Frequently asked questions

A self-directed practice app for maths and English, ages 4 to 14. A child works through short adaptive sessions on their own; you get a parent dashboard that shows exactly where they are and what to do next. There are no live lessons, tutors, centres or bookings — it is built for families who teach at home or want structured practice alongside school.

Reception to Year 9 in England (ages 4–14), Primary 1 to Secondary 3 in Scotland, and Pre-K to 8th grade in the US edition. Maths runs from Reception to Year 9; English from Year 1 to Year 9. Each child can work at a different level in each subject, regardless of their age.

One skill map keyed to the England National Curriculum, with Scottish labels and Curriculum for Excellence levels for Scottish families, and US grade labels and Common Core standards for US families. UK-only topics (pounds and pence, the 24-hour clock) are never shown to US children; US children see dollars, cents and American spelling. US maths from Kindergarten to 8th grade is mapped to the Common Core State Standards: every standard is practised except two that a screen cannot assess, and the coverage page lists each one. English uses American spelling but is not mapped to Common Core.

No. It teaches a short explainer before each new skill and then practises it, but it does not replace a teacher, a school, or specialist support. Reports are records of practice, not formal assessments.

Yes — the US edition is organised as a course catalog: a Math and a Language Arts course for every grade from Pre-K to 8th, each with its full lesson list published, and every course included in the one family price. Unlike most programs, each course places adaptively and can run at its own grade level per subject. We do not offer science, social studies, electives or high school.

No — and no homeschool curriculum program is: accreditation applies to schools, not curricula (the big-name programs say the same). As the home educator you issue your child's records, grades and any diploma under your state's or country's rules. We give you the documentation: a printable learning report and a transcript-style homeschool record, both generated from real practice rather than filled-in templates. We do not offer college credit or certified-teacher oversight.

The learning report and homeschool record print cleanly and show courses, levels, skills mastered with dates, accuracy by topic and time on task — the evidence most US state portfolios and UK home-education reviews ask for. Requirements differ by state and country, so check yours; our records are practice documentation, not a formal assessment.

You choose 10, 15, 20, 25 or 30 minutes per child on their learning plan, plus how many sessions a week to aim for. Sessions are made of short blocks (one skill each) so a child can stop at a natural point.

The first session in each subject is a short placement: 8 to 15 questions that step up or down a year group at a time until the level is found. If you already know the right level, pin a working level on the learning plan and placement is skipped for that subject.

The session adapts inside the block instead of repeating the same question. Two wrong in a row: the explainer comes back and the question gets easier. Two more: a short warm-up on the skill underneath (for example, number bonds before column addition). Two more: the skill is parked for another day and flagged on your dashboard. Nothing is ever taken away from the child.

No. Every question is generated from a template with fresh numbers, names and objects each time, so a child who returns to a skill never sees the same sums twice. Every template is machine-checked over a thousand variations before it ships.

Stars show how secure a skill is (learning, practising, mastered). They never go down on the child’s screen. If a later review shows a skill has faded, you see that honestly on your dashboard and it goes back into practice — but the child is never shown a score dropping.

One coin per correct answer, two for bouncing back straight after a mistake, three for finishing a warm-up, five for finishing a session, two for saying how it felt at the end, and ten when a skill is mastered. Coins are never removed. On the Rewards page you set real-world rewards with a coin target (“50 coins = a trip to the park”) and tick them off when earned.

A hands-on way of answering early maths questions: ten-frames, base-ten blocks, bars and number lines the child taps, with a “Show me” button that speaks the first step. It switches on automatically during warm-ups and after a re-teach, or all the time if you set Maths style to Foundations on the learning plan — good for children who struggle with worksheets.

Each new skill starts with a short explainer (a worked example in plain words). Hints are available on every question, a worked solution appears after a miss, and the AI tutor can explain the specific mistake.

After a wrong answer the child can tap it to get a short explanation of the likely mix-up, three to five steps, and one key idea, pitched at their year group. A second tap, “Explain it a different way”, gives one alternative. That is all — there is no chat and the child cannot type anything to it.

Claude, made by Anthropic, running on our servers. It receives only the question, the answer given, the correct answer, the skill, the year-group label, the spelling convention and any interests you chose — never your child’s name, age, profile or history. Anthropic does not train on this data.

Occasionally, like any AI. Every explanation is checked against a fixed structure and falls back to the template’s worked solution if anything looks off, and you can read every explanation under Trouble spots on the Progress page. Treat it as a helpful hint, not a teacher.

Thirty explanations per child per day. After that the worked solution is shown instead, and the tutor rests until tomorrow.

It was designed with them in mind. On the learning plan, tick what applies and the app pre-sets calm options: no streaks or countdowns, coins hidden, short chunks with a “take a breather” card between blocks, everything read aloud, bigger buttons and plain feedback. You can change any switch, and none of them changes the difficulty — placement and working levels do that.

Yes — a child can be at Year 4 in maths and Year 2 in English (5th-grade math alongside 4th-grade reading in the US edition). Pin a working level per subject on the learning plan; leave it on “let placement decide” to use the placement result.

