Afterschooler: An afterschooler is a child who attends a traditional school, but receives supplemental teaching from his parents in the evenings, on weekends and during vacations.

Auditory learner: An auditory learner is a child who learns best by listening.

Coordinated learning: Coordinated learning means having each child in your family study the same subject, but at his own level. Some portions of the lesson will be done together and others will be done individually, with each child doing something appropriate for his own abilities. The children then share what they have learned.

Cross-curriculum lessons: A cross-curriculum lesson is a lesson which teaches several subjects at once. For example, a poster about a book on Mars  will teach both art and science. If a brief report appears at the bottom of the poster, it may also be considered language arts, and if it’s typed, it may be listed as computer skills.

Curriculum: Curriculum refers to the subjects studied in your school and the topics and skills covered throughout the year.

Eclectic learning: Eclectic learning is a combination of structured learning and unschooling. Parents select the method that best suits the subject to teach, the learning styles of the child, and the needs of the family at any given time. Methods often change as the home situation changes.

Government schools: Government schools are public schools. Homeschoolers often refer to public schools as government schools to remind people that their children are being educated by the government, which has an agenda for your child that may not match your agenda for your child.

Homeschooling  Homeschooling is defined as the education of a child by one or more members of his family.

IEP: IEP is an abbreviation for "Individual Educational Plan." Public schools write these plans to set goals and select learning methods for disabled students.

Inclusive support group: An inclusive support group is a support group that accepts all types of homeschooling families, regardless of religious preference or homeschooling method.

Kinesthetic learner: A kinesthetic learner is a student who learns best by touching or doing.

Non-traditional learning: Non-traditional learning is learning that is conducted in a manner other than listening to a lecture, reading a book or completing a worksheet. Homeschool lessons often involve flying kites, serving at a soup kitchen or keeping a life-book of birds your child has seen. In other words, they learn from life.

Online support group: Homeschooling parents who offer support and help to each other through e-mail lists or forum message boards on the Internet call themselves an online support group. They lack face-to-face contact, but are especially valuable for those who don’t know other homeschoolers, for those who are shy, and for those who are on a tight schedule and don’t want to get involved in a busy local group.

Part-time homeschooling: Part-time homeschooling means attending public or private school, but having your education supplemented by the parents.

Phonics: Phonics is a reading method that teaches children to sound out new words.

Portfolio: A portfolio is a sampling of a child’s school work, educational activities and accomplishments for a year. Some states allow these to be evaluated by a professional teacher instead of requiring a child to take a standardized test.

Restrictive support groups: Restrictive support groups are groups that restrict membership to certain types of people. Homeschooling groups most commonly restrict membership to one type of homeschooling style or to a specific religion. Groups occasionally restrict membership to  a specific race or nationality.

Scope and Sequence: School districts create scope and sequence lists to show what children should learn at each grade level. These are often rather vague, but are valuable to parents as a way to prove you are teaching whatever the state thinks is important this year. You can use the language of your state’s list to outline your course of study.

Sight reading: Sight reading is a reading method that requires the child to memorize each word as an entire unit. Some teachers combine sight reading with phonics, but others use one or the other exclusively.

S-Word: The S-Word means socialization.

Socialization: Socialization is the first thing homeschoolers are asked about. A new homeschooler should memorize an explanation of how her children will learn to play with other children. This question is nearly always asked exactly this way: “But what about socialization?”

Standardized Tests: Standardized tests are tests that are supposed to evaluate how well a child has learned a subject compared to other children in his grade and age group. Some states require such testing of homeschoolers.

Structured Learning: Structured learning is homeschooling that resembles a traditional public school education, with lessons planned by the parent in a systematic format.

Support groups: A support group is a group of homeschooling parents who meet together to offer encouragement and support for the homeschooling process. Some groups also provide training, legal advocacy, and co-op classes.

Teacher’s Notebook: A teacher's notebook is a three-ring binder kept by the teacher that contains official school records, including attendance, lesson plans and test results.

Thematic Unit: For thematic unit see unit study.

Trade Books: Trade books are books you can purchase at any bookstore, designed for the general public. Many homeschoolers use these books instead of expensive and often inaccurate textbooks.

Traditionally-educated: Being traditionally-educated means receiving schooling at a public or private school, rather than at home with your family.

Unit Study: A unit study is a series of lessons drawing from a variety of school subjects, used to teach a topic in-depth. For instance, a unit study on Harry Potter might include geography lessons on England, the making of a mural of the school, a science lesson on herbs and a history lesson on education, with material for each subject relating to the book in some way.

Unschooling  Unschooling is an informal method of education in which a child learns through his own experiences and follows a course of learning largely determined by his own interests.

Visual Learner: A visual learner is a student who learns best by seeing the material to be learned.