Hi @snowpea :o) I keep striving to find the motivation to keep on keeping on - it's reassuring to know I'm not the only one who struggles with the whole 'social' aspect of social media ;o)
So-called 'radical' unschooling differs from homeschooling in that there is literally no coercion whatsoever. It's basically unschooling (which is very different from parent-directed homeschooling, or 'school at home' - blech!) but even more so, lol.
I often meet 'unschoolers' who are still subtly manipulating their children's learning experience and who also 'worry' about all kinds of traditional elements of what they're doing (e.g. can I really trust that she'll learn to read one day without me instructing her? Am I really doing the right thing by 'letting' him choose his own bedtime?) I'd say that 'radical' unschoolers (to my mind) are those who have successfully let go of all that baggage and the trappings of the mainstream schooling system to an extent that they really are capable of confidently supporting and facilitating their offspring responsively rather than superficially, with absolute faith in their innate ability to intelligently direct their own learning experience. It's really a mindset, IMO, and you have either switched over into that zone or not. I can tell within seconds whether a parent is there or pretending to be there ;o)
Just my take on it, of course, and there is a wealth of info out there online if you're interested in researching further. And you're more than welcome to ask me (or my unschooled teen) anything, any time :o)
I have a heart to unschool, but our family is currently being investigated by CPS. I feel like I'm being watched, so I'm currently homeschooling, with a curriculum and everything. I want to just let them be free, but there is this oppressive force in our lives now. One question for you: Do you limit screentime? I'm finding that very hard to do at this point. If I let them do whatever they wanted, they would turn into nocturnal screen zombies and sleep all day lol.