14th July 2023

The much awaited (and delayed) 100th newsletter is here. Started merely with an intent to update parents about the going-ons of LC. This has now become a periodic documentation of everything that we do here. It is a collection of activities, events and our everyday stories. Eventually, many years hence, we hope to write a book that will converge all this in a narrative that is based on our experience. Will our children be happy and successful? Will we find the magic formula? At least that is the hope, but rest assured,  we will find whether this works or not! Till then, we are walking the talk and enjoying the journey.

We took the idea of writing the newsletter from BeMe, who had completed 5years and struggling to give a periodic update to their parent community. Sending pictures came naturally but that doesn’t capture the story hence the newsletter. Our first newsletter was written in July 2020, three years ago. I was going through a few at random and felt pleasantly reminded of the variety of trips, activities, sessions and few uncomfortable moments.

The first newsletter was written by Poorva during the Covid times and she urges everyone to use maximum caution and adhere to all health safety precautions…:) Feels like an era bygone. During that time a parent came to visit LC, we were the only “school like” entity open in person, he expressed his reservation. I remember telling him that we are so cautious about health and safety that we have a doctor who is full time on our payroll…:)

Here’s what Poorva has to say on this occasion:

Though I am not a person to whom numbers matter, the occasion of the 100th newsletter is a celebration in itself. How can it be without narrating the prelude of LC?

We were 5 families to begin with. Our meetings started around mid 2018. We used to gather on Saturday evenings to someone’s house for dinner or on Sunday mornings at Kings Circle garden followed by breakfasts together. The discussions began with “what education means to us”. We discussed so many topics over a year - how do we envision the learning space, learning model, some structure or none at all. What will be the age group? What should be the quality of a facilitator? What will be the governing philosophy? Waldorf/Montessori/ JK? Coercion, language, Inclusion, secular values, scope for debates and enquiry.

In between we met some people in alternative education, in person and on call, They included Amukta from School scape, Ratnesh and Aditi from Arohi, Prakash from BeMe, some Montessori teachers, some educational consultants like Kavita, Neha, Fatema and some principals of conventional schools. We also visited a few places to understand the physical space and culture and practices. What surfaced at the end of this journey was we will operate on principles of democracy, self-directed learning that depends on the community as the central theme. Now a lot of changes have happened in the practices. But we are glad, the fundamentals have remained unchanged. Those are the guiding principles for us in case of any challenging situation.

I would like to mention my gratitude to Megha who connected us with different people. Wrik, who brought different perspectives and with the help of his father gifted us our beautiful logo. People ask us, how could you take such a courageous step? But I fumble at this question because with like minded people around it never looked like such a risk. With you all joining us, it feels even lesser.

I remember meeting Palak and Limangi for the first time. Palak didn’t have much questions, he had a very calm composure. And I thought to myself either he believes in everything that I am saying or nothing at all….:) Two years hence, this is what he has to say:

We heard about LC from a friend and were called for a meeting. On a Sunday afternoon we met Poorva and had an hour long conversation about the philosophy. Somewhat satisfied and with eagerness to know more we decided to put Jinaya for a trial period.

It is been almost 2 years that Jinaya has been a part of this institute and the experience has been overwhelming. The best part about it is the fact that it is been treated as an experiment by everyone and there is always a scope for discussion and course correction whenever required. It’s a small family and everyone is a part of everything right from teaching to trips to partying.

Poorva, Rajitha and Pinky are three of the best souls that I have met and just being around them gives you confidence that the institute is in really good hands.

May LC produce good human beings and wishing loads of success in your vision towards the institute.  

Rushabh credits many workings of his office as inspired from LC. They have self directed employees, project days and circle times. Also he bores them with long debates. Pity them?! Here’s what he has to say:

Congratulations to the LC team for completing 100 newsletters. Randomly going through some of them reminds me that this is becoming a body of work in itself. One evening when I asked Rajitha, "How was your day?”, she replied "There is never a bad day in LC" - I get this exact feeling while reading the newsletters. There is nothing bad, just explorations. Explorations about living in a community, making rules, getting people to follow them. Playing and having fun. Discovering the world around us, through news and science experiments, through sessions and conversations. Making food, eating it, cleaning it up. The common debates we keep having in LC are around "Are we doing the right thing?" - How will our children grow up? How will they sustain themselves and become contributors to society? I think these are all wrong questions. LC is not a goal, but a journey and so is life. For the children and the LC family - this seems like life being lived at its fullest.

