Aniket gave NIOS secondary last year and took part inthesession to share his experience. Chetana and Anoop have beenworking to makelearningmeaningfulforchildrenfor last many years at Aurinko. TheystartedAurinko aftersomeyearsofhomeschooling, Aniket didn’t fit into mainstream as mutually they didn’t offer what each other needed.
The Aurinko Program focuses on the Whole-Child. The curriculum is integrated, emergent and child-centered.At Aurinko, the curriculum fits around the child’s needs to allow a flexible and enjoyable learning experience. The approach identifies the strong bond between all developmental domains : –motor/physical, cognitive, social/emotional, communication/language, and self-help. More about themhttp://www.aurinkoacademy.com/
NIOS session with Chetana, Anoop and Aniket was very useful and exciting.
NIOShas a good syllabus and it derivesfrom life. So it is easy for children who have enough life experiences to base these learning on. If the child has not had this, atleast the parents should create these experiences during theNIOSpreparation..
- First questions – Why one wants to give 10th examination? If one is clear about the objective then choosing subjects is easier. So when one is thinking about giving 10th exam, It makes sense, If one thinks about 12th and college after that also.
- As a family, go through different subjects and their syllabus (highly recommend to involve child rather doing for the child, do with the child)
- Recommending that for each subject child can make own map – what all I know, what all I need to work and how much time I need
- Look at each subject as learning opportunity. Choose subject based on interest – suppose a child likes to take interest in other peoples life or take interest in knowing about life experience, may be Psychology be a good choice to explore. We recommend you to look at any subject not only for 10th exam but also as a way forward.
- While you prepare for examination, continue to live life 🙂
- Aurinko Academy is open for any kind of support.
Examinations
- Take 5 subjects if you are giving exams to obtain just a certificate. Or looking for 12th throughNIOS and then college.
- Take 6 subjects If you are looking for PUC after 10th exams
- Take 7 subjects If you wish to keep more options available
- Indian Culture and Heritage not an accepted subject in colleges. But you may take it as an extra subject to learn
- If a child takes up science then most experiments are possible to do in home community set. One does not need to depend on any lab.
Parent Role in logistics
- Be alert, be watchful when you decide to start the process ofNIOS. Since in this case you are appearing as private candidate, you need to be prepare to make road for yourself. Some pointers
- Even if you are part of any group or community, individual parents need to work for each child.
- Do registration withNIOSat the age of 14/12 yrs (minimum a year before child planning to give 10th
- After registration for exams – keep track for your id card. If does not arrive, visitNIOSoffice and find the status
- Make relationship with center, visit center few times before, read notices etc.
- Connect with mainNIOSoffice at Malleshwararm.
- Recommend centers are Al-Ameen (Lal Bagh) and Spastics (they take only for learning disability).
Our thoughts
- While one is thinking about 10th examination, one can also think about HOW else? It will makes sense If the child finds value in 10th examination – preparation will be that much deeper and joyful.
- Conventionally 10th exam is projected as stress, If we continue to create that image in our and our children’s mind then its going to be that much stressful. If we start looking at this also a learning experience, it will be that much joyful – all failures and achievement becomes an opportunity to learn.
- Preparation of 10th examination does not start at the age of 14yrs – each event in our life is an exam. If the child is climbing rock or finishing documentation – each one is exam. In some exam externals decide our performance (like 10th exam), in some exams we or life itself decide our grades. So If we start looking at each event as exam, 10th looks just one of the exam.
- If the child is exposed many many many different aspects of learning and life, giving any exam becomes very easy.
- If parents and children understand the role of basic skills (competency of CAT in Aarohi), it becomes easier to take up exams when the time comes and also it continues to be joyful.
- Open learning does not mean no learning – If the child is continuously working on various aspects through various experiences then any exam is easy or to achieve anything in life becomes easy.
- Homeschooling/unschooling/open schooling does not mean protecting our kids from life experiences (rigor, demand, excellence, efficiency, following instructions are some of the life skills). So in life and so in their learning path they will meet many unpleasant situations, we do not need to block them but rather empower our kids to be able to face them through their own understand.
Thank you Aurinko, thank you Chetana, Anup and Aniket for your time and love for learning.