Academics · Subject Resources · Homeschool

Count the parent’s
hours, too.

List each subject with its lessons, the minutes you teach, prep and checking. The calculator adds up your week, the teaching a school day and each child’s share, and shows what fits.

Add up my weekWhat you get

The homeschool parent workload calculator

The worked example is a four-day fall term for a 2nd grader and a 6th grader, with science and history taught together. Nothing you type leaves this browser.

Loading the calculator. If nothing appears, turn on JavaScript.

What you get

Academics · Subject ResourcesFree

What you finish with
Your hours a week split into teaching, prep, checking and planning, the teaching a school day, each child’s share and the heaviest subjects, with the hours spare or over. It prints as a one-page plan for the term.
Who it is for
Homeschooling parents planning a term or adding a child, and families deciding whether homeschooling fits around work and the rest of the household.
Format
Browser calculator for a phone, tablet or computer, by touch or keyboard. Prints a summary; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); export and import a file.
Access
Free. No account, no sign-in and nothing to install. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Subject Resources space in Caveat Academics.
Support
Questions, a correction or a request: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Set school days and your hours.
  2. Add each subject for each child.
  3. Type lessons and teaching minutes.
  4. Add prep and checking.
  5. Trim the heaviest lines.

Add up my week

How the week is added up

Only the parent’s minutes count.

The worked example: fall term, grades 2 and 6Teaching11 h 45 minlessons × minutesPrep3 h 5 mina weekChecking2 h 55 mina weekYour week19 h 45 minwith 2 h of planningThe worked example: fall term, grades 2 and 6Teaching11 h 45 minlessons × minutesPrep3 h 5 mina weekChecking2 h 55 mina weekYour week19 h 45 minwith 2 h of planning
Teaching time is lessons times the minutes you teach; prep, checking and planning are added on. Minutes a child works alone are not counted.

Teaching time is not school time

A 6th grader working through a math lesson alone for 45 minutes may need only 20 minutes of the parent. Count the minutes you are actually teaching, explaining or reading aloud. A subject taught to two children at once goes on one line, so its time is counted once.

Prep, checking and planning

Prep is gathering materials and reading ahead; checking is marking, giving feedback and conferencing over writing. Planning and records cover lesson plans, attendance, a portfolio or work samples, and ordering books. Writing often takes more checking than teaching; a rubric or an answer key the child uses first can shorten it.

Sources

  1. National Center for Education Statistics (2023). Homeschooled children and reasons for homeschooling: Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey, National Household Education Surveys Program (nces.ed.gov).
  2. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Practice guide: Teaching Elementary School Students to Be Effective Writers (2012), on feedback and conferencing time.
  3. Brookhart, S. M. (2017). How to Give Effective Feedback to Your Students (2nd ed.). ASCD.
  4. U.S. Census Bureau. Household Pulse Survey: homeschooling rates (census.gov).

A planning estimate from your own minutes. State homeschool requirements differ and are not covered here. Your entries stay in this browser. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.