Category: Blogs

On the last day of LSUc there was an announcement “experience this magical journey”. This was to experience gratitude circle. It was really MAGICAL! The process is very simple – You sit with eyes closed and people whisper in your ear about you (strengths, affirmation or just simple gratitude to you). And thats all! All…

ImagineAarohi, a learning community where we experience different aspects ofliving – learning and living are not different. Professionals from the fields and ourteachersare no different – we learn whomsoever we meet as we grow! The session on theatre with Theatre artist Anuradha to understand “How hardwork theatre is!” It began with questioning “What is theater?”…

Imagine Aarohi, a learning community where we learn from anyone…just like that! Photography is an art or science or both? A day (just few hours) with Supratim was enriching to explore photography as a science and an art too! He shared Photography began even before cameras were born!Is it drawing with light?It’s all stated with…

How do we learn History? No history classes, no history teachers, no curriculum of history, and no exam of history….Imagine,Aarohia learning Community where learning can happen from anyone, it can happen for no reason except the interest! He is 13yrs old’ He likes warHe likes weaponsHe admires US fighter pilotsHe is admirer of courageTheme of…

Enthusiastic Artist, face to face interaction and demonstration. Some hungry kids to learn from the artist, some tired, some mesmerized, some inspired to practice more….that was the outdoor of today. Handicrafts is an art,Handicraft to handwriting…all is craft. Handmade is unique. Meeting artist at Craft Center in Bangalore brought us closer to the craft and…

Some worry about maths, we worry about that basic ability to apply maths.Some worry about food, we worry about that understanding of food and body.Some worry about English, we worry about the basic ability to express using various mediums.Some worry about the level (grade), we worry about the ability to assessSome worry about hygiene, we…

Do you have any conflict with Grand Parents/ Spouse on how to teach your child who is goingthroughopen learning/unschooling/homeschooling Here aresomethoughts – Situation – One child 7yrs old, Grand father wants her to learn Kannada language and believe that this is the age to learn language, absorption is high and this is the time to…

Learning is often associated with teaching. The moment there is a thought of learning, another thought follows is “who will teach me”? But we miss out a HUGE resource force “our own peers (friends)”. “Planning Mela ” brought an opportunity to share details with peers. Each one set up their learning stall to share about…

Three wonderful days with Shaunak, a chef, an entrepreneur and restaurateur at the campus was full of action and compassion. Cooking our own pasta, Thai curry and Italian thin crust pizza were just not some dishes – but a lot more interaction on food, each ingredient, each cooking step. Each food was created from scratch,…

Manthan, brought an opportunity to come together and explore – empowerment, various elements of Aarohi and share/express concerns, feedback and involvement. Empower means “I have power in me – to decide, to act, to response, to decide and so on”. In our day to day life we come across these situations – Self Doubt –…

When we live together, we develop liking for some, dislike for some. Also, some of our actions are accepted, some actions creates difficulty for others. HelpMatesis one forum which offers opportunity for all of us to come together to understand each other. This is also a space to share one’s voice for any discomfort or…

It takes a village to raise a child is a proverb which means that it takes an entire community of different people interacting with children in order for children to experience and grow in a safe environment. (Ref –https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_takes_a_village) Family week at Aarohi is an attempt to get exposure to different practice from different lives,…

Safety training is part of living at Aarohi. We need to be equipped to handle some emergencies and fire safety is in our list of safety training. One of the advantage of these training is to understand our own paic – the one of the most important aspect in any emergency “do not panic”. But…

Celebrating “thinking skills Observation” this week. What is this? How is this different from “seeing or just observing”? How do we develop the thinking of observation? Observation is not limited to visual sense – its a way to think. We all play in rain, but some of us observe – how is the phenomena happening,…

Last 15 years working in theatre, last five years passion is profession (full time in theatre). When he needed to direct a play on life of a painter, he decided to learn painting. He would paint for days, weeks or months…this became his full time hobby. Playback theatre – Playback the audience responses with improvisation,…

