What does an Unschooling weekend look like with 1 parent
Making a year worth of memories over a weekend
No worksheets. No flashcards. No teacher. No curriculum.
Just a campus. Two curious girls. And a whole lot of time to explore.
Last weekend I drove my twin toddlers (alone) to participate in a badminton tournament, 60 km outside Mumbai. While most people focused on the fact that I was solo-parenting twins and playing competitive badminton at the same time, what really mattered was something else entirely.
What the girls learned in those two days. Without anyone teaching them a thing.
They saw what competitive sport looks like.
They watched me play. Up close. They saw the intensity. They heard the sounds. The shuffle of feet on court. The smack of the shuttle. The crowd reactions. The scoring.
They cheered. They clapped. They got invested.
Nobody sat them down and said, “Now children, this is called badminton, and here are the rules.” They just watched. They absorbed. They felt the energy of people pushing themselves in a high-pressure environment.
At 3 years old, they experienced firsthand what it means to compete. What it looks like when someone trains for something and then performs. What it feels like when your dad wins and gets Player of the Match.
That’s not a lesson you can replicate in a classroom.
They explored an entire campus.
After the matches, we didn’t rush home. We explored.
We rode in a taxi around the campus. We found fountains and stood there watching the water, trying to figure out where it comes from and where it goes. We walked through greenery. We stood near sprinklers and felt the mist on our faces. We climbed the amphitheatre stairs, counting steps without anyone asking them to count.
We found insects. Spiders. The kind of tiny creatures most adults don’t even notice. But Tara and Tashi stopped. They looked. They asked questions. “What is this?” “Why does it have so many legs?” “Where does it live?”
This is science class. But nobody called it that.
They figured out a railing puzzle on their own.
This one is my favorite moment.
We found a set of railings. The girls started climbing them. Not unusual. But then they encountered a challenge: how do you get from one side of the railing to the other?
They couldn’t just step over. They couldn’t go around. So, they had to figure it out. Using just their bodies. Bending, twisting, adjusting their weight, testing their balance.
No one told them how to do it. No one demonstrated. They worked it out themselves. Trial. Error. Adjustment. Success.
That’s problem-solving. That’s spatial awareness. That’s physics. That’s confidence. All in one moment on a random railing that no lesson plan would ever include.
They jumped on an inflatable. And learned about pressure.
There was an inflatable jumping setup on the campus. The kind that bounces differently depending on where you stand, how hard you push, and how your body moves.
For most parents, this is just “fun.” And it is fun. But watch closely. When a 3-year-old jumps on an inflatable, they’re learning about force and response. Newton’s 3rd law seen and understood. They’re calibrating their bodies. They’re understanding that the same surface can behave differently based on how you interact with it.
Nobody taught them that. The inflatable taught them that. Their bodies taught them that.
They went to a cricket ground.
We walked to the cricket ground on campus. Open space. Grass. Boundary markings. A pitch in the middle.
Did they understand cricket? No. But they experienced what a large, open, purpose-built space feels like. They ran. They felt the difference between grass and the pitch surface. They looked at the stumps. They asked what they were for.
Seeds get planted this way. Not by forcing a child to sit and learn something, but by exposing them to it and letting their curiosity do the work.
This is what unschooling actually looks like.
People hear “unschooling” and think it means doing nothing. It doesn’t.
It means doing everything. But without a curriculum. Without a schedule that says “10 AM: Science. 11 AM: Physical Education. 12 PM: Art.”
In one weekend, Tara and Tashi experienced competitive sport, physical problem-solving, nature observation, water dynamics, spatial reasoning, balance and body control, and the experience of being in new environments with new people across age groups.
All of it happened naturally. All of it happened because we showed up, let them explore, and got out of their way.
The world is the classroom. You just have to take them there.
A weekend worth more than a semester.
I sometimes think about what a “school week” would look like for a 3-year-old. Sit in a room. Follow instructions. Learn letters. Do a craft activity. Go home.
In one weekend, my daughters experienced more real learning than most kids get in months of structured activity. Not because they’re special. Because they were given the space to be curious.
That’s all it takes. Exposure. Freedom. Trust.
The rest? They figure it out.
💬 Let’s Redefine “Smart Parenting”
We’re Pankhuri and Ishan, parents to twin toddlers. At Life of PI Square, we believe parenting is easy when you trust your children and start at the right time.
Want to learn more?
Follow our journey on Instagram @lifeofpisquare and explore our approach to raising confident, independent kids at lifeofpisquare.com