Anita Brown-Major is an occupational therapist and mother of three and has already had her work hours reduced as a result of COVID-19.

Tips on how to homeschool: Communicate with your school and with other home tutors

Communicate with your school and with other home tutors Don't give up, even if you've had a bad day, shut the door, start fresh again tomorrow

Don't give up, even if you've had a bad day, shut the door, start fresh again tomorrow Take schoolwork outside or to another room in the house to mix things up

She is now facing the prospect of homeschooling her three daughters if schools close.

"The thought of it is a bit daunting. I think juggling work will be the biggest or the hardest thing," she said.

The social isolation will also be a challenge for this busy and outgoing family.

"I'm a bit worried that we might all go a bit stir-crazy with each other," she said.

Ms Brown-Major's partner, Adrian Brown, owns a building business, and they plan to work from home as much as possible, sharing the home tutoring of their daughters aged 13, 11 and 8.

Year 6 student, Amelie Brown, and her year 8 sister, Tameka, say they will study at home together if schools are shut down. ( ABC News: Rachel Carbonell )

"I don't think you can have three kids at home and expect one person to do that — that's not going to go down real well," Mr Brown said.

He said they were both aware that they were not trained tutors.

"We're not educators, apart from having been educated [ourselves]," he said.

But he said the family was more worried about how others would cope.

"We're both self-employed, essentially. Plenty have it harder than we're going to have it," Mr Brown said.

Lessons learnt

Home education expert Dr Rebecca English, from Queensland's University of Technology, says teaching at home is very different to teaching at school. ( Supplied )

Whatever situation parents and carers are in, it is possible that at some point in the near future they may have to consider home tutoring the children in their care.

Queensland University of Technology expert on home education, Rebecca English, said home education was increasing in Australia before COVID-19, so there was plenty of wisdom and knowledge for first-timers to draw on.

Dr English said one of the most important things for people to get their head around was how much home education differed from classroom education.

"At home, it's really different from being at school. It doesn't look like school, it doesn't act like school," she said.

"And that's because so much of school teaching involves big groups of students.

"You'll find your work [at home] is much quicker."

But Dr English said there would be struggles adjusting to the idea of home as a place for schooling.

"We're all really used to outsourcing our learning for our children to schools," she said.

"It's a real mind shift to come home and think, 'OK, we are learning at home now'."

Loving the light bulb moments

Barb McKimmie found herself homeschooling her two young children when her family moved from rural NSW to the remote Kimberley region in Western Australia.

She said the biggest challenge was not having a break from each other but, other than that, it was a very satisfying experience.

"You get to incorporate everyday life into learning and get to see the learning and light bulb moments kids have when they understand a concept," she said.

She has also learnt plenty of tricks to overcome difficulties.

"If things aren't working, don't keep pushing it, stop and move onto something else," she said.

Barb McKimmie is the home tutor for her two children, Jack and Oli, who do school of the air. ( ABC News: Rachel Carbonell )

"We come back to it and often with a break we can work it out together much easier."

To help keep things fresh, Ms McKimmie and her family have a little tin full of ideas for "brain breaks".

"Ideas for the tin are 10 star jumps, run around the house, choose a song to dance to," she said.

"All activities need to have a clear ending or time limit so they come back quickly."

'An extension of parenting'

Kasie Scott and her family. ( Supplied )

Mother of six, Kasie Scott, lives in outback Queensland and homeschools all her primary-school-aged children.

She said people should not be worried about being thrown into home tutoring.

"It's very rewarding, so don't think of it as a bad thing," she said.

"Educating a child is a natural process. It's nothing more than an extension of parenting.

"Organisation is the key for me. Establish a routine that works for your family and stick to it."

Kasie Scott's family has a dedicated home classroom. ( Supplied: Kasie Scott )

One of her top tips is to take schoolwork outside, or at least somewhere else in the house, just to mix things up when you need to.

"Write with chalk on the concrete [or] if you're doing counting or measuring, take it into the kitchen," she said.

Sometimes she takes her children outside to the home netball ring and gets them to spell words out to each bounce of the ball.

Teaching, and reaching out

Kasie Scott said there was always someone else out there who was having the same struggles in the home classroom, and reaching out was an important coping strategy.

"Communicate with your school, with other home tutors, Facebook groups," she said.

"It's definitely not all roses and beans. Some days are hard. There'll be tears from everybody but you've just got to work through it.

"Don't give up, even if you've had a bad day, shut the door, start fresh again tomorrow. We've had many, many of them."

Home truths

Year 8 student Tameka Brown says she will help her younger sisters with schoolwork if schools are shut down and they need to work from home. ( ABC News: Rachel Carbonell )

Back at the Brown household in Melbourne, 13-year-old Tameka said she would prefer not to have tutoring at home.

"I'd rather be at school because I like school. It'd be pretty boring at home," she said.

But she is quick to put the prospect of homeschooling into perspective.

"Even though it might be pretty bad in my head, it's a bit of a first-world problem for me," she said.

"There are other people worried about not being able to pay off their house because they're not getting any income, or not being able to do their job or put food on the table, not being able to have any money."

For Tameka's eight-year-old sister, Matilda, the main worry is simply having to learn alongside her sisters.

Matilda Brown says she is going to get sick of being stuck at home with her two older sisters if schools are shut. ( ABC News: Rachel Carbonell )

"They're going to really annoy me, so I'm not looking forward to that," she said.

It's a sentiment middle sister Amelie echoes.

"You do get to know each other more, but I think we're going to drive each other insane," she said.