I distinctively remember meeting Kaushal and Kshama for the first time. They were the most easy going parents I have met. It seemed like they were seeking us. Till today I have not seen Kaushal flinch, argue, or express concern during review meetings even if the mentors were agitated. What he has written here is extremely sugar coated and hope atleast one tenth of it is true, so take it with a pinch of salt, or uh..sugar?!

Learning Centre, popularly called as LC is the place where kids go with joy and come with new knowledge. It is the place where kids go with enthusiasm and come out with solid character. It's a place where kids go with fun, come with fun and stay with fun for the whole day. It's a place which kids never want to miss even if it's the last day on earth. I can't imagine if this would have been same, if our kids were going to a regular school.

For parents, LC is the place where kids learn “life skills” with fun and all the facilitators are magician who have transformed our muggles into non muggles. (Someone with supernatural skills).

Enrolling my kids to LC and becoming a part of this wonderful family is probably the best thing which could have happened in our life.  May we reach new heights with many new dimensions. Would love to see LC grow to its fullest strength for the benefit of society and specially for those parents who believe in such alternative education system.

Thank you so much to entire LC Family.

Uday has monk like calmness and is always in listening mode, so when I asked him to write something for the newsletter I thought he would only listen…:) but to my pleasant surprise within an hour I had found this in my inbox. He had put down his thoughts precisely like a bullseye.

Initially Unschooling or Deschooling concept were new to me. It took time to understand and internalise. Also I think learning starts from within. We also had the anxiety of leaving the traditional path. But I believe it is a journey for my son and us towards true education, thinking and learning new skills.

Kavya was a super active child and used to keep me on my toes. You must know the trouble some twos and tantrum threes of toddlers, with her its progressed to emotional level of troublesome twelves. We are usually at DEFCON level 3 at home. I am glad that she obliged without rolling her eyes and an argument to contribute to this newsletter. This is what she has to say:

When LC was new, I had imagined a very free place where you can play all you want and everything will fall in place. But eventually I realised that no one was going to tell me what to do and nothing will fall into place unless I want it to. Had I gone to school, I would have had tons of homework, tests, assignments and lots of work that I don’t have to do right now in LC. But I keep complaining to Poorva or Rajitha that they give me too much homework. I agree I am behind in academics but I have great ambition on becoming a pro at things. Nothing is as good as it seems, even now I try to do my best by completing all the workbooks for 7th standard, but I feel bored! And I am to be considered  one of the ‘lucky’ 25 children in the Mumbai. When I tell anyone about LC they just give me a confused look.

LC is the centre point and my life revolves around it, homework, friends, goals, rules, etc . Almost everything I do back at home, is because we discussed something in LC, or I have goals to complete. 

I also used to be a rule-breaker sort of person who simply doesn’t care. After ‘sevas’ started, and I opted to become a minister, I have become a tiny-tiny bit grateful for the people who do the ‘boring’ work and listen to my annoying requests. I now know how much the facilitators do to give us electives to choose from. There is uncertainty of me becoming anything productive. I am most grateful to my parents because they chose to start this centre and they very well know how much of a big chance there is that I might fail. Every moment I spend in LC is uninsured. I am only here in this great place on the basis of trust and every second I betray it, there’s a chance I will ruin my life. I don’t regret a single day I come to LC and I have evolved a bit. I have glimpsed the sense of responsibility that lies beyond the good-looking freedom. The responsibility of my future comes down to this place and what I do here, and it’s all up to me. I know this is an experiment and I am the specimen. This experiment has been tried upon very few children other than me. I understand this experiment very well, there’s a high chance that it will fail no guarantee but I will not let it fail on me.

I am sure you all had a good laugh. I would have edited some of the stuff but for the sake of sanity at home I let it be.

Finally, thank you to all those who contributed to this newsletter. I hope you have fun reading it. We hope to continue writing many more and interesting newsletters in future. Hope this will become a treasure trove of stories and experiences as we move forward.