The majority of families have more than one child at differing ages which means they cover a range of grades, sometimes crossing between elementary, middle school and high school. The first step is to know that as a parent, you don’t have to do it alone because there are support systems available outside of the education system that can help as well as access to quality educational programs that help with organization and teaching. These small groups are ideal for swapping creative ideas and joining together for field trips and extracurricular activities.
The best accredited online schools are set up so that your child can access their lessons through an online portal with their own login. The information that displays is generated just for them with their courses at their grade level and with the classes selected at the beginning of the year. Parents can purchase a tablet or laptop for each child so they can login at the same time to work on school tasks or use a single device and create a schedule that assigns time to each child in a rotation. The flexibility of homeschooling online is one of the top reasons that parents choose this option so they can work with the time and resources they have available.
Students have access to teaching staff at the school depending on the program the parent chooses and their level of involvement. High school students receive their online instruction completely from the school to ensure that credits are satisfied and all requirements for accreditation and the NCAA are met. Every home is different in how they setup the ‘classroom’, so you have to find what works for you. While the online portal is designed to be grade and course specific, parents can use time during the day to review concepts and lessons that cover all the grades especially if they are the teacher or if they want to work more closely with the school’s teachers. If not, then they still use the portal to stay engaged in the progress being made by the student. Another useful tool that keeps parents and students on track is the online lesson planner which each course contains to show what work needs to be completed each day to finish in the necessary time frame. It is not a requirement and students can work ahead to finish early or catch up if they get behind and still complete the course on time.
Keep everyone in line to get grades as progress is made is easy for parents with the online connection that provides an overview of their students and where they may need to step in to encourage or work one-on-one with if a child is struggling with a concept.
No parent is an expert in all subjects across all grades and with the best accredited online schools they don’t have to be because the responsibility lies with the student and the professional instructors attached assigned to the course. Homeschooling multiple children at home is no longer an overwhelming challenge so long as you work with a an accredited school that provides you with your own online portal to review progress in each course and grades being made along with access to the support system of teachers and the organization to keep students on target towards graduation.