How does the homeschool schedule planner build each child's day?

It anchors the first block at your school-day start time, then places any fixed-start shared activities (like a noon lunch) first. It packs each child's subject blocks sequentially around them: block[0] starts at the day start, and block[n] starts at block[n-1].start + block length + break length. The number of blocks that fit per day is floor( available minutes / (block length + break length) ), where available minutes = (end time − start time) minus shared-activity time and any co-op carve-out. Anything that doesn't fit is listed under 'Did not fit this day' rather than silently dropped.

Does it check my state's required homeschool hours?

It projects annual instruction hours (weekly instruction × planned school weeks) and compares them to a state-minimum number you enter. It ships with reference defaults (e.g. NY 900 hr grades 1–6 / 990 hr grades 7–12; CO 720/990/1,080 hr by band) but it is a planning tool, not a legal-compliance authority. Homeschool hour and day laws vary by state and change — always verify against your state's current statute or a state homeschool organization such as HSLDA.

What's the difference between Fixed-grid and Loop mode?

Fixed-grid pins each subject to a recurring clock-time slot, so Tuesday always looks like Tuesday. Loop mode instead produces one ordered rotation list you advance through — slot k of the week is subject[k mod L], and a 'next up' pointer shows where to resume. Loop is ideal for enrichment subjects across multiple kids so nothing gets perpetually skipped; you simply pick up where you left off.

Are lunch and chores counted as instruction time?

No — by default only subject blocks and shared activities you explicitly flag as academic (co-op, morning meeting) count toward instruction hours. Lunch and chores are excluded. Whether your state lets you count read-alouds, field trips, or co-op as instructional time is your responsibility; flagging an activity academic should be a deliberate, documented choice.

Why are the default subject blocks so short?

Block-length defaults track attention span (roughly 2–5 minutes per year of age, per AACAP guidance): PreK/K 15 min, grades 1–2 20, 3–4 30, 5–6 40, 7–8 45, 9–12 50. A 6-year-old realistically focuses about 12–18 minutes, so scheduling a 50-minute math block leads to meltdowns. The defaults are deliberately short so the printed schedule is achievable, not aspirational.

Is the homeschool schedule planner free and private?

Yes — 100% free. All math runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded and the tool works offline. Your plan is saved to local storage on this device, so closing the tab keeps it, but clearing browser data can lose it.

Homeschool Schedule Planner

Q: What is the teacher-conflict check?

For every time slot it counts how many parent-led blocks overlap across all children. If that count is greater than the number of teaching parents you set (default 1), it flags a conflict at that slot — one parent can't teach two kids at once. Mark subjects a child can do independently to stagger the parent-led load and clear conflicts.

Set your hours, add your kids & subjects, block out lunch and co-op, and get a printable daily & weekly routine with conflict warnings

School day

School day start

Anchors the first block — every block flows forward from here.

School day end (target)

Defines the day window; blocks past this are flagged as overrun.

Days of week schooling

Drives the weekly grid columns and every weekly/annual total. A 4-day week is common (Friday for co-op/catch-up).

Break between blocks (min)

Inserted after each subject block so the timeline is realistic.

Scheduling mode

Loop is ideal for enrichment across multiple kids.

Teaching parents

Used for the teacher-conflict check on parent-led blocks.

Add a child

Child's name

Grade band

Sets the default block length.

Block length (min)

Tracks attention span. Auto-fills from band; edit if you like.

Subjects (add one at a time)

Sess/wk

Led by

No subjects yet — add Math, Reading, etc. (or leave empty for an activities-only day).

Weekly target sessions feed the coverage report and the loop rotation. Parent-led subjects drive the teacher-conflict check.

Children

No children added yet — add at least one above to build a schedule.

Shared activities (block out time for everyone)

Activity

Duration (min)

Fixed start (opt.)

Blank = flows in.

Academic?

Applied to the days you school. Academic activities (co-op, morning meeting) count toward instruction hours; lunch/chores don't.

No shared activities yet — Lunch, Morning Meeting, and Chores are common.

