After home educating for so long, one thing that I have learnt is that the way you home educate is not that important....unschooling, Montessori, Steiner, Charlotte Mason, Using a curriculum.....They all work at the end. They all get a child educated, as long as the parents are dedicated to the path and the learning journey.

I prefer a balanced approach of self directed, and educated, because I have seen people who say that they "unschool" (and maybe this is particularly an Australian interpretation) but they take it to mean doing nothing, and so when high school comes along, they haven't worked out how children learn, and so they struggle to educate their children without school, or a lot of classes. Contrast this with the people home schooling and using a lot of curriculum, they can get their child through a whole education, but IMO the child often times lacks self-direction and the ability to be free.

So IMO the best thing is just to start, not to spend too much on curriculum initially, but to do some research and work out how you want your family's education to look. Over time, it will change, as you and your family grow and evolve.