with the world around them.
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