In order to be healthy, you have to be home.

"In order to be healthy, you have to be home."
That's what a lady in my eco-group meeting said the other day. She was referring to eating good food. 

Think about it: from preparing nutritious food to growing your own veggies, you have to be physically at home.
Even a smoothie requires a fair bit of time to make (you have to prep the fruit, clean the blender etc).  

And then if your goal is to be super healthy, you have to do it all over again, the next day.

I think of a friend I know. She makes her own bread, churns her own butter, makes stews and grows veggies. Here kids are gorgeous. She unschools too.
Of course with food, eating locally is better for people and the environment as well.

I started thinking about this 'staying close to home' idea in a larger context.

I thought about work and what commuting to work does on one's health.

Studies show that commuting actually stresses you out-ages you, wears you down. How can sitting in traffic, or even on the train every day for an hour or more be good for you?

People do need more time at home. When it comes to the typical kid, that means going to school, staying there all day long and then getting carted off to after school activities.

Where is the down time?

Unschooling obviously gives you the opportunity to be home. We get more time to hang out in pyjamas, cook and bake, read, sew, play. We get to go outside on hikes, walk around our neighbourhood.

We get to know our community well- the cool cafes, the best bookstores, the latest art show, the best places to volunteer, the funnest projects to get involved in.

Even working from home (although that has its own set of problems) can be healthy since you can wear comfortable clothes, break up the day with exercise, have some good food simmering on the stove, take a stretch and do something fun before going back at it. 

Staying close to home is grounding.
Comments welcome!