Analysis of key categories in family education: from theoretical understanding to defining basic concepts

The article is devoted to the analysis and comparison of various approaches to understanding a number of closely related and overlapping concepts associated with family education. Among the categories considered are “family education,” “self-education,” “homeschooling,” “unschooling,” “home learning,” “alternative school,” “family school,” and others. The aim of this study is to identify common features and specific characteristics of these categories' interpretation, detect patterns, and propose its own version of a glossary. Research methods are based on analyzing Russian publications, normative documents, and official materials reflecting contemporary Russian experience in family education. Key findings include identifying fundamental distinctions between the categories, defining boundaries of their intersection and interaction, as well as offering solutions to address the problem of terminological ambiguity by compiling a specialized glossary that can serve as a foundation for further development of educational and regulatory documents in the field of family education.