How to homeschool and work full time

Is it legal to teach in the evenings and on weekends?

Some laws say outright that the clock is yours. Three, in their records' words:

New Hampshire: It says dates and hours of instruction do not have to match the district calendar, and the academic term does not have to match the district school year.

Utah: The statute says the parent is solely responsible for the time, place and method of instruction, and the State Board of Education says Utah law does not require homeschool families to follow a set number of school days or instructional hours.

New York: NYSED says parents may choose to provide instruction on weekends or in the evening. It adds: "The total amount of instructional time per week should be generally comparable to that of the public school."

Your state's page says what yours asks. In the hours log, an evening lesson's time counts the same as a morning one.

Can someone else teach while I work?

Often, for part of it. New York is one example: "Parents may engage the services of a tutor to provide instruction for all or a portion of the home instruction program." And: "Parents providing home instruction to their children may arrange to have their children instructed in a group situation for particular subjects but not for a majority of the home instruction program."

Other states set their own rules on who may teach and on group classes; who can teach has each state's line from its record.

What does a week look like?

• Short, daily lessons in the evening: reading and math, the subjects that need little and often.
• Longer work on days off: science, history projects, writing, a library trip.
• Work a child can do alone while you are at work, set the night before: reading, a workbook page, practice. Leave the new teaching for when you are there.
• One or two outside classes, a co-op day or a tutor for a subject you cannot cover.
• A shorter year is not the answer where your state counts days; a longer one with fewer days a week can be. Four teaching days a week reach 180 days in 45 weeks.

How do I plan it?

1. In the lesson planner, give each course the weekdays you really teach it: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday is a plan; so is Sunday. Each course can have its own days.
2. Type the number of lessons and the first day; the planner lays the lessons on those days and shows the last one.
3. On a week when work wins, press "We missed today": every later lesson moves one teaching day.
4. Print the week as a tick list for the fridge, so a child or another adult can see what is next.

How do I keep the record?

Where your state counts hours, log the time when you teach it, evening or not: the hours log takes one tap to start and one to stop. Where it counts days, mark the days you taught in attendance. A tick in the planner can do both.

Start the plan

Open the lesson planner. It is free, needs no account, and keeps the plan in this browser.