The Instructional Time Page: A How-To Guide

The Instructional Time page is where you record the hours and days your students spend learning, and watch your progress toward your family's yearly goals fill in on two simple progress gauges. Many homeschool families use this page to keep the records their state or district asks for.

This guide walks through every function on the page.

Opening the Instructional Time page

From the main menu on the left, click Instructional Time. On a phone, the bottom bar shows only a few pages, so tap More (the menu button at the far right of the bottom bar), then tap Instructional Time in the list that slides up.

The page has three parts: a row of student tabs and buttons at the top, the Hours and Days progress gauges, and the Log table of your entries.

Before you start: Instructional Time is organized by student, so you need at least one student first. If you have not added anyone yet, the page shows "Add a student on the Family page first." Head to the Family page, add a student, then come back.

Choosing a student

Every student has their own tab, shown as a pill with the student's color dot and name. In the Demo Family account you will see two tabs: Ada and Linus.

1. Click a tab (for example, Ada) to switch to that student.
2. The active tab is highlighted and outlined in the student's color.
3. The gauges, the totals, and the Log table all update to show only that student's time.

When the page first loads, the first student in your family (Ada, the 5th grader) is selected for you.

Reading the Hours and Days gauges

The card near the top shows two progress rings, one for Hours and one for Days, both drawn in the selected student's color.

Each ring shows:

• A large percentage in the middle: how far this student has gone toward the goal.
• A smaller value / goal line underneath (for example, 120 / 180): the amount logged so far and the goal.
• A label below the ring (Hours or Days) with the goal in parentheses, such as "Hours (goal 180)".

To the right of the rings, a short summary repeats the numbers in words:

• (number) hours logged, and, if you have set an hour goal, "(number) to go."
• (number) days attended, and, if you have set a days goal, "(number) to go."
• A small reminder: "Goals are set on the Family page."

A few things worth knowing:

• The colored fill stops at a full ring once you reach 100 percent, but the percentage text keeps counting up if you pass your goal (for example, 110 percent). The "to go" figure never drops below zero.
• If a goal is left blank, that ring shows 0% and its label reads no goal set, and the "to go" text is hidden.

Setting your goals (on the Family page)

The Hours and Days goals are not set here. They come from your Yearly hour goal and Yearly days goal on the Family page.

1. Open the Family page from the menu.
2. In Family settings, fill in Yearly hour goal and/or Yearly days goal.
3. Click Save family.
4. Return to Instructional Time. The gauges now measure against your new goals.

Both goals are optional and independent: you can set one, both, or neither. In the Demo Family account both a yearly hour goal and a yearly days goal are already set, so both rings show a target.

Logging time

Use Log Time to add a new entry for the student whose tab is selected.

1. Make sure the correct student tab is selected (the entry is saved for that student).

2. Click Log Time (top-right of the controls row).

3. Fill in the form. Its heading reads "Log time," with "For (student name)" just below.

   

4. Click Save. The gauges and the Log table update right away. To close without saving, click Cancel. The box no longer closes on a background click or Esc, so you cannot lose a half-entered log by mistake.

Tip: An entry needs at least a little substance to be saved. The Save button stays disabled until you pick a date, and until the entry either counts as a day attended or has more than 0 hours. In other words, you cannot save a blank day with no hours.

How the totals add up: The Hours gauge sums the hours from every entry for the student. The Days gauge counts how many of that student's entries have "Counts as a day attended" ticked. An entry can add hours, count as a day, or both. Entries created automatically from the Calendar (see below) count toward the Days total too, even when they fall on a federal holiday or a break.

From the Calendar: Some rows appear here without your typing them. When you mark a student present on the Calendar, an Instructional Time entry is created automatically for that student and date, with a dash (-) for Hours, Yes for Day attended, and the note "Present (from calendar)". Marking that student absent again removes the auto entry. These entries count toward the Days total and can be edited or deleted here just like ones you added with Log Time. Attendance marked on a federal holiday or a break still counts as a day.

Editing an entry

1. Find the entry in the Log table.
2. In its row, click Edit.
3. The same form opens, now titled "Edit entry," pre-filled with that entry's date, hours, day setting, and note.
4. Change anything you like, then click Save.

Deleting an entry

1. Find the entry in the Log table.
2. In its row, click Delete.
3. Your browser asks you to confirm (for example, "Delete the entry for 2026-03-14?"), because this cannot be undone. Click OK to remove it, or Cancel to keep it.

The entry disappears from the table and the gauges adjust to match.

The Log table

Below the gauges, the Log card lists every entry for the selected student.

Each row shows, from left to right:

Rows you created with Log Time and rows created automatically from the Calendar (marked "Present (from calendar)") both appear here, and either kind can be edited or deleted from its row.

If a student has no entries yet, the card reads "No time logged yet. Use Log Time to add some." The Demo Family account comes with time already logged for both Ada and Linus, so their tables are filled in.

Printing a student's time log

You can print a clean, one-student report of the gauges and the log, handy for your records or for turning in.

1. Select the student whose report you want.
2. Click Print (next to Log Time).
3. Your browser's print dialog opens. Choose your printer, or "Save as PDF," then print.

The printed page adds a tidy header ("Chalk and Chart," the title "Instructional time," the student's name, and the date you printed) and leaves off the app menus and the row Edit/Delete buttons, so you get just the gauges and the log.

Quick reference

Screenshots use a sample "Demo Family" with two students, Ada (5th grade) and Linus (2nd grade), with yearly hour and days goals already set and time already logged.