What is learning? I ponder.. Cooking or Making a knife stand or Shaping the clay or Baking a bread or Sharing about my life or Singing a song or Making my plans or Sketching or Opening a laptop or Reconciliation accounts or Painting a canvas or Cooking a meal for dogs or Doing puja or…

Mr Jayaprakash, an innovator of portable eco friendly gasifier chulha (smokeless stove), visited Aarohi to help us with designing and setting up with smokeless chulha for our growing needs of cooking in the community. In2012hegot the award for his invention of portable stove. He shared his life journey – His observation of fire in chimney,…

When my daughter, Asawari was 10yrs old, she showed potential in art and dance. I was in a hurry to reach somewhere, to achieve, to concur that talent…we put her in art and dance classes. She learnt but she didn’t explore. I didn’t understand then. She was fortunate to have dream teachers in art as…

The job a facilitator is very dynamic – we are always on roller coaster ride – sometimes doing down, sometime going up, sometimes getting goosebumps, sometimes screaming with joy! Three kids sketching for few weeks now. They came up with their own methodology – Sketching by imagination, seeing a picture from computer, challenging each other…

Welcome to the world of open learning atAarohi! Sometimes the word “open” can be misleading and lead to “doing nothing”. And doing nothing is not contemplating but distracting, postponing, procrastinating….Here we suggest THREE steps suggestion to start your open learning journey ONE – Choose at least 20-30 things to explore including known, unknown, easy, difficult,…

The concept of “Projects @Aarohi” or “campus needs” is to experience DOING and get introduced to various skills. Each one of us have some skills, some we develop as we move ahead with the project. One can choose any projects and start working. One also has the option of not choosing and continuing to work…

Democracy cannot be learnt, it can be experienced. Our most aspirational endeavour – to create and keep Aarohi as a democratic space. We are experimenting with many form of interactions, communications, interventions and systems – all targeted to make the community truly interdependent – with co-creation, co-learning and co-existence as key parameters MY VOICE- A…

Do you listen from your children “why me?” Why are you only telling me? You hate me? You always think I am bad? The job a facilitator is a dynamic job – we flow as the river flows – sometimes serene and calm, sometimes gushing, sometimes waterfall, sometimes playful, sometimes a stream. During one of…

Often we are questioned “but what about the real life? How will they face real life?’ I wonder if the current education making our kids ready anyway for LIFE? This week 7 kids at the campus. (10 yrs to 19 yrs old) during weekend. I began my morning with internal frustration – Only two can…

Two kids were shopping with me in the supermarket. I picked on 200 gms packet for rs 105/- and 500 gms packet for rs 220/-. I asked both of the to find the cheapest pack. They both selected 200 gm packet (lees money). I gave one of them 5 packets of 200gm and one of…

The job of a facilitator is dynamic – we constantly play around with how we respond. We cannot respond in one way only because the situations are different, people are different and we are different!One child was excited with the new blogging system at AarohiShe was apprehensive and asked for help “I am excited for…

They signed up for “storytelling sessions”. One of the facilitators was telling stories in different languages…they were happy and entertained. During one of the story sessions, they were introduced to shadow puppetry. They were excited with the play of light, and of characters to create a story. They felt that the shadow box was too…

Fridays are special atAarohi – sometimes visiting places, sometimes working together, sometimes watching movies! This Friday we no different – we together went for Afforestation. Its easy in principal to say “saveforest, grow more tress….”. But in practice it needs efforts and participation. Active We this Friday brought all of us together to plant more…

As a child I thought, the teachers job is very easy. Wear nice saree, sit in the chair, check homework and teach her subject. As a facilitator I thought I don’t even have to teach, even easier job! But becoming facilitator was not easy. It demanded to settle internal struggle. It needed to look into…

Often asked what if a child does not know what he/ she likes? Here is a small story After a couple of weeks spent at the campus, one child with tears and anger expressed “I don’t know what I want to learn”.The conversation was full of ” I can’t do this because…I know I am…