I've watched a few videos on the subject of "unschooling" recently and it feels like the sort of thing that, in theory, could work for some kids but only if the parents are willing and able to put in a lot of time, effort, and probably money.
The basic idea is that the kids don't go to school and they don't have any structured homeschooling. They learn from experiences and based on what they want to learn.
And I guess parents might be able to make this work if they provide a load of encouragement, guidance, and opportunities.
So if you want a really young kid to learn to read, you could give encouragement by showing that reading is an enjoyable and useful thing to know how to do. You could read a book to the kid every bedtime and spend time sitting and reading for pleasure so show that this is a normal part of life. You could do making together and read the recipe from the recipe book to show that reading gives you useful information. When out and about, you could point to street signs and things to demonstrate that signs tell you things you need to know. If the kid is constantly surrounded by this, they will pick up on the fact that learning to read is important and good.
But the parents should also give guidance. Maybe you don't want to sit your kid down and give them actual lessons, but are you giving them any hints on how reading works at all? When you point to the signs, you could spell them out. "We can't go through that door. Do you see that sign? It says N-O nuh-oh no, E-N-T-R-Y, eh-nuh-tuh-ruh-ee entry. No entry. That sign says we can't go in there and if we do we'll get in trouble." Not a formal lesson, but a quick demonstration of how letters relate to sounds. Do that a couple of times a day and the kid will probably pick up on the way the letters should sound and can be encouraged to try it out for themselves with words that they see often.
Then give them lots of opportunities to see how written words relate to sounds. This could be Disney sing-along videos with the words highlighted on the screen as they're sung, books with repeated patterns of letters to make rhymes that the parents can read with them, phonics educational games, etc.
If the parents were willing to do stuff like that, I could see how an "unschooled" kid could learn to read without having formal lessons, but it's clear that a lot of the parents involved aren't, so instead you see posts on unschooling forums where a parent is asking for guidance because their ten year old hasn't spontaneously taught themselves to read.
And with older kids, I can imagine them learning if the parents encourage them to ask questions and then make a point of helping them find the answer. Like if a kid asks why the sky is blue, answer with "let's find out," and guide the kid to reliable educational websites to look it up and find out about light refraction and the atmosphere and maybe find the answer to that question could lead to talking about the shape of the Earth and the other planets in the solar system, or to talking about how light refraction is also responsible for rainbows. "You wanted to find out about one thing and you've found out about two! Isn't learning exciting?"
And again, the parents should encourage asking questions about the world and finding out about things, and demonstrate the eagerness to learn and try out new things. Make looking for information part of the normal daily routine. "I'm going to learn about weaving today because I want to know how cloth gets made. What do you want to learn about today?"
And give them science kits and educational toys and kid-friendly books that introduce various subjects and take them to museums. Take them to workshops and activities for different skills and let them try things out, and then follow up those activities with finding out more information to read up on it. Watch documentaries with them as a family activity. Play games that involve counting and adding up numbers (counting and basic sums would need to be given the same sort of effort and encouragement as reading when they're little).
With a massive amount of thought and effort on the part of the parents, I can see how unschooling might be made to mostly work. I still think the kids in question would likely have massive gaps in their learning, and they would definitely not have the same opportunities to socialise and learn how to interact with other kids their own age, so I think in general it's a bad idea, but there would be ways to make it less bad.
But there are definitely families that aren't doing anything even close to this, and so they go online and worry about the fact that their kids are spending ten hours a day playing Minecraft and don't seem to be interested in teaching themselves stuff.
Could unschooling be made to work? Probably but it would be extremely difficult and time-consuming.
Is it currently working for a lot of the kids going through it? Absolutely not, and this is, in my opinion, a form of neglect and child abuse that should not be allowed. The poor kids who are being left to their own devices in the theory that they will intuitively learn everything they need to learn are being done a massive disservice by their parents.
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