GreenScraps- Nature journaling workshop

About GreenScraps:

About the organizers:

Sangeetha Kadur and Shilpashree, artists with a deep interest and knowledge about nature. Check out Sangeethas blog here. 

About what our children experienced:

Epilogue:

Dear Sangeetha and Shilpa,

Thank you both for this wonderful initiative. Your 'art' and your 'science' and your ability to form relationships with the children is awesome. Yesterday I got the children to write about the workshop. This is what they had to say.

Aditi:
The GreenScraps workshop was about observing, recording and learning more about nature. I really liked the way that we not only drew the plants and creatures but were also told their names and interesting facts about them. Both Sangeetha and Shilpa know so much about trees, plants, birds and animals! They were both very nice and made the workshop very interesting and lots of fun. We also played lots of games and did some activities like taking impressions of tree barks, finding the things they called out and also identifying a tree after being blindfolded and led to it. The whole workshop was very memorable and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
 
Srikant:
GreenScraps is a 5 day nature journalling workshop by Sangeetha and Shilpa. Although I loved all the 5 days, I particularly liked an activity called 'nature bingo', in which you draw or sketch the things in a list given to you. The only thing I was sad about was that the workshop was so short. One of the most memorable moments was when we were sketching cormorants and pelicans by the Lalbagh lake. Both Sangeetha and Shilpa are very nice teachers and people.

Dinkar:
GreenScraps is a workshop on nature run by Sangeetha and Shilpa. I liked how Sangeetha and Shilpa showed us different birds, trees and plants. I liked everything. Sangeetha and Shilpa are very good nature teachers.

Thanks again to both of you,
Arun, Kanti, Aditi, Srikant and Dinkar

About Us: In the media

The De-school brigade- Malini Bhupta in 'India Today'

No kidding we don’t go to school- Preetha Nair in 'Mail Today'

Home school home- Preetika Mathew in Andpersand

Home furnished- Nisha Susan in 'Tehelka'

A small list yet, but Tehelka? I am honored :-) 

About Us: Aditi

Details:

Name: Aditi Elassery

Age: 14

Education: Homeschooled since 2006. Probably next year taking the 10th standard board administered by NIOS

Interests:

Reading, photography, drawing, history, music, nature

Sample of creativity:

A lit paper lantern photographed by Aditi

Family's Assessment:

Aditi is...

... an introverted teenager but is still very comfortable in her relationships with both children and adults. (Arun's opinion)

... a gentle, considerate girl who can be focused and efficient when situations demand it. (Kanti's opinion)

... always trying to become better, like not getting too angry, but often forgets. (Aditi's opinion)

... a very good person but sometimes gets on my nerves and irritates me. (Srikant's opinion)

... nice. (Dinkar's opinion)

One positive external assessment:

With the simple camera that she uses and with no formal learning I have not seen anybody else who can take pictures like Aditi. (Friend Surkhab Shaukeen a professional photographer who has studied and taught in the US)

About Us: Srikant

Details:

Name: Srikant Elassery

Age: 11

Education: Homeschooled since 2006. Going through class 6 material now

Interests:

Reading, music, drawing, geography, trains, planes, cooking 

Sample of creativity:

Ship made with the pod of the tulip tree

Family's Assessment:

Srikant is...

... physically strong, musically talented and has a vivid imagination. (Arun's opinion)

... a bit enamored with the trappings of money, extremely strong-willed, a talented musician. (Kanti's opinion)

... sometimes stupid and sometimes very sensible. (Aditi's opinion)

... a nice boy but sometimes he is very selfish and stubborn. (Srikant's opinion)

... interested in planes. (Dinkar's opinion)

One positive external assessment:

If he continues, Srikant can become a professional Tabla player. (Srikant's Tabla teacher)

About Us: Dinkar

Details:

Name: Dinkar Elassery

Age: 8

Education: Never been to school. Going through class 3 material now

Interests:

Drawing, cars, planes, nature

Sample of creativity:

Family's Assessment:

Dinkar is...

... mischievous and artistic and wise beyond his years. (Arun's opinion)

... creative and intuitive, appears insubordinate because he thinks totally out of the box. (Kanti's opinion)

... very troublesome sometimes but otherwise quite nice. (Aditi's opinion)

... a very good person but very naughty. (Srikant's opinion)

... interested in playing. (Dinkar's opinion)

One positive external assessment:

Many children come to me but nobody is able to think at this level. (Shashi Maheshwari, Dinkar's drawing teacher in Delhi talking to us)

About Us: Kanti

Details:

Name: SV Kanti Ratna

Age: 40

Education: Master of Computer Science (MCS), Pune university, 1993

Current work: Full time at home

Interests:

Cooking, growing plants, stitching, education, personal growth

Sample of creativity:

Sour dough bread baked by Kanti

Family's Assessment:

Kanti is...

