A home education planner and timetable app: what you actually need, and what you don't
Most "homeschool planner" apps are school software with the school taken out: attendance registers, grade books, lesson-plan templates with learning objectives. Home-educating families rarely need any of that. What they need is simpler and harder: a week that mostly runs itself, a place to put the one-off things, a way to tick things off, and something to do at three o'clock when the plan has run out. This page is about that, and about how PipsVillage approaches it. It is free to use for planning, on every plan.
What a home-ed planner needs to do
1. Build the week once
The core of most home-ed weeks is a rhythm: reading after breakfast, maths before lunch on three days, forest school on Thursdays, swimming on Fridays. A planner should let you set that rhythm once and have it fill every week by itself, so you are not re-entering "Reading" fifty times a year. A paper planner can do this too; our free printable weekly planner is the one we keep on the fridge.
2. Put one-off things on any day
A museum trip, a dentist, a meet-up, a library session. These need to sit on the same calendar as the timetable, not in a separate app, so the child (and you) can see the whole day at a glance.
3. One calendar per child, one view for the family
Two children, two timetables, two sets of activities, but you want one screen in the morning. Anything that makes you flip between accounts loses.
4. Tick things off
Marking something done is the whole record-keeping system for a lot of families. Done things should be easy to see later, and a small reward (points, a ring filling up) helps younger children more than any of us like to admit.
5. Reminders that respect your day
A nudge a few minutes before a planned activity, not a notification storm. Lead time should be yours to choose.
6. Ideas when the plan runs out
The real planning problem is not Monday morning; it is Wednesday at three when the sticker-book is finished. A planner that can hand you one age-appropriate idea, with what you need and how long it takes, earns its place.
How PipsVillage does it
PipsVillage is an app for finding home-ed families, but the planning side is built to the list above, and it is free:
- Calendar with a recurring timetable. Put one-off activities on any day and create a recurring timetable that fills every week by itself. Tick things off as you go to earn points. (A timetable from a photo or document can be imported, so a planner you already use on paper can become the starting point.)
- Every child, on every plan. Add as many children as you like; each gets their own age-sorted activities and timetable, and you see them together.
- Activities sorted by age, rated by families. Hundreds of ideas tailored to each child's age, with what you'll need and how to do it, rated by families who have tried them. Add one to the calendar with a tap, share your own with the village, or send one to a friend by WhatsApp.
- Pip, the AI helper. Stuck for an idea? Ask Pip, our friendly outline bird: one question a day on the free Discovering plan, unlimited on Village.
- Lesson reminders. Turn on reminders in Preferences to get a nudge before each planned activity; Village members choose the lead time.
- Progress rings and insights (Village): education, development and brain-time rings for every learner, with daily and weekly summaries that spot patterns.
- Events in the same calendar. Anything you say you're going to appears on the day, so the social side and the learning side are one view.
Everything above except progress reports, unlimited Pip questions and custom reminder lead times is on the free plan. Plans are set out on the home page.
A sample week, the way it looks in practice
| Morning | Midday | Afternoon | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | Reading · Maths | Lunch | Nature walk (timetable) |
| Tue | Reading · Writing | Lunch | Park meet-up (event) |
| Wed | Reading · Maths | Lunch | Kitchen science (activity) |
| Thu | Forest school (timetable) | Free play | |
| Fri | Reading · Project | Swimming (timetable) | Library |
The timetable items repeat every week; the event came from a family nearby; the activity was Pip's suggestion on a rainy Wednesday. See our sample homeschool schedule for three more rhythms by age, and organising a small homeschool space for the physical side.
What you don't need
- Attendance registers. You are not a school.
- Grades. A tick and an occasional note ("found this hard", "wants more of this") is a better record for most families.
- A separate app per child.
- Lesson plans with objectives, unless they help you. Most families find a rhythm plus a reading list is enough until exams come into view.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free home education planner app?
Yes. PipsVillage's calendar, recurring timetable, activity ideas and tick-off tracking are on the free Discovering plan, for every child in the family.
Can I plan for more than one child?
Yes. Add every child; each has their own timetable and age-sorted activities, shown together in one calendar.
Does it work on iPhone and Android?
Yes. PipsVillage is a web app installed from the browser (nothing from an app store): Add to Home Screen on iPhone or iPad, Install on Android or a computer. Steps at Get the app.
Do I need to follow a curriculum to use it?
No. The timetable is whatever you put in it. Structured, unschooling, flexi-schooling and world-schooling families all use it.