Is it Possible to Homeschool Multiple Grades While Working?

Marie Williams is a busy mom, wife, mentor, and tutoring group director from Georgia. She also works at a local university in her hometown. With three children, two in elementary and one in middle school, Marie does everything she can to use her time as wisely and efficiently as possible.

Marie recently joined us on our sixth episode of “Tales from the Homeschool Front.” You can watch the full interview/chat here:

In August of 2020, Marie started homeschooling her two daughters, ages 10 and 6. Since both of her girls are very sociable and love being in a classroom, Marie started homeschooling with a program that included ‘video teachers’, hoping it would have a classroom feel. Turns out, that wasn’t the case. “It didn’t fit,” she recalls. In fact, the experience was not the same at all. It was frustrating. Although they were able to physically see a classroom, they weren’t really able to participate. Plus, they needed to keep up with the pace of the program, no matter how comfortable they felt with the material. “It was stressful for my oldest child, and just sheer boring for my youngest child,” she says.

Marie decided to take matters into her own hands. She researched Georgia’s state standards and pieced together different resources, programs, and activities, to create her own homeschool curriculum. “That was stressful to me,” she says. So Marie started looking for something that already had her state standards in mind, had everything ready to go, and most importantly, had a grading system. Then, she learned about Time4Learning.

Her daughters were immediately impressed. “The girls love the interface,” she says, especially when other programs were ‘sterile’ and boring. “They enjoyed the videos, being able to retake a test, and go back to an activity to brush up on. All of those things were plusses that the other programs did not have,” she says.

Another huge benefit for Marie are the assessments and automated reports that she can easily pull at any time. “I don’t have to be as frantic about keeping paper,” she says. “I need things in a file, online, strategically organized, and Time4Learning does that for me.” In the event that the girls ever go back to a traditional school, she can just print the reports and all their completed work is ready to go.

Personalizing her daughters’ education now that she homeschools is invaluable. Marie makes the comparison to traditional schools where students need to keep up with the rest of the class. “If you miss a link in the chain it’s hard to continue flowing,” she says. She loves how Time4Learning allows parents to set the pace. “It’s homeschool for a reason,” says Marie. “We get to adjust the pace.”

For parents who are unsure about homeschooling, Marie says not to worry. She believes that parents are already equipped to homeschool. “Be confident in your ability to teach your child,” she says. “What you don’t have is out there and it’s available, all you have to do is look for it.”