Coronavirus: During lockdown, this self-directed learning platform engages parents and children

Many parents are straining to instruct and engage their children within their houses while the country is on lockdown because to COVID-19. While homeschooling is no longer an option, it is also about creative participation rather than schoolwork and testing.

However, an Indore-based business has gotten an early start in this area. Asmakam, founded in 2015 by mother-daughter combination Archana and Maitreyee Gehlot, is a forum for self-led open earning.

During this trip, Asmakam claims to have assisted and led over 5,000 families in India and America.

Providing assistance to families during COVID-19

Despite the statewide lockdown, the startup was able to reach out to over 400 families throughout India via webinars, virtual meetups, and counselling sessions.

Team Asmakam also sponsored a 21-day campaign named #CoVIT21 - Compassion Virus challenge, in which 350 families participated on Facebook and 100+ families participated on WhatsApp.

Every day, the families were given a new task that covered a wide range of topics such as kindness, gratitude, compassion, mindfulness, self-exploration, and so on. Among other things, the families were asked to write personal letters, record films, draw or sketch, re-connect with old friends via video chats, and pray together as a family for global peace.

"I was astounded by how freely teenage teens discussed the type of school they desire during the first 21-day lockdown." In addition to the #CoVIT21 campaign, we hosted three webinars. for adolescents and youths, where we examined the gaps in present schooling and how they would like to pursue further education," says Maitreyee, 20.

Suggestions and ideas regarding the necessity of vocational training, interest-based education rather than job-based education, and respect for children's natural propensity flooded in.

Asmakam, on the other hand, is not a home-schooling resource platform, but rather a community committed to assisting unschoolers and self-learners in navigating an existing system.

The beginnings

"We lived in the United States for 15 years, during which time I gave birth to both of my daughters, Maitreyee and Atri." Atri has never attended school, whereas Maitreyee has finished Class 8. We as a family have long wondered how endless expansion can be achieved with finite natural resources, and why can't we humans create a balance between our material, emotional, and spiritual lives. Several families in India and America who had embraced what I term a parallel way of life astounded us. "We, as a family, decided throughout the transition back to India that we wanted to start living more consciously and not follow the usual rules," Archana explains (48).

By 2012, Archana and her husband Manish had realised that homeschooling was not the best option for their children's further development.

"It was more important to us to unschool our children than to homeschool them, if that makes sense." "We wanted that our children would develop their own method of self-education," she continues.

After years of research, Asmakam was founded as a self-directed learning community for parents and children.

Empathy for parents

Based in New Jersey, Sejal Sharma is a mother of two who recently discovered Asmakam.

"I've been a public school teacher in New Jersey for seven years. As a result, I don't necessarily subscribe to the belief that formal education is insufficient. I feel I will be alright as long as my children are free to pursue their own passions. I started thinking about homeschooling because I wanted my boys to have a good time during their youth. Archana was introduced to me through a shared spiritual group. What I admire most about Asmakam is the level of empathy it fosters among its members. We learn so much just by engaging with like-minded parents, exchanging ideas, and providing support to one another," she explains. Most parents, according to Sejal, are seeking for empathy.

Asmakam has primarily developed as a network of like-minded parents who exchange empathy, resources, and experiences. Apart from linking parents with specialists, Asmakam also guides parents in creating their own learning materials, encouraging them toward self-led open learning for their children.

Transforming lifestyle

Asmakam supports and inspires parents toward a lifestyle shift, not merely a change in how their children are educated.

"We coach parents on finding a deeper purpose in life and developing a healthier lifestyle," Archana adds. This may need them foregoing their objectives or material possessions in favour of a more sustainable purpose-driven lifestyle."

But what about career-driven spouses who don't want to quit their jobs? "We've linked such families with other self-learning groups, as well as counselling grandparents on how to help their grandchildren study at home," she says.

Asmakam is aware, however, that some degrees or professions, such as medicine, law, or psychology, do need a formal education. They've entered a realm where parents are pondering options other than medicine and engineering.

Parents in Tier-I cities, according to Archana and Maitreyee, are more receptive to explore alternative lifestyles than those in Tier-II cities.

"Families in larger cities see how their week is consumed with travel, going to work, sleeping, and eating. They've been through the wrath of big-city bustle up up and personal, and they're ready to go free. However, commuting times are still shorter in most Tier-II cities, and many of them are still living in the corporate dream. This is, however, what we want to educate people on. "Just going to work every day and pursuing corporate goals might quickly lead to dissatisfaction," Maitreyee continues.

Leading by example

The Gehlot family had met numerous parents in Tier-II cities including Indore, Pune, Surat, and Jaipur in person to discuss self-directed learning and sustainable living before the coronavirus lockdown in India. But what really worked for them was that they lived what they preached.

"My 15-year-old son Atri is interested in filmmaking and music. He didn't go to school at all. He was the art director for The Lost Gift, our national and international award-winning film. On the other side, Maitreyee is fascinated with food and human psychology. She is now pursuing a bachelor's degree in psychology from one of the top 20 universities in the United States. "She was a founder member of two businesses and can study and take exams from anywhere on the planet," Archana explains.

Archana is an IIT Bombay graduate who worked as the Director, Product Strategy, at Oracle Corporation in the United States before leaving to pursue her passion. Manish (49) is from Indore and graduated from IIT Powai. He has worked for IBM, Oracle, Accenture, and Tata, among other firms.

Cotfoo – Connecting Through Food, the family's second venture, links organic farmers directly to customers and also allows home cooks to provide a nutritious and authentic handmade dine-in experience.

"We're also organic farmers who raise our own food and live a healthy lifestyle." "We are a profoundly spiritual family," she explains.

Prior to the pandemic, Asmakam was developing a one-month pilot for a one-year alternative to college programme, in which youth were exposed to an integrated learning experience that included much-needed life skills, technical skills, entrepreneurship, self-exploration, perspective building, community building, sustainability, environment, multiple forms of capital, and so on, with an internship opportunity with partner employers who believe in real-life learning rather than a co-op model. Asmakam's intentions have changed as a result of the COVID-19 shutdown.

Where parents are driven to reevaluate their way of life and educate their children, startups like Asmakam have become more significant.

Written : RP-Article