Peter Gray defines unschooling in his book Free to Learn, as "the category of home-based education most compatible with trustful parenting."  In this way, the parent is placing trust in the abilities and instincts of the child instead of allowing outside authorities to dictate what, where, when and how to learn.

Unschooling is a child-led, deadline-free and respect-centered method of parenting.

But unschooling is NOT passive. In choosing to unschool, a parent is choosing to take a very active and mindful role in their child's life. They must be present in supplying the child with what they need to pursue their interests. Unschooling is not simply an educational choice. It is an active realization and respect for a child's natural curiosity and love of learning. 

Children are born with an innate love of learning. It starts with watching and simply absorbing. Then it progresses to grabbing, tasting, maneuvering, exploring and experiencing anything and everything they can.  Parents and caregivers watch them and create environments in which they are able to do all of this beautiful learning through interest–led exploration. What an exciting time!

Everything in the whole world is brand new to them and they are on a mission to see it all! They don't need us to tell them how to look at and absorb new information. They are naturally inclined to do so because human beings start out curious, eager and able to learn. At a certain point they begin making sounds, putting those sounds together and forming words and sentences. They start to count and recognize letters and numbers.

They do all of these things by absorbing the information in their environment and by watching us, asking questions and listening. They are interested and enthralled by the world around them.  

At this point, if we were to go the traditional route, it would now be the time to begin trying to harness and control that powerful learning energy. We would do our best to direct that energy toward the things that we are told are essential to learn, as dictated by various authorities (the school system, the pediatrician, well-meaning friends or family members).