Yesterday I talked about my love of “slow living” .   I thought I’d focus in on one of my favorite things about it, which is the ability to be spontaneous.   If every minute of every day is not planned, you have the luxury of saying, at 1pm, “Hey, feel like heading out to the park?”  or whatever other destination appeals, and there is nothing in your way but your own enthusiasm or lack thereof.

The difficulty comes in finding other families who adopt an equally unstructured lifestyle so that we can invite friends at the spur of the moment.   Maybe I’m wrong about this, but it seems like unschooling families tend to be more spontaneous than even homeschooling families.   At least that has been my experience.

Today, for example, just after lunch, we texted one of Ben’s unschooled friends to see if he could come over.  We received an enthusiastic “Yes” and an hour later they appeared at our door and are now playing happily.   Of course sometimes even the most spontaneous of friends are already busy or not available, but that’s different than being so scheduled that getting together requires months of advance planning, or socializing only at planned events or after classes.

This can make slow living seem a little lonely at times, which is why our summer of super slow living has had the unexpected benefit of reminding us that our days are full all on our own, and spontaneity does not always require a group.