Read-aloud for every question, hint and explanation; a dyslexia-friendly font; larger text; a tinted overlay; reduced motion; and the calm options above. They live on each child’s learning plan.

Yes. Progress → Learning report gives a printable summary for any date range: the accommodations in use, your notes, skills mastered and in progress (in words, not scores), accuracy by topic, time on task, support used and suggested next steps. It is a learning record from practice, not a formal assessment.

Read-aloud uses the voices built into your device and browser — nothing is sent to us. We pick the most natural voice available for your edition: a British voice for England, a Scottish voice for Scotland where the device has one (for example “Fiona” on Apple devices), and an American voice for the US. Maths is read the way a teacher says it (“3 times 4”, “4 pounds 50”). For the best sound: on Windows use Microsoft Edge (its “Natural” voices); on iPad or Mac download an enhanced voice under Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content → Voices; on Android install Google Speech Services.

A daily goal per child (minutes or questions) with an optional focus mode and study window. In focus mode the child’s app shows only “Start” until the goal is met; a study window means new sessions can only begin at the times and days you set. Your Home page shows “Today’s goal” for each child.

A website cannot lock a device — only the device can. Use our goal as the signal and the device’s own tools (Screen Time or Guided Access on iPad, Family Link on Android, Family Safety on Windows) as the lock. The help page walks through each.

Per child: a skill map with stars, this week against the target, trouble spots with the exact missed questions and any tutor explanations, recent sessions, and the printable learning report. You can set assignments (a particular skill next), targets, rewards and every setting.

Yes — on the learning plan, add an assignment for a skill and it is scheduled into the child’s next sessions ahead of the usual plan.

The person who signs up is the account holder and manages billing. A second parent can be added to the family on request (email us) and sees everything except billing.

No. Children never have accounts. You add a profile with a first name (or nickname) and a year group, optionally a 4-digit PIN, and the child picks their profile from the family’s “Who’s learning today?” screen.

It stops siblings opening each other’s profile. Five wrong tries lock a profile for 15 minutes. You can change or remove the PIN from the Account page.

No adverts, no videos, no chat, no messages, no social features. During a session the header and tabs disappear so the screen holds one question at a time.

Skills practised, stars gained, coins earned (unless you have hidden coins) and a one-tap “how did that feel?” — never “7 out of 10 right”. You see the detail on your dashboard.

14 days, full access, no card needed. If you do nothing, nothing is charged: the child app pauses with a “time for a grown-up” message and your dashboard stays open until you subscribe or ask us to delete the family. Unused trial days carry over when you subscribe.

One family plan for up to 4 children and all subjects: £14.99 a month or £119 a year in the UK (saving 34%), $19.99 a month or $159 a year for the US edition. Prices include VAT or sales tax where we must charge it.

Account → Manage billing opens Stripe’s secure portal where you can cancel, pause, change plan or update your card. You keep access until the end of the period you have paid for, and you are not charged again. If you cancel within 14 days of your first payment, email us for a full refund.

The service keeps running for 7 days while Stripe retries and emails you. After that the child app pauses until the payment goes through or you update the card.

Not at the moment — the family plan is for one household’s children.

The name or nickname and year group you enter (optionally a birth year and month), the settings you choose, and what they practised — questions, answers, time taken, hints, stars and coins — so the app can adapt and you can see progress. No location, contacts, photos, device identifiers or free text; the child app has no chat or search box.

None. No adverts, no analytics scripts, no third-party code on the child’s pages, no selling or sharing of data. The only cookies are the ones that keep you and your child signed in.

In London (Supabase, eu-west-2), protected by row-level security so a family can only ever reach its own data. Payments are handled by Stripe; we never see card details.

Yes. They are health-related information, so we treat them as special-category data: used only with your explicit consent (filling in the card), only to adapt the app and write your report, never sent to the AI tutor or anyone else, and cleared whenever you clear the card.

Email us from your account address and we delete the whole family — profiles, history, explanations and rewards — within 30 days, and cancel any subscription. It cannot be undone.

Children never provide information directly: you create every profile under your own verified email, which is the parental-consent path for a parent-directed service. We do not sell or share children’s information.

Any laptop, tablet or phone with a current browser — Safari, Chrome, Edge or Firefox. Tablets are ideal for the hands-on maths boards; buttons are sized for small fingers. Nothing needs installing to use it in the browser today; native iPhone, iPad and Android apps are on the way.

Yes — native apps for iPhone, iPad and Android are being built and will be in the App Store and Google Play. Your family account, children’s profiles and progress will carry straight over. Until they launch, open onlineschoolpractice.com in the browser and use “Add to Home Screen” (Share menu on iPad/iPhone, browser menu on Android) to get an icon that opens straight into the app.

No — every answer is checked and saved on our servers as it is given, so an internet connection is needed. A dropped connection loses at most the current question.

Enter your email and we send a one-time link; there is no password to remember. You can also use “Continue with Google”. Children sign in from your family’s profile screen with their PIN.

Yes, on the child’s learning plan (year group, edition, subjects) at any time; the family’s edition and currency are on the Account page. Progress is kept.

Email info@appsdesignagency.co.uk with the child’s first name and roughly when it happened, and we will look into it.