Today Joshua and I wanted to go out to dinner with the kids and I picked the restaurant.

I did not ask anyone else where they wanted to go.

Then, when we got home, I announced that we were now going to rid the living room of all inessential objects, like the masses of blocks, Lego, games and miscellaneous other kid items that had collected there.   Why?   Well, as I put it to the other members of my family “All of you have a room to which you can go and shut the door and in which you can keep your things, in whatever order – or not – you see fit.   I do not have a room of my own, so when the amount of toys in the living room [the room in which I spend the bulk of my time] become so overwhelming that the walls begin to close in, they’ve got to return to the room from whence they came.”

Ideal unschooling?   Probably not in the eyes of many, but you know what?  My sanity is essential to our success as an unschooling family, so in that way it is ideal for us.

In my opinion the ideal unschooling family is one in which the kids are thriving and happy.   There are many, many ways in which this manifests, and no two families are alike.   Some of my friends regulate their unschooled kids screen time and bedtimes.  Other families regulate the food their kids eat.   Most of them do this with the kids’ knowledge and consent and only after discussing and/or explaining why they feel it is necessary.

In my case, sometimes I don’t feel like having a discussion.   When it comes to walking across the living room, sometimes I just want to do it without fear of gouging my foot on an undetected Lego brick.

Don’t sweat the perfection of your unschooling environment.  It will never be perfect.   And as for ideal?  As long as it works for your family and the kids thrive, then it is ideal for you.