Unlearning School: What Homeschooling Helped Me See Differently About Education
By Sathish Bala
This has been on my mind today…
When I look back at my own schooling in Singapore during the 1980s, I realize how much of it was built around conformity. A student’s worth was tied to a test score. Our futures were determined by how well we followed instructions, memorized content, and stayed in our seats. That system didn’t see who we were. It only saw what we could produce.
So much of homeschooling — for me, and for the thousands of families I’ve now spoken with — is really about unlearning that model.
At first, most parents try to recreate school at home. Schedules. Desks. Checklists. But slowly, over time, the shift happens. We stop asking, “Am I doing enough?” and start asking, “Is my child curious? Are they feeling safe enough to learn at their own pace?”
We realize that learning doesn’t have to look like sitting still. It can be messy, playful, deeply personal. Sometimes that realization comes from the chaos — the days when nothing goes according to plan, and you see your child learning anyway. Sometimes it comes from joy.
One mom who just started her free trial with Schoolio shared this incredible moment with us:
“I just signed up for a free trial and had my neurodivergent son test out a lesson in Social Studies, a subject he has not previously enjoyed. Until now! He enjoyed the lesson so much he was asking me to please print the PDFs for him to work on, which he also never does. I think this is a very good sign and look forward to him completing other lessons!”
This is the kind of learning traditional school often misses. For many kids, especially neurodivergent learners, subjects like Social Studies or Language Arts become walls instead of doors. But when the format changes — when they get space to go at their pace, explore topics through different modalities, or simply feel like they’re being listened to — everything opens up.
Homeschooling has helped me see that education isn’t about information delivery. It’s about connection. It’s about nurturing curiosity and self-awareness. It’s about teaching kids how to learn, not just what to memorize.
And that’s what public school often forgets — it’s not just the curriculum that needs change. It’s the entire culture. At Schoolio, we believe deeply in giving families the tools to break that culture, and build something better.
Because when we unlearn school, we begin to see learning everywhere.
Sathish
still learning, still unlearning