My definition of "Unschooling"

I thought it would be a good idea to explain what my definition of "unschooling" is, as there are a lot of people who define it differently than myself.
I define unschooling as the process of learning naturally, without the need of school. Naturally being how God intended us to learn. Without prethought lesson plans, without someone imposing their interests on us and demanding that we memorize facts about it.
We learn best when we are interested in something. This learning can take place in any format, as long as the learner is interested!
Someone commented to my husband and I recently, "Isn't this against your educational philosophy?" We were at a Metro Park at night to hear someone tell us about the stars, their constellations, and let us use their telescope to see them. Kind of a really informal lecture format. You didn't have to sit and listen, you could talk quietly without bothering anyone, and you were there by choice.
But this person thought that because we have said we are "unschooling" that we "don't want to be taught by anyone".... This is inaccurate. We want our children to learn through any means that keeps them interested. This can be through watching TV, reading library books, talking with a family member (a lot of the time that'd be me, my husband, one of their aunts/uncles, and/or a grandparent), or any other person they meet, and they do meet a lot of people of all different ages. They can learn through playing video games, computer games, board games, cooking, baking, observing animals and bugs, seasons and weather changing, and interactive play with each other and their friends, (I'll write more on that in another post.), There are many others ways of learning I'm sure no one could think of all at one time.
All these things are done in everyday life. Not all at once, not compressed into a certain period of "time for learning". Unschooling (learning) for a child is as natural as breathing. Unschooling for a parent, is just being a parent! Helping your child learn what he would like to, and guiding them when they need it.
Another one of the great ways that a kid learns is when their parent is interested in something. The child sees the parent pursuing their interest, and they get curious. Especially when the parent shares what they are learning. We all get excited when we find something particularly interesting, and we want to share, right? Well, that excitement catches the kid's interest. At least for a small period where you share what is exciting you, and they listen for your sake. And if it catches their interest as well, then they may ask questions which lead to more research. If it doesn't interest them, they can go off and do what does interest them. And then later, if the subject comes up again, they have been introduced to it, and the parent can say, "Remember when I was interested in such and such, and I told you about it?"
I have so many examples of how my and my husband's interests have sparked long and interesting conversations with our kids that I guess I'll have to do another post just about that.
Sticking to the current post's subject though, I would like to clarify one of the larger parts of unschooling that I define as different from a lot of unschoolers, especially the radical ones.
I do not believe in the philosophy of child led child-rearing. God put us here as parents to love, nurture, and TRAIN our children. Sometimes this includes having them do things they are not at all interested in doing because they cannot see the good in doing so. Sometimes this means that they need correction and punishment. This also means that they learn responsibility through helping with the housework, indoors and out, helping with their siblings, etc.
So, in a nutshell, to me, unschooling means life without school. It has nothing to do with our parenting style as far as discipline goes, but other than that, it has EVERYTHING to do with it. We are not parents who sit on the sideline, and ask a few questions about our kids homework, because we haven't been with them for the past 7 hours. We are not just the kids' chaffuer to sports events where they hang out with their friends. We are not like the parents I heard about the other day: A recent study shows that most parents actually spend just 30 seconds of quality time with their children each day!
We define our unschooling lifestyle as watching over, helping with, and just plain being aware of most everything our children learn.
They are with us A LOT. We like it that way! And so far, that's what unschooling means to me!