HomeSchool Scribe
Ways to use Student Mode
Student Mode gives a child their own screen: their day, big checkboxes, a timer for each lesson, and a way to tell you they are stuck. How you get that screen in front of them depends on how many children you have and how many devices. Here are four setups that work today, and what each one needs.
One thing first, because it saves an afternoon. Your records live in your own iCloud, and Apple keeps every Apple Account's iCloud separate. So any device that shows your family's records has to be signed in to the same Apple Account as the device you plan on. That single fact shapes every choice below.
1. Hand over your own phone or iPad
The simplest one, and where most families start. When a child finishes something, they take your device, tap through their own list, and hand it back. Exit asks for your PIN, so the rest of the app stays yours.
Nothing to set up. Open the child's card on Today and tap Student Mode.
Suits: One or two children, especially younger ones already working beside you.
2. Keep a school iPad where the children work
An older iPad, or a spare iPhone, signed in to the same Apple Account as the device you plan on. It sits on the table and the children use it through the day. Their records arrive through your own iCloud, so it always shows the same family, and anything they check off is on your phone by the time you look.
Turn it into a school device in Settings, under Student Mode, and the iPad opens on a board of the whole family instead of your own screens. Each child taps their own name, works through their own list, and taps back to the board when they are done, so nobody needs you to unlock anything in between. You can give any child a short code if a sibling keeps checking off their work, and several children can have a lesson timer running at once.
Suits: Several children working in the same room, and anyone who would rather not hand over a personal phone. This is the setup most families with more than one child will want.
3. Give each child their own device, on a school Apple Account
Records travel through an Apple Account, so every device that shows your family's records has to be signed in to the same one. Putting your personal account on a child's iPad is one way to do that, but there is a tidier one: make a second Apple Account used only for school, and sign every school device in to it, including the device you plan on. Nothing personal of yours is on that account, so it is no longer a private account being passed around the house.
Two things to know. The free iCloud tier is 5 GB, and portfolio photos will fill it, so a school account may need a paid storage plan. And because the school account is what carries the records, your own planning has to happen on a device signed in to it.
If you would rather not manage a second account, you can use your own on the children's devices instead. Turn off Photos, Mail, Messages and Notes for that device in your iCloud settings so only the app's records travel, and use Screen Time to hide anything you do not want opened.
Suits: Older children who work in different rooms, and families who already keep a separate school iPad.
4. Work from paper and check it off later
Write the day's list on paper, or read it out from Plan, and let a child work from that. You check the work off in the app when you are back together. Nothing syncs, because nothing needs to.
Suits: A co-op day, an afternoon at grandparents, or any time a screen is not welcome.
Locking a device to the app
On any device a child uses, Guided Access keeps them inside HomeSchool Scribe. Turn it on in iPhone or iPad Settings under Accessibility, then triple-click the side button once the app is open, and the device will not leave it until you triple-click again and enter your Guided Access code. With the parent PIN on the way out of Student Mode, that makes a school device a child can use freely and cannot wander off in.
Questions families ask
Can my child use their own Apple Account?
Not for the records. A child signed in to their own Apple Account has their own private iCloud, and your family's records are in yours, so their device would open to an empty app. Any device that shows your records signs in to the same Apple Account as the device you plan on. Families expect this one to work, so it is worth knowing before you set an iPad up.
Does Family Sharing not solve that?
Family Sharing shares the purchase, not the records. It means one Scribe Plus covers the family, and a second Apple Account in your family group will not be asked to pay again. It does not move school records between accounts, because Apple keeps each account's iCloud separate.
Do a child's check marks count the same as mine?
Yes. Attendance and hours fill in exactly as they do when you check something off yourself, and the lesson timer feeds the hours log.
Can a child get out of Student Mode?
Only with the parent PIN, which you are asked to set the first time you use it. Nothing else in the app is reachable from a child's screen.
Can a child take photos or share anything?
No. Moments, sharing, reports and settings all stay with the parent.
Two children want to use the same device.
Make it a school device in Settings, under Student Mode. It then opens on a board of the family, and each child taps their own name to reach their own list and taps back when they are finished, without you unlocking anything in between.
Can a child check off the wrong list?
The board shows everyone but checks nothing off; work can only be marked done inside a child's own list, so two children's checkboxes are never on screen together. If you still want a gate, give a child a short code in Settings. Anything checked off on the device is listed there too, and you can undo it.
Which devices work?
Any iPhone or iPad running iOS 26 or later, or iPadOS 26 or later. An older iPad kept for school is usually the easiest second device.
Not sure which fits? Email support and describe your children and your devices. We read every message and answer every one. Taking good care of the families who use HomeSchool Scribe matters to us as much as the app itself. More answers are in the help center.