... the real implementer of all our strange ideas and she is very good at this job. (Arun's opinion)

... an autocratic perfectionist. (Kanti's opinion)

... a nice person to be with, though she shouts a lot occasionally. (Aditi's opinion)

... a very lovable person but sometimes she shouts a lot. (Srikant's opinion)

... nice sometimes and bad sometimes (Dinkar's opinion)

One positive external assessment:
The only good thing that Arun has done in his life has been to get married to Kanti (Arun's friend, after he met Kanti)

About Us: Arun

Details:

Name: Arun Elassery

Age: 44

Education: BTech, IIT Kharagpur, 1988

Current work: WATIS (Wipro Applying Thought In Schools)

Interests:

Talking, writing, reading, education, self development

Sample of creativity:

A picture book for children called 'The Laughing Onion' written by me. Available from Eklavya here or from A1 books here

Family's Assessment:

Arun is...

... still in the process of growing up out of a long childhood. (Arun's opinion)

... the happy philosopher captain of our family ship. (Kanti's opinion)

... a fun person to be with, though he irritates me sometimes. (Aditi's opinion)

... a very nice person but sometimes he is irritating. (Srikant's opinion)

... nice sometimes and bad sometimes (Dinkar's opinion)

One positive external assessment:

Nice article. Fun to see the picture. They failed to mention that you're a rebel mystic, though, and quite likely a danger to society. (Friend Chuck Schreiner after reading the Tehelka magazine article on homeschooling that featured us that you can see here)

Trip to Sikkim

Description:  

6 day trek from Yuksam to Dzongri (Kanchendzonga base camp) and back, West Sikkim

Date: 

Late April, 2010

Why (or why not on Discovery channel):
To stand at the highest point of our trek (14000 ft) at 5 AM in freezing cold surrounded by majestic white mountains to watch the sky lightening as the sun rises over the kanchendzonga mountain range and to feel the incredible joy and incredible sadness of being there

Team:

Family 1: Kanti, Arun, Aditi, Srikant, Dinkar
Family 2: Sangeetha, Sathish, Shalom, Ishaan
Guide: Jeet Bahadur Gurung alias JB 

Cooks: Bir Bahadur alias BB and helper Ashish
Yakmen: Mani alias Baichung and Indra the intrepid Chang drinker
Yaks: Blackie 1, Blackie 2, Snowwhite, Brownie 1, Brownie 2

Problems:
- Walking trails full of yak and pony dung, slushy slippery mud, leeches

- Bitter cold, Hailstorms and at Dzongri a proper snowstorm, leaking tents, no proper toilets, no change of clothes
- Mild altitude sickness, low energy on the way up (only for the adults, children were fine throughout)

Discoveries:
- Chang a wonderful millet wine that you have to see and taste to believe
- Our own arrogance (or is that ignorance) in thinking we could do this difficultish walk. (The first people we talked to said we can't take 7 and 8 year olds up)
- Our guide whom we chanced upon and who made the whole experience very very special indeed (Contact JB at 9647888415 if you want to do this or other treks in Sikkim. He comes with a very high recommendation from all of us adults and especially children for his exceptional efficiency and good humor)

Random photos:

 The children. Ever cheerful and ever ahead

 The tents we stayed in on 3 of the 6 nights we were trekking

JB with Ishaan. Believe me, JB is magic!

Viewpoint at Dzongri. The highest point of our trek

Majestic Kanchendzonga range. Praying distance away

Mist on the way down

Dinkar test rides a yak. Yes, I will take this one with the power steering option please!

The adults celebrate with Chang. The smiles on the faces and the haziness of the picture depicts their collective state of mind

What is 'Spiritual education'?

Over the years I have been feeling that the most important component of our educational journey, the most value we have created together, has been due to the simple fact that due to great good fortune all of us ended up spending a whole lot of time together as a family. This i have been feeling has resulted in all of us growing up TOGETHER and also miraculously growing TOWARDS each other.

Examples:
- I got interested in history because of Aditi my daughter's interest
- Dinkar our 7 year old got interested in kabir bhajans because of me
- 10 year old Srikant likes and understands carnatic music so all the rest of us are also very interested in it
- All five of us together have begun to awaken to beauty in art and nature

I can give many more examples but you get the point no?

Now take a look at this excerpt:

After all, the child is essentially a soul with a body, life-energy and mind to be harmoniously and integrally developed. The education is therefore so organised as to secure:

* the fullest possible development of the physique;
* a fruitful channelisation of the life-energy in pursuits that contribute to the growth of the personality;
* a sufficient training of the mental faculties in the fields of various Humanities and Sciences; and
* the requisite help, through a powerful spiritual atmosphere, for the soul to come forward and gradually begin to govern the rest of the being.

- Excerpt from the website of 'SRI AUROBINDO INTERNATIONAL CENTRE OF EDUCATION'
 
This now makes me ready to attempt a tentative definition for what spiritual education may mean. Here goes...

IF
we can define 'Spiritual art' as art that is created by a 'spiritual' artist
(Think of Ajanta or the great temples or a beautiful Tibetan Thangka all of which if it moves you inexplicably are probably created by spiritually evolved humans)

THEN

we can probably define 'Spiritual education' as education happening around a 'spiritual' educator
(Or in other words education taking place within a spiritual atmosphere)

Does that make sense or does that sound a lot like trying to define one variable in terms of another? What do you think?