What does unschooling have to do with health you might wonder. I honestly don’t know, but the fact is that we’ve hardly ever been sick since we’ve started unschooling. When Rutger just started school he came home with one virus infection after the other and he shared them generously with all of us. By the time he was better again the next virus was going around and we were sick more often than not. I personally believe that our bodies are more prone to illness when we’re emotionally out of balance and when Rutger attended school the whole family had a problem to stay balanced because we all had to hurry, hurry, hurry to keep up with the schools schedule. Now that we’re unschoolers we don’t have any schedule to keep up with except our own; we are free to listen to the subtle signals that our bodies are sending us and to live in balance with nature and according to our own inner rhythm. Personally I think that it’s really important for children to learn to listen to those ‘inner voices’ that can tell us what we really need on a certain moment to stay mentally, emotionally and physically fit. I believe that illnesses, like the flu and colds, are a way through which our bodies can get the message across that we need to slow down. I remember that it always felt quite nice when our whole family was home sick after a busy period of trying to keep up with everything. It gave us the chance to regain our inner balance and we didn’t need to feel guilty because we couldn’t help being sick, could we? Now that we’re unschoolers our bodies don’t need to use extreme measures to force us to slow down. We can just listen to the subtle signals that they’re sending us, slow down and rest when we feel like it, and avoid illness. At first I would feel a bit guilty when we weren’t productive and would spend a rainy day watching Disney movies on the couch while sipping hot cocoa. After a while I found out that it was way more effective this way because a few of those ‘nice and easy’ days would give us new energy and could prevent a weeklong illness. Apart from being more effective it’s also a lot more comfortable this way! It’s very natural for children to listen to the signals of their bodies and to live according to their own natural rhythm. Just look at a baby who wants to eat when he’s hungry or a toddler who falls a sleep whenever he’s sleepy no matter where he is. It’s not that long ago that "experts" told us that we had to bottle-feed our babies - following a strict time schedule - instead of breast feed on request. Twelve years ago I was still forced to do that with my oldest son while he was in the hospital. Most mothers have freed themselves and their babies of this "expert-advice" but why not take it one step further and let them learn naturally and on request as well? That’s what unschooling is all about and it makes for happy and healthy kids as well as adults.