As unschoolers our children hardly ever feel bored. They do feel a little bored sometimes, but when they do, it usually doesn’t last long and they don’t need my help to get over it. It often happens that, in those short moments of boredom, the most creative and exciting new projects are born. We have very active periods in which we go on many fieldtrips, start many new projects and are learning new things everyday, but we also have more quiet periods in which we stay mostly at home, don’t learn much new, but think about all we’ve learned and take time to digest it. Both the active and inactive periods are an essential part of the natural learning process. Rutger once said: "I don’t understand why children can feel bored because there’re always new books to read." Personally I believe that boredom is a side effect of the conventional school system. In school, children are taught NOT to do what they feel like and NOT to act on a sudden creative impulse or idea. Instead they learn to just sit, listen and be bored. Then, in school vacations and weekends, they can feel overwhelmed by the sudden large amount of time to spend on things they actually like; they might not even remember what gave them joy and what interested them. Boredom is unknown to a baby or toddler, at that age children are still totally fascinated with the world around them; they are naturally curious about everything. Sometimes they might be very active, while at other times they just relax, but they are never bored. Unschoolers stay like that. Their natural curiosity and fascination with the world around them will remain and as they grow so does their thirst for knowledge. An unschooling child who has just discovered why kangaroos only live in Australia will experience the same thrill as a baby who has just discovered his own toes. I think that it’s very important to allow children to be bored at times. If we offer them an activity, the minute they show any signs of boredom, we don’t give them the chance to discover what they really wanted to do. Children who have attended a conventional school and then start unschooling might feel very bored at first. Don’t think that they’re wasting their time though, because if they eventually discover what really gives them joy and what really interests them it’s time well spend.