Sure, I'll help you out as best I can. Be forewarned, this is long…

Home-schooling (2 words) is often explained as "doing school-at-home". Where I live, the parents that go this route are often home-schooling for primarily religious reasons (although this is not the case everywhere) and try to shelter their children from the assorted evils of the world. Here, parents give their children what we usually think of as a typical or traditional education (often directly aligned with public school schedules and standards) through the use of standardized textbooks, workbooks, required readings, weekly tests and annual standardized exams, etc. and Home-Schooler Only classes outside of the home (such as music, art or PE). This ensures that their kids are exposed to situations and people that are not at odds with what the parents deem socially and religiously appropriate for their kids. Think of it this way: Mom is school teacher.

I have heard homeschooling (1 word) explained as “using what works and dumping what doesn’t” to educate kids with a goal roughly similar to a traditional education. The direction and timing is still the parent’s, but it is based on the child’s needs not a rigid schedule. This terminology is generally used here by families that may be religious or secular, but are not necessarily homeschooling for religious reasons. These families may make use of Home Schooler Only classes as desired, but may also use after-school publicly accessible programs or classes if they fit a desire or need. These families also often use alternative curriculum programs such as classical education (e.g., The Well Trained Mind) or a literature-based approach (Five in a Row). Regardless, these families are generally more willing to skip parts of a “program” if it’s deemed unnecessary (he already knows his multiplication facts so why do the worksheets) or accelerate/delay parts based on the child’s readiness. These families may use textbooks or they may not. They may use worksheets for math, but not for spelling or vice versa. They may give tests, but they probably don’t do it very often. Think of it this way: Mom is the learning company’s CEO.

I describe unschooling as child-led learning that is in response to living a real life. This is the practice of letting real life situations (such as shopping, cooking, gardening, volunteering, etc), any and all local resources available (museums, colleges/universities, state parks, hiking trails, nature centers, historical markers/sites, stores, a parent’s/friend’s place of employment, even schools *gasp, shock, horror*) and true passions (dinosaurs, space, trains, Star Wars, Civil War history, etc – and often a rotation of many passions over the years) lead us (both adults and children) to meaningful knowledge. Parents teach by example that learning does not stop with a high school diploma or a university degree. The families that pursue this path run the gamut from deeply religious to wholly atheist, but ultimately they hold a deeply held belief that children have an innate need to learn, understand and be part of the world around them and, therefore, will want to learn about as many topics as they can and participate in as much as they are able. But they certainly won’t follow any one else’s pre-determined schedule while they do it. Individuality, thy name is unschooler. Mom reads Robin Hood to Jake and he expresses an interest in archery. Dad asks mom if she’s interested in volunteering at the food pantry. Isaac tells Ian about a chess club he attends; do you want to come along? Unschooling families may use textbooks but usually not – it all depends on what is most helpful to the learner. They may take outside classes or join a task/topic specific club (pottery class, piano lessons, writer’s club, etc) or they may simply borrow/buy the materials needed to learn the process/skill together or on their own – it all depends on what is most helpful to the learner. Think of it this way: Life is teacher, mom coordinates the essentials.

“But what about math?” That is, easily, the most commonly asked question about unschooling. Try to manage a family’s monthly food budget without learning to use basic arithmetic. It can’t be done, and if a child is allowed – even encouraged – to participate in the budgeting, menu planning and shopping of the family’s groceries, they can’t help but learn to use, and be comfortable in using, basic arithmetic. The same can be said for the family’s overall budget. How much does it really cost to keep the 2nd car each month? How much will that trip to Washington, DC really cost and how much do we have to save each month to pay for it? If we ride or walk places more and use the car 50% less, how much faster can we afford it? OK, what about geometry? Build a shed. Fractions? Divide up an equal amount of M&M’s between yourself and 4 other friends. Decimals? Money, money, money.

There is a myth about unschooling that says parents just leave kids to themselves and kids do only what they figure out what they want to do on their own. WRONG. Unschooling is presenting topics, ideas and opportunities to kids with enthusiasm, but also being able to accept “No thanks,” as an acceptable answer.
 

I'd like to add a bit to what Jamie said above. Our family has tried it all. Public school, school-at-home, Classical, Charlotte Mason method, unit studies, eclectic, and unschooling (in that order). I'll be honest, my son was an unschooler from the start. I, however, was not and it took me a bit longer to get there (fortunately, my son was very patient ;)

The best way that I can describe unschooling is to give the example that finally made it clear for me. As adults, when we find something that interests us, we learn whatever we can about it until our curiosity is satisfied. We may read books, take classes, find a friend or mentor to teach us, whatever it takes. If we decide that it is not for us, or when we have learned all that we want to learn about the topic, we move on to the next topic. Unschooling is allowing our kids the same freedom over their education that we take over ours.

Many assume that if a topic is difficult or unappealing, a child will not want to learn it. I really think that this goes back to our own memories of public school classes that we took growing up. I mean, who among us doesn't remember sitting in class, bored to tears, waiting for the bell to ring so we could move on to the next boring class?? We learned early on that "education" was a thing to be endured, not enjoyed.

This is exactly the opposite of what unschoolers want their kids to learn. What's more fun: reading a textbook account of the Battle of Gettysburg, or participating in a re-enactment of it? Listening to a teacher talk about volcanoes, or taking a trip to Mount St. Helens, watching videos of it's eruption, talking to people who lived nearby and remember it's eruption, then building your own volcano?

Unschooling parents don't "teach" the subjects - heck, we're learning right along with them, most of the time! Our job is to help them learn "how" to find the information they need.

You'd be surprised at what kids choose to learn (I often am). This year, my 10 y/o son has chosen to learn about: WWI, WWII, ecology, ornithology, personal finance (teaching himself percentages so he can properly split his allowance between savings, charity, and spending; using multiplication to figure how many weeks it will take to save up for each toy/game he wants; learning about sales tax and figuring it properly to find out how much he'll pay for each item he buys; etc), beginning French, Teddy Roosevelt, cooking, moviemaking, Roman Numerals, polar exploration, pirates, reading schematics, the Wright brothers, Russia - and this is just a *partial* list.

My mom often states how much I would have liked to unschool. The fact is, I'm learning more about history, science, geography, and math *now* than I did in public school and college. It's also glaringly obvious to me all that I was "taught" in school that I have NEVER used "in real life" and all that I wish I would have been taught, that I really needed, but was not offered.

~Carri Ann~