Is eclectic homeschooling the same as unschooling? Not exactly.
The two approaches certainly share a great deal in common, but they’re not quite the same thing.
Unschooling is often called “child-led learning.” It’s a philosophy in which the child chooses what subjects to study, and at what pace. The parents act less as teachers and more as facilitators. They provide the child with the materials, resources, and opportunities necessary to pursue his interests as independently as possible.
Eclectic homeschooling gives parents a great deal of flexibility to respond to their children’s interests and design lesson plans accordingly. But parents typically choose what topics are covered and may even provide a rough schedule to follow. In other words, eclectic homeschooling occupies the middle ground between the inflexible structured curriculum of traditional schooling, and the free, structureless approach of unschooling.