Roadschooling: The perfect combination of homeschooling and travelling

Roadschooling is a unique kind of homeschooling where children choose to explore and learn about various destinations. During the pandemic, many parents initiated homeschooling their children which paved the way for this amazing learning opportunity - roadschooling. It is a growing popularity among parents and kids to learn from real world experiences by travelling across the country or the world.

Among the few parents who opted for roadschooling, Gurgaon based couple Tarun Kumar Bansal and Sunaina have taken up this unique path for their daughters. Speaking to Hans India, the duo shares their journey about roadschooling and its benefits.

What inspires you to take up this unique learning opportunity - roadschooling?

The inspiration for roadschooling is that we get a break from pattern learning and children get to see people’s lives closely and get clarity in correlations. It helps them to understand the cultures of different states. Through roadschooling, it helps them to solve practical problems and enrich their knowledge by learning and discovering different things.

While roadschooling, do you collaborate with or join other families? Are there any roadschooling communities in India?

Some families did join us from time to time but they did not go through it as it is completely different for them. But, We are completely into roadschooling. We are not aware of any roadschooling community but often have many traveling experiences where we did some activities like photography, pottery, arts etc. Moreover, many families are picking up the idea of travelling and learning various things about destinations”.

What kind of learning approach do you take for children while roadschooling?

We show different number plates of the cars to the children and ask them to identify the state they are from. We also show the state languages which are written on boards, crops which are grown and harvested in different parts across the country or state and so on to them.

Through roadschooling, not only children enriched their knowledge by learning new things but also enjoyed exploring various places. Moreover, the kids solve various numerical problems through cards or practical circumstances which aids their critical and logical thinking.

If you are working, how do you handle your work with roadschooling?

We try to balance working and road schooling by setting up a date for weekly updates related to traveling and have a weekly course for the children.

What are the benefits and challenges of roadschooling?

The benefits of roadschooling is that children can handle pressure when learning and exploring destinations. They can easily recall and understand whatever they have seen or learnt. Children are greatly exposed to practical experiences of life. Parents who want to opt for roadschooling, can go for it as there are no deadlines or time boundaries when to start it.

However, there are many challenges in roadschooling which the children are exposed to, for instance climate variation, food and water of a particular region and other factors affects them.

What is the key difference between traditional schooling and roadschooling?

The main difference between roadschooling and traditional schooling is there is no routine in roadschooling and children are exposed to practical experiences of life.

Advice for parents who want to opt for roadschooling?

The advice given for parents opting roadschooling is that children should have high and positive energy. They should go with the flow in any situation. It is the responsibility of the parents to keep their energy high and should take considerable measures when the kids feel restless and tired while travelling.

Finally, it is a wonderful approach for children to explore various destinations and learn many things as travelling is the best guide which enriches our knowledge through practical experiences of life.