A 20-week immersive journey into facilitating your child’s learning
For parents of children aged 3–8 years keen on facilitating their child’s learning.
Getting back to our ideal state of mind — learning intuitively, role-modelling, and facilitating nature-centric learning and living.
Introduction
Children learn from their parents. As we are, so are they. Hence we get ourselves set right before we begin their enablement.
The first things children need to
learn
Being Responsible
From the first people they meet in their life
The Parents
While in their first space of love & comfort
The Home
Today we have all realised that the planet is finite! That it is in pain and has been injured so much that it is losing species and trying hard to recover from the trauma caused by human activity. There is clear measurable evidence that we need to change our habits and our way of thinking.
From the capitalist model of education we need to move to a sustainable model.
PENCIL is a curriculum designed to facilitate this paradigm shift.
Puvidham Environment & Nature Centric Intuitive Learning
Need We Are Addressing
We are all born with the light within and our inner voice to guide us!
Schooling switches off the light and the inner voice in the child, causing emotional disorientation.
A child who is disoriented gets lost and is forced by social norms to respond to changing environments, leading to stress and deviation from their ideal state of mind. This has happened to all of us. To ensure that this stress cycle does not continue, we, the parents, have to break free from it!
PENCIL Facilitator Program is designed to support young parents
Reconnect
to reconnect with our purpose in life by finding the light within and listening to our inner voice!
Facilitate
to facilitate learning for their children using PENCIL Curriculum.
PFP is a journey to get back to our ideal state of mind.
The state of mind we are born with, which is being mindful and present in the moment, learning intuitively, forgiving, being resilient, being curious, and having empathy and sensitivity towards others.
It’s also a journey ahead towards nurturing our children to grow into self-aware, skilled, and happy adults — capable of living in harmony with nature and committed to the flourishing of both — self and planet.
A Two-Pronged Offering
Learning – Facilitation
To help parents develop the art of facilitation, we will embark on a five-month learning journey.
Each month,
- we will explore a new theme through a blend of asynchronous and synchronous learning.
- through pre-recorded videos, we will engage in self-work and reflect on our own learning.
- through weekly live sessions we will discuss our challenges and experiences.
Steadily we will cultivate the mindset and skills needed to become confident in facilitating learning for the child.
Hand-Holding – PENCIL Curriculum Implementation
Every week, we will come together for a live implementation session to provide:
- practical guidance on using the curriculum,
- a space to discuss challenges and questions,
- and a chance for parents to learn from one another’s experiences.
These interactive sessions are designed to help parents create inspiring learning environments at home and confidently facilitate their child’s learning through the PENCIL Curriculum.
Time Commitment
Watch pre-recorded video
1 hr per week
Join live PFP discussion session
1 hr per week
Do self-work and reflection
1 hr everyday
Join live session on PENCIL Curriculum Implementation
1 hr per week
Facilitate your child’s learning
2 hrs everyday
We will work on ourselves to become our own best version and at the same time facilitate learning for our children using PENCIL Curriculum.
For Whom is PFP?
- This program requires serious commitment in terms of intention and time, and willingness to go beyond what is comfortable.
- Ample support will be provided to each participant to ensure that they achieve the intended outcome and master the art of facilitating learning for their young ones.
- You will be part of a community aspiring to change the present state of affairs by working on themselves and creating ripples of change around.
About the Curriculum
The PENCIL (Puvidham Environment & Nature Centric Intuitive Learning) curriculum is an integrated, experience-based learning program that nurtures curiosity, observation, and independent thinking. Instead of dividing learning into subjects, it connects science, mathematics, social studies, language, and the arts through everyday experiences such as household work, stories, theatre, crafts, conversations, and simple experiments.
Inspired by the way young children naturally learn, the curriculum encourages exploration through the five senses, observation, and discovery rather than memorisation. Parents facilitate learning by engaging children in dialogue, asking curious questions, and allowing children to arrive at their own understanding instead of providing ready-made answers.
The curriculum is organised around the 5 elements essential for life — each forming a learning module that helps children develop a deeper understanding of themselves, the natural world, and the connections between them.
Sun
Water
Earth
Air
Space
Learning through meaningful participation in everyday life also helps children develop essential life skills such as confidence, responsibility, empathy, leadership, ownership, self management, space management and time management. Rather than treating these as separate skills, the curriculum allows them to emerge naturally through experience.
The curriculum draws inspiration from Montessori, Waldorf, Rabindranath Tagore’s philosophy of learning in nature, and Gandhiji’s Nai Talim, while ensuring children achieve the minimum learning outcomes envisioned by the NCERT and competency levels aligned with the CBSE framework.
At its heart, the PENCIL Curriculum aims to nurture lifelong learners who are curious, confident, emotionally aware, and deeply connected to the world around them.
More than a curriculum for children, PENCIL is a learning journey for the whole family. Through the accompanying PFP, parents reflect on their own childhood experiences, develop greater self-awareness, and cultivate an environment where both they and their children continue to learn, grow, and thrive together in a rapidly changing world.
About the Facilitator
Meenakshi Puvidham
Meenakshi trained as an architect at Sir JJ College of Architecture, then left behind the disparity of cities to build a life in harmony with nature. She settled on barren land in Dharmapuri district, where rainfall barely touched 400 mm a year.
Through soil and water conservation and native tree planting, the land grew, over three decades, into a thriving young forest — rich in medicinal herbs, sustained through harsh summers, with rising water levels and soil carbon.
In 1992, she founded Puvidham Learning Centre, an alternative space built on a simple belief: that children learn best when given the freedom to do so, not when forced into conventional schooling. Today, Puvidham Farm, Learning Centre, and Development Centre flourish together under the Puvidham Rural Development Trust.
Program Details
Application Deadline
July 15, 2026
Cohort Size
20 Participants
Program Starts
August 3, 2026
Facilitator
Meenakshi Puvidham & Team
Delivery
Google Classroom & Self-Paced Videos
Language
English
PENCIL Curriculum is currently available in Hindi, Tamil, and English. Participants will require a good grasp of English to be part of this first cohort.
Program Fees
₹50,000
per participant
What’s Included
- PFP: 20 pre-recorded videos + 20 live interactions + 18 FAQ videos.
- PENCIL Curriculum set according to the age of the child (3–6 or 6–8 age group), including all stories and poems in Hindi, English and Tamil.
- PENCIL Curriculum Implementation — 20 live interactive sessions.
- Puvidham Community support.
- Access to Return to the Soil workshop at Puvidham campus in year 2026, for fellowship with community.
Program Schedule
20 weeks · August to December 2026 · Tuesdays & Fridays
Weeks 1–4
August 2026
Silence & Learning Month
Weeks 5–8
September 2026
Craft & Design Month
Weeks 9–12
October 2026
Reflection & Change Month
Weeks 13–16
November 2026
Gratitude & Discovery Month
Weeks 17–20
December 2026
Mindfulness & Happiness Month
Week 1 begins with an introduction session on Monday, 3rd August, before settling into the regular Tuesday & Friday rhythm for the rest of the program.
Once you have completed the coursework and exercises at your own pace and have attended 10 live sessions to clear your doubts on the 10 topics, we believe you are in a position to facilitate the learning of your child.
Application Process
Fill the application form
Have a 30-minute dialogue with the Puvidham team
Complete fee payment after confirmation from the Puvidham team
Let’s Begin the PENCIL journey.
A 20-week immersive journey into facilitating your child’s learning.
Apply NowApplications Close
July 15, 2026
Program Starts
August 3, 2026
Cohort Size
20 Participants
Language
English