School-Hours Planner: How Many Hours Can I Work From Home Around School?

How the school-hours planner works

“I’ll work while the kids are at school” sounds simple. Then you count the school run, the shopping, the dentist and the washing, and the six-hour school day shrinks to something much smaller. This planner works out how many focused hours you really have each week, shows them on a timetable, and suggests the kinds of work that fit.

Enter your drop-off and pick-up times, how long the school run takes and whether a younger child is at home. Add any evenings you can work after bedtime. The planner shows your weekly hours in term time and in the holidays, your longest daytime block, and an average for the whole year that you can take straight into our freelance rate calculator.

Why the real number is smaller than you think

The school run eats both ends of the day

If school starts at 8:50 and finishes at 2:30, that’s 5 hours 40 minutes. Take off 15 minutes each way for the school run and you’re down to 5 hours 10 minutes before you’ve done anything else.

The rest of life still happens

Housework, food shopping, appointments and calls with the school all land in the same hours. The planner keeps 25% of your free time for these by default. Some weeks you’ll need more, some less, but planning to work every free minute is the fastest way to burn out.

Younger children change everything

If a toddler is at home, your working time is really their nap time. If they’re in preschool or childcare for part of the day, you get those hours minus the extra drop-off and pick-up. In Ireland, the free ECCE preschool scheme typically covers three hours a day during the school year, which is enough for one solid work block.

Infants finish early

In Ireland, junior and senior infants usually finish about an hour before older pupils, so your pick-up time is set by your youngest school-age child. If one child finishes earlier on Fridays, use the separate Friday box.

School holidays: the gap most plans miss

Irish primary schools open about 182 days a year, roughly 36 weeks. Schools in England, Wales and Scotland open about 190 days (about 38 weeks), and most US districts about 180 days. That leaves 14 to 16 weeks a year when daytime work hours vanish unless you have holiday cover.

The planner works out your holiday hours separately. They include your evenings and weekends, plus any daytime hours you get from summer camps, family help or a partner taking leave. The yearly average shows what you can count on across the whole year, which is the honest number to use when planning income or agreeing hours with a client.

Which work fits into school hours?

Different jobs need different kinds of time. The planner looks at your longest daytime block and your evening hours, and suggests work that fits:

• Blocks of three hours or more make short employed shifts possible, for example part-time remote customer support or admin roles in school hours.
• Blocks of 90 minutes or more suit virtual assistant work, where you handle a client’s inbox, diary or admin.
• Quiet evenings suit deadline-based work such as bookkeeping and proofreading.
• Short bursts suit work you can pick up and put down, such as digital products or scheduling social media posts.

Online tutoring is popular with parents, but most demand is between 4pm and 8pm, exactly when your own children are home. It works best if a partner covers that time, or if you teach adults later in the evening. For a fuller match based on your skills too, try the Remote Work Matcher.

Tips for protecting your work time in school hours

• Do your most important task first, straight after drop-off, before anything else fills the time.
• Batch housework into one or two days so the other days stay clear.
• Tell clients your working hours up front. Most are happy with “I reply between 9.30 and 2”.
• Plan for sick days. A school-hours plan with no slack will break the first week someone has a temperature.

School hours planner FAQs

How many hours can a stay-at-home parent realistically work?

With school-age children and no extra childcare, many parents manage 10 to 20 focused hours a week in term time, plus whatever they can do in the evenings. With a toddler at home, it’s often under 10. The planner shows your own figure.

Why is the yearly average lower than my term-time hours?

Because school holidays take away most daytime hours for 14 to 16 weeks a year. The average spreads your total over all 52 weeks, so it’s the safer number for planning income.

Should I count evening hours?

Only if you can keep them up. One or two evenings a week is sustainable for most people; five evenings rarely lasts. Tiredness also makes evening work slower, so be realistic.

Can I use this if my children are in secondary school?

Yes. Enter their school times and set the school run to zero if they travel on their own. Irish secondary schools open about 166 days a year, so you’ll have a few more holiday weeks than with primary-age children.

Is my information saved anywhere?

No. The planner runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to us or stored.