Co-op / out-of-house day & state-minimum settings

Co-op / out-of-house day

Marks the day unavailable for home subjects (still counts per academic flag).

Co-op start

Co-op end

Planned school weeks / year

180 days ÷ days-per-week. 5-day ≈ 36, 4-day ≈ 45. Auto-suggests from your days.

State minimum (hours/year)

Reference: NY 900/990, CO 720/990/1,080. Verify your state's statute (e.g. HSLDA).

Co-op counts academic?

If yes, the co-op block adds to that day's instruction.

Schedule status

No children yet

0 kids

Add at least one child, then your subjects and shared activities, to build a printable weekly routine.

Homeschool Schedule Planner — guide & how to use

What it does

Most homeschool "schedule templates" are static PDFs you can't actually edit, and spreadsheets are fiddly the moment you have more than one child. This homeschool schedule planner builds the routine for you. Set your school hours and days, add each child with a grade band and subjects, and block out shared activities (lunch, chores, morning meeting, co-op). The tool packs each child's subject blocks around those shared times, produces a printable weekly grid and a per-child daily timeline with clock times, and warns you about the things plans usually miss: teacher conflicts (one parent needed in two places), day overruns, over-packed days, and subjects that didn't fit. It also projects daily, weekly, and annual instruction hours and checks them against your state's minimum.

How to use it

Set the school-day start & end and tick the days you school (a 4-day week is common).
Pick a break length between blocks and a scheduling mode (Fixed-grid or Loop).
Add each child: name, grade band (sets the default block length), and their subjects with weekly target sessions and a parent-led / independent flag.
Add shared activities — Lunch (try a fixed 12:00 start), Morning Meeting, Chores — flagging the academic ones.
Optionally set a co-op day, your planned school weeks, and your state minimum.
Read the grid, each child's timeline, the coverage table, and the warning panel. Then Copy result, print to PDF, or copy a share link.

Worked example

One child, Emma (grades 3–4, so a 30-min default block), schooling Mon–Thu 9:00–15:00 with a 10-min break. Subjects: Math, Reading, Writing, Science, History (4 sessions/week each). Shared activities: Morning Meeting 15 min (academic), Lunch 45 min fixed at 12:00, Chores 20 min. The day window is 9:00→15:00 = 360 min. Shared time = 15 + 45 + 20 = 80 min, so available = 360 − 80 = 280 min. Each block + break = 30 + 10 = 40 min, so blocks per day = floor(280 / 40) = 7. Emma's morning runs 9:00 Morning Meeting (all) → 9:15 Math → 9:55 break → 10:05 Reading…, Lunch pins at 12:00, and subjects flow around it. Projected daily instruction = 7 blocks × 30 min = 210 min of subjects + 15 min academic Morning Meeting = 225 min = 3.8 h. Weekly = 3.8 × 4 days = 15.0 h. Annual at 45 weeks = 15.0 × 45 ≈ 675 h. Against a 900-hr state minimum that's a SHORTFALL of ~225 h — so you'd add school weeks, lengthen the day, or count more activities as academic. With 5 subjects × 4 sessions = 20 target sessions and 7 blocks/day × 4 days = 28 slots, every subject's coverage target is met.

How the math works

Available minutes/day: (end − start) minus shared-activity durations that day minus any co-op carve-out. Clamped to 0 (never negative).
Blocks per day (per child): floor(available_minutes / (block_length + break_length)) — rounded down; you can't run a partial block.
Block start (sequential pack): fixed-start shared activities are placed first; subject blocks flow around them, each starting at previous.start + block_length + break_length, rounded to the minute.
Projected daily instruction: subject_blocks × block_length + any academic shared activities (lunch/chores excluded by default). Hours = minutes ÷ 60, 1 decimal.
Weekly instruction: sum of daily instruction across schooled days ÷ 60, 1 decimal. Annual: weekly × planned school weeks, rounded to a whole hour.
State-minimum check: annual projection vs. your entered requirement — PASS if ≥, else SHORTFALL = requirement − projection (whole hours).
Subject coverage: scheduled sessions this week vs. weekly target; deficit = max(0, target − scheduled) flags under-served subjects.
Loop rotation (Loop mode): subjects ordered into a list of length L; slot k = subject[k mod L]; next-up pointer = sessions_completed mod L. If L = 0, the loop is empty (warned, not computed).
Teacher-conflict check: for each time slot, count overlapping parent-led blocks across all kids; if that exceeds your teaching-parent count, it's flagged.
Day-overrun check: if the last block's end > your target end time, overrun minutes are flagged with a suggestion to drop or shorten blocks.

