It can feel like you've jumped off a cliff when it's abrupt. Been there, done that. Over time, however, you'll feel less like a deer caught in the headlights. Nothing is etched in stone and few things in life are not irreversible.
This is my third yr homeschooling. I think there's a spectrum or bell curve, if you like, with both unschooling and homeschooling. There are extremes or radicals with both. Some parents take a completely hands-off approach with unschooling and virtually no limits or boundaries with anything, it seems. Others seem to be very traditional and conservative and swing the other direction. The majority probably sits somewhere along the middle, though at times it may not always seem that way.
If you've got a child who is more externally motivated, follows directions, is more a sequential thinker and is more a sitter, then homeschooling with a curriculum may work for you. If you've got a child who is more intrinsically motivated, struggles with following directions, isn't a sequential, and is more a race around the room type, then trying to pin your child to a set curriculum at a set time and place may not work for you and you may have to err towards unschooling. It really depends on the child and how they tick.
Regardless, most children are more willing and cooperative when there is a degree of choice involved (ie. would you like to read The Hobbit or Fahrenheit 451 to read) or are at least under the impression that their input counts and they have some choice over their lives.
