Category: Blogs

One evening sports at AarohiOne announcement “today evening Olympics”idea-one spark and that’s all we needed for an experienceOne team started with badges, logo, dress codeOthers picked up and the day was contagious with preparationSomeone named it “without practice Olympics”The day was engaged with ideas, making, sharing, discussing, and creating – badges, medals with dry leaves…

We asked this question What is education for? Some said, to know me Some said, to be able to live my life Some said, to understand the world around Some said, develop my skills Some said, to gain wisdom, And with this intention of education, each one of us went around creating our own curriculum,…

Every week we work on land together. Last few weeks afforestation has been our dream for the hills behind the campus. We made seed balls and placed them on the hillside – just an experience. What would happen if we free the child of education systems, of curriculum, of teaching, of ranking and comparison? When…

What if at one place, on the same day, there are lots and lots of people: Children, young adults, parents, senior citizens … all with different gifts, coming together to create the magic of co-learning. Learning Mela, where anyone can teach, anyone can learn … A day to experience the joy of learning, sharing, exploring,…

He had an ideaHe needed a sheet, colurs, some brushes and his space to be able to do it.He was surprised “I can do”!He did it! What would happen if we free the child of education systems, of curriculum, of teaching, of ranking and comparison? When we invite the child to grow organically (just like…

He wanted to make a clay potMixed more water and the clay became gooy gooyHe could not make what he wanted to makeHe said “feeling bad, waste of resources”I said, isn’t that what you learned about water and clay working? He said, “This reminds me of Krishna telling Arjuna – don’t feel bad about mistakes,…

The kitchen is a place to eat and make foodA toilet is a place for excretionLiving is for LivingAnd learning is in the classroom Imagine “KITCHEN as a CLASSROOM”Some of the ideas shared by the learners of various ages at the campus Reading about food Decorating food Nutrition analysis Chemical reactions Understand about wars caused…

Just two of them met, started talking about music One started singing Another one joined, Two more joined, Now few more joining Learning is contagious … How children learn can be summed up in two words – by themselves! As they take ownership of their learning and then seek different ways to get it –…

TREK is a trekGo, climb, come back, have fun, eat and that’s allBut can it be beyond just an adventure? A few of us planned to go for a trek to Rayakottai fort as part of Friday special at the campusThe learning began with PLANNING – who all, mode of transport, where and how to…

One evening sharing our talent with the community Some practiced Some taught others Some did with others Some did it alone And that’s all Celebrating Self Just like that What would happen if we free the child of education systems, of curriculum, of teaching, of ranking and comparison? When we invite the child to grow…

Exploring POETRY – just like thatSome people signed upAnd started their journeyAnd that’s how learning continued … 9 weeks, 9 hours, 540 minutes, 32,400 seconds When I proposed the idea, I was pushing myself out of my comfort zone as neither was I a poet nor did I really understand poetry or rhyming or ……..!…

1 Once there was a bindass open learnerWho put herself on the hot burner She was on fireBurning with desire Roasted her skills till she become a super earner 2 Once a set of parents thought otherwise Not to run behind any kind of prizeFocus on his interestHis Passions and his zest And viola they…

Few interested in designingThen an invitation “GANG of designers who will either design together or in subgroups or even individually but would meet regularly to discuss, question each other, give ideas, read design books, see videos and so on. We would get designers of different kinds to do guest sessions or workshops or just to…

For the first two weeks, I explored most of the klubs and picked the ones I was interested in. I also listed klubs for Pavan which I thought he needs while I associated them to classes. I set reminders to remind him and persuaded him to attend. At this stage, my belief about open learning…

Every week at the campus is differentEach week is created by the people LEARNING is allabout ME and MY choicesmy DOING andmy EXPERIENCESand my REFLECTIONS Living is the curriculumOur learnings come out of our living

CHANGE a BIT – one habit that was there yesterday and today, but now you would like to change it PERSONAL HYGIENEBathing not doing – I want to do it, Bathing once in a week – want to change it to twice a weekNot brushing in the morning – will do from now Not brushing…

Baking in firewood oven – found broken glass pieces in the OvenBroken glasses often have an association with “danger, waste”. Kids who were working on it wanted to remove these glass pieces, wondering why this dangerous waste in the oven? This brought a discussion – what are these broken glasses doing in the oven? Is…

There are no typical days at the campus. Each day is differentThis week was no different“I decide” was the beginning of the weekOpening CIrcle to chart my journeysome fitness with the morning sunshine, some understanding, some doingMorning circle to connect and collaborateAnd then the day open to design – cook or read or play or…

A river starts somewhere and flows. As it flows through different landscapes other rivers and streams join. Some fork and separate out, and rejoin after some time. And the river always flows into and joins a sea or an ocean. We can see that in the natural course of things, life and learning is also…

EBAANSH Describing –The name of the waterfall is Metre falls most of the locals know it as metre, a huge waterfall and a lot of fun jumping over the stones going in the water, there were multiple small ponds, different sizes of rocks huge, and even small, got some amazing photos. You can easily spend…

My collection on learning environment last week In the morning I heard “coookdoo coo” and I felt nice to hear this sound. I realized that this came to me through different people – Ratnesh recognizing the needs, announcing as a project, Achalesh joining it, Muniraj and akkas bringing their knowledge, Chitra sharing her experience and…

It began with sorting expiry medicines from the first aid cupboardAnd then an idea “can I put them in a chemical?And then we dug our chemical cupboard and found acetic acid And then a bit reading about the acid, before started to experimentAnd then a question what is corrosionAnd then a disintegrated cork of the…

CHANGE Is there change happening every day/every week?We paused to gather some of that from our week Reflection is one of the learning tools at Aarohi for open learningPavan and Sakila called it “evolution”Messy or sortedBoredom or interesting Confusion or ClarityRegret or Acceptance Brief or Conversational Conflict or Consensus Disinterested or Tuned in Play or…

Series of #21 benefits of #OpenLearning #21 – Fearless Learning It began with an idea “how about a radio channel of Aarohi” A session on how to start your radio shadow to spark the idea and the rest is a creation story. We rehearsed almost every day. Mutually decided changes in the script and sequencing…

Series of #21 benefits of #OpenLearning #20 – Many Style – My Style 9yr old open learner sharing, “We finished this puzzle yesterday. It has 1000 pieces. Can you believe it! It has one piece missing. I learned that you have to be very sharp at colors and shapes for this. A few techniques: Check…

Series of #21 benefits of #OpenLearning #19 – Doorless Learning An experience“Designing a robot, with measurement – started with any measurement and then this much, that much, and then a big inch and small inch and feet. Understanding scale measurement The detailed design of Robot, a lot of discussion on measurement, and then collecting resources,…

Series of #21 benefits of #OpenLearning #18 – Reflective Learning “He is into board games, play, movies, and reading. He asked us to reflect on > What games did you play this week? > What new games did you play? > Was there a challenge in the game? > What books did you read? >What…

Series of #21 benefits of #OpenLearning #17 – Design my Learning 17yrs old Aswathy sharing“After spending time previously exploring the different aspects of filmmaking, doing some deliberate practice, making short films, and finally doing the visioning exercise, I stopped and asked the question, what am I really working towards? And why? Personal values seemed like…

Series of #21 benefits of #OpenLearning #16 Countless Learning – Ceaseless Learning Parents of 9yrs old Achalesh sharing He doesn’t Walk, Talk, Balk: He Flies, Sings, and Jumps-in. He consciously-intentionally-wilfully practices, among other things that we as Parents attach lots of importance to, and enjoys: Self-Social Restraints, Inter-Dependence-Relatedness-Connections, Compassion-Democracy-Equality, Internationalism, Love-Care-Understanding-Empathy, and a lot of…