Accuracy & disclaimers

This is a planning & layout tool, not a legal-compliance authority. The state-minimum check uses figures you enter (with built-in reference defaults); homeschool hour/day laws vary by state and change — always verify against your state's current statute or a state homeschool organization (e.g. HSLDA). Recommended block lengths are developmental guidelines (attention span ≈ 2–5 minutes per year of age, AACAP), not mandates — defaults are deliberately short so the printed schedule is achievable. The annual projection assumes every planned block actually happens; real weeks lose time to sick days, appointments, and rabbit-trails, so treat the annual hours as an optimistic ceiling and pad with buffer weeks. Many states count read-alouds, field trips, and co-op as instructional time — the tool lets you flag shared activities as academic, but how your state counts them is your responsibility. The tool stores nothing server-side and uses no external API: all math runs in your browser, recalculation is instant, and it works offline. Closing the tab can lose unsaved entries unless you Copy result, print to PDF, or use the share link.

You can also embed this planner on your own site — see the copy-paste embed code at the bottom of the page.

Frequently asked questions

How does it build each child's day?

It anchors block[0] at your school-day start, places fixed-start shared activities (like a noon lunch) first, then packs subject blocks around them — each starting at the previous block's start + block length + break length. Blocks per day = floor(available minutes ÷ (block + break)). Anything that doesn't fit is listed under "Did not fit this day," never silently dropped.

Does it check my state's required hours?

It projects annual hours (weekly × planned weeks) and compares them to a state minimum you enter, with reference defaults (NY 900/990, CO 720/990/1,080). It's a planner, not legal advice — laws vary by state and change, so verify with your state statute or HSLDA.

What is the teacher-conflict check?

For each time slot it counts overlapping parent-led blocks across all kids. If that exceeds your number of teaching parents (default 1), it flags a conflict — one parent can't teach two children at once. Mark subjects independent to stagger the parent-led load.

Fixed-grid vs. Loop — which do I want?

Fixed-grid pins each subject to a recurring slot (Tuesday always looks the same). Loop produces one ordered rotation you advance through, with a "next up" marker — great for enrichment across several kids so nothing is perpetually skipped.

Do lunch and chores count as instruction?

No, not by default. Only subject blocks and shared activities you flag as academic (co-op, morning meeting) count. Counting lunch and chores to hit an hour minimum should be a deliberate, documented choice — and how your state counts it is your responsibility.

Why are the default blocks so short?

They track attention span — about 2–5 minutes per year of age (AACAP). A 6-year-old focuses ~12–18 minutes, so a 50-minute block invites meltdowns. Defaults: PreK/K 15, 1–2 20, 3–4 30, 5–6 40, 7–8 45, 9–12 50 minutes.

Common mistakes to avoid

Scheduling adult-length blocks (a 50-min math for a 6-year-old) — the band default keeps blocks age-appropriate.
Forgetting transition/break time, so the paper plan ends at 2:00 but real life runs to 4:00 — the break input forces realistic gaps.
Double-booking the one teaching parent across two kids' parent-led blocks — the teacher-conflict check catches it.
Confusing required annual hours with a daily target (900 hr/year is not a 5-hour day) — the tool separates daily, weekly, and annual.
Giving every subject a daily fixed slot for every child instead of using Loop mode for enrichment — that's the spreadsheet trap.
Counting lunch and chores as instruction to hit minimums — excluded by default; flag academic only deliberately.
Planning a 5-day grid but only schooling 4 days, then under-counting weekly hours — the days input drives every total.

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Your schedule is saved only in your browser. We don't store or sell your data. Planning aid — verify state requirements with your state statute or HSLDA.