I built a free family home hub for the tablet we already had

I wanted a Skylight-style screen where my kids could see their day and their chores for themselves. We’re a homeschool family on a budget, and I was trying my best to avoid yet another subscription and another device purchase. So with Claude’s help I built one with Google Apps Script, and it’s been running live on our iPad for weeks.

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Screenshot coming

What it does

• Today: the schedule with Now and Next tags, the week ahead, and a progress ring for each kid. Kids can’t change anything on this tab.
• Calendar: week and month views, color-coded by the name in the event title. Tap a name to show or hide their events.
• Chores: a column of big buttons per kid. Lists reset every morning, and a finished list sets off a star burst. Parents long-press a to-do to edit, skip or remove it.
• Daily lists: lists like School Day and Weekend, assigned to days. On a snow day, one tap swaps today’s list.
• Stars: chores earn stars, with a streak counter. Kids spend them in the Star Store, and a parent taps Given to hand over the reward.
• Verse of the week in the header. Since the kids are home with us during the day, it keeps the verse in front of them.
• Pictures and words: every item has an emoji and a label, so kids about 4 to 8 can go by the picture, and it doubles as reading practice.
• Settings: pick which calendars show, plus a TV mode with extra-large text, keep-screen-on, light/dark themes, and tablet and phone layouts.

Let AI add the to-dos

An optional shared calendar called Kids To-dos feeds the chore cards. An event titled “Name: Task” goes on that kid’s card, and “Kids:” puts it on everyone’s (ours says “Boys:”). A timed event shows a deadline, and “(no star)” means it doesn’t earn a star. I made a custom Claude skill for it, so I can say “[Name] needs to practice piano every weekday” and Claude creates the events.

Screenshot coming

What you need

• A Google account and a tablet or phone you already have.
• About 10 minutes. No coding.

Chores, stars and verses save to a Google Sheet the script creates in your Drive, and only the accounts on your allow-list can open the hub.

Setup

1. Paste Code.gs and Index.html into a new project at script.google.com.
2. Edit the CONFIG block at the top of Code.gs (ALLOWED_EMAILS and PEOPLE).
3. Run it once and approve the permissions. Google will say it “hasn’t verified this app.” That’s normal for a personal script.
4. Deploy it as a web app. After later changes, use Deploy → Manage deployments → New version.
5. Share the calendar with the other parent.

Putting it on a tablet

• iPad or iPhone: open the link in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen. It opens like an app.
• Android: FreeKiosk (Google Play) is a free, open-source kiosk app that shows the hub full screen, with no browser bar.^[1]

Good to know: it checks for changes on a timer, so updates show within about 30 seconds (about 3 minutes for Kids To-dos). There’s no parent PIN on Given. I haven’t tested it on Google TV.

If you’d rather buy one

Prefer a ready-made device with nothing to maintain? Maker prices, checked October 18, 2026:

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