Homeschooling or home schooling, also known as home education or elective home education, is the education of school-aged children in places other than a traditional school. Usually conducted by a parent, tutor, or online teacher, many homeschooling families use less formal, more personalized learning methods that are not always found in schools. The practice of homeschooling varies considerably: the spectrum ranges from highly structured forms based on traditional school lessons to more open, free forms such as unschooling, which is a lesson- and curriculum-free implementation of homeschooling. Some families who initially attended a school go through a deschooling process to detach from traditional school habits and prepare for homeschooling. While "homeschooling" is the term commonly used in North America, "home education" is primarily used in Europe and many Commonwealth countries. Homeschooling should not be confused with distance education, which generally refers to the arrangement where the student follows the curriculum and requirements of an online school rather than being educated independently and unrestrictedly by their parents or by themselves.