MVMarielle V

Brave Writer is a literature-based writing program intended for writers who struggle with writing (hence the brave!) Initially I was excited by this because I have a kid who loves to read and is well above grade level, but hates to write and is well below grade level, so it seemed perfect. I read Julie's book (The Brave Learner), I purchased a few Darts, (i.e. Charlotte's Web) and off we went! (I have not used the online classes so I can't speak to them.) Unfortunately this approach did not work for us whatsoever. A big emphasis in the Darts is copywork. My reluctant writer understandably loathed this. It turns out this curriculum is loosely inspired by classical education. After this abject failure I did a deep dive and researched whether there was any evidence for this approach. It turns out that there is no research supporting the idea that copywork is good for reluctant (or really any) writers, and plenty of research showing that opportunity for creativity in writing is really very important even in emerging writers (which my reluctant writer did indeed especially struggle with). I know there are lots of parents that rave about Brave Writer but it really wasn't for us, and after reading what limited research I could find about it, I don't think it's a good approach in general. Another issue for us is that because my son is hyperlexic, he hates having to stop in a book to do the required work. He likes to just read as much as he feels like in a setting. So just generally he doesn't like any activity where you have to pause in the book. I felt exactly the same when I was a kid so I totally get it! If you're doing this as a read aloud, that might not be as big of an issue. Weirdly what worked for us were those boring workbooks you get at a bookstore (CGP, in our case) that have short passages and bite-sized writing activities, and just picking workbooks that were for a younