This story is part of “Parenting: What Google Won’t Tell You” — The Better India’s people-led parenting series that goes beyond conventional advice to document how real families are actually raising their children. Through real parents, parenting coaches, influencers and experts, the series brings honest, diverse and relatable perspectives on the questions, choices, challenges and solutions that shape everyday parenting — the things Google can’t always answer.
The aroma of simmering broth drifts through the mountain air as laughter rises from a rooftop kitchen in a small Himachal village. Around the table, travellers from different parts of the world chop vegetables and trade stories while three children move easily among them, helping with dinner, listening, asking questions and joining the conversation.
For Mayur and Joy Sontakke, moments like these are part of how their children learn.
The Indian-Vietnamese couple have built much of their family life around NomadGao, the coliving and coworking community they created for digital nomads. Here, their 13-year-old twin boys and eight-year-old daughter learn through shared meals, conversations with travellers, baking experiments, board games, carpentry projects and long afternoons outdoors.
The couple, who also run The Hotpot House in Dharamkot, chose during the pandemic to step away from conventional schooling and adopt a more flexible, child-led approach to education.
Their idea of learning now stretches across kitchens, farms, workshops, books, conversations and everyday life, shaped by curiosity rather than a fixed curriculum.
Building a life around community
Long before NomadGao existed, Mayur was questioning conventional ideas about education and success.
Growing up in Kolhapur in a traditional middle-class family, he followed the expected path until he found himself increasingly disconnected from what he was being taught. “I was disillusioned about why I was learning what I was learning,” he recalls. Failing Class 12, which many considered a life-defining setback, became a turning point instead.
“That was the best thing,” he says. “Everyone lost their expectations from me. I felt free to do whatever I wanted.”
At NomadGao in Himachal, Mayur and Joy’s three children have grown up surrounded by travellers, conversations and new experiences.
The years that followed were filled with unconventional experiences: door-to-door marketing in villages, part-time jobs, remote work, and eventually travelling across India and Southeast Asia as one of the country’s early digital nomads. Those experiences reinforced a belief that some of life’s most important lessons happen outside classrooms.
Joy’s journey was equally transformative. Raised in Vietnam, she followed a conventional route through school, university, and a banking career before meeting Mayur in 2017. After moving to India, she found herself exploring entirely new paths — from nutrition and health coaching to toy design and eventually running a restaurant.
“I’m a self-learner,” she says. “Everything I learned in school or university didn’t always matter in what I chose to do later.”
Together, they built NomadGao as a space where remote workers could live, work, and connect with like-minded people. What began as a dream quickly grew into a thriving community in Goa and later Himachal Pradesh.
Their children grew up alongside it.
Rethinking what education could look like
While the pandemic pushed many families to reconsider education, Mayur and Joy had already been having those conversations.
For Mayur, the shift stemmed from a growing belief that traditional education was struggling to keep pace with a rapidly changing world.
“I learned a lot more travelling and meeting people than I did sitting in a classroom,” he says.
The family’s circumstances also played a role. The twin boys, who had moved from Vietnam to India, did not initially speak English. Sending them straight into a conventional school environment felt overwhelming. At the same time, the family wanted the flexibility to spend time in both India and Vietnam, participating fully in festivals, traditions, and family life.
Joy was the one who first introduced the idea of unschooling.
She had come across the concept while reflecting on her experiences as a parent. Watching her youngest daughter thrive through a baby-led approach to eating made her rethink how children learn best.
The twins began cooking with Mayur when they were young. Today, preparing meals is one of the ways the children build independence and essential life skills.
“I saw the difference between forcing active learning and allowing children to learn naturally,” she says. “For me, unschooling is not about avoiding school. It’s about learning how to learn by yourself.”
That idea became the foundation of their parenting philosophy.
Instead of focusing on what children should learn at a particular age, they focus on helping them discover how they learn best.
What does a school day look like without school?
Ask Mayur what a typical school day looks like in their home and he laughs.
“There isn’t really one.”
Learning changes depending on where the family is and what is happening around them.
In Vietnam, that might mean spending time on farms. When the family was building their home, learning involved carpentry and hands-on construction work. Today, in Himachal Pradesh, their children’s days include a blend of structured learning and self-directed exploration.
Mornings are often dedicated to maths and English. Afternoons are spent outdoors, reading, drawing, sketching, cooking, baking, or playing with local children.
The family does not follow a rigid curriculum, but they do provide resources and guidance when interests emerge. When the boys developed a passion for baking, their parents found ways to nurture it. When drawing captured their attention, online art courses entered the picture.
At NomadGao, meals often bring the children together with travellers from different countries, turning dinner into an opportunity to exchange stories, cultures and ideas.
“As long as I give them resources, they’ll figure it out,” says Mayur.
Not every experiment succeeds.
The twins struggled with traditional approaches to English and maths. Textbooks failed to spark interest. So the family adapted. Today, journaling, storytelling, tutors, and interest-led projects play a larger role.
For Joy, flexibility is key.
“Success is not about how much you learn,” she says. “It’s about the journey that you enjoy.”
The world becomes the classroom
One of the most distinctive aspects of the family’s approach is the environment they have created around their children.
At NomadGao, guests from around the world arrive with vastly different life stories and experiences. Some stay for weeks. Others remain for months. Many become part of the family’s daily life.
Instead of spending all day with peers their own age, the children regularly interact with entrepreneurs, artists, engineers, travellers, and remote workers from different countries.
An Israeli automation engineer who stayed at NomadGao spent time with the children, introducing them to technology, another culture and a different way of looking at the world.
“When kids go to school, they mostly interact with people of the same age,” says Mayur. “But when they spend time with people from different generations, the learning becomes explosive.”
He recalls an Israeli automation engineer who stayed at NomadGao for several months and spent significant time with the children. Through those conversations, they learned about technology, another culture, another country, and another way of life.
Another regular guest introduced them to board games and strategic thinking. Others have shared stories of travel, work, creativity, and personal challenges.
Many visitors are surprised by how easily the children engage with adults.
Lessons from the kitchen
The family’s restaurant, The Hotpot House, has become another unexpected learning space.
Although neither parent initially imagined opening a restaurant, it has evolved into a place where the children observe real-world problem-solving, communication, and responsibility in action.
Hospitality, Mayur believes, teaches lessons that are difficult to replicate elsewhere.
“It teaches compassion and patience at the same time,” he says. “Some guests are difficult, but you still have to serve them with kindness.”
The children occasionally help around the restaurant, observe daily operations, and witness the realities of running a business. More importantly, they see their parents model teamwork, resilience, and service.
Moving between India and Vietnam has given the children opportunities to learn through farms, festivals, family traditions and the different cultures they encounter along the way.
Cooking has become a particularly important life skill.
The boys started cooking with Mayur at a young age, often experimenting together in the kitchen. Today, dinner preparation frequently falls to the children themselves.
For the couple, these experiences matter just as much as academic learning.
“I don’t want my kids to grow up without life skills,” Mayur says. “Cooking, cleaning, taking responsibility – all of these are equally important.”
‘Parents should think about their own inner child’
The decision to unschool has brought its share of challenges.
Extended family members continue to question their choices. Friends occasionally express concern. There are practical difficulties too, particularly when it comes to finding a community of children following similar educational paths.
Living in a village means most local children attend conventional schools and have limited free time.
“There’s still a challenge around social life,” admits Mayur.
Despite those hurdles, the family remains committed to the path they have chosen.
In their children, they see qualities they deeply value: curiosity, independence, confidence around adults, a love of reading, and a willingness to explore new interests without fear of failure.
As the future of work and learning continues to evolve, they believe one skill matters above all else.
“Learning is democratised now,” says Mayur. “If you want to learn something, the resources are there. The important thing is learning how to learn.”
For parents curious about alternative education but hesitant to take the first step, their advice is simple.
For Mayur and Joy, unschooling is not about removing education from their children’s lives. It is about giving them the confidence to follow their curiosity and figure out how they learn best.
“There is risk in every path,” Mayur says. “Traditional schooling has risks too. You have to choose your own bets.”
Joy offers a gentler reflection.
“I want parents to think about their own inner child,” she says. “What did you want when you were young? Then try to create that kind of environment for your children.”
Back in the kitchen, dinner is finally ready. Conversations continue long after the meal is served. Stories are shared, questions are asked, and new ideas emerge.
Perhaps that is what Mayur and Joy are trying to give their children: the confidence to meet the world with curiosity, and the ability to keep learning from it.
All images courtesy Mayur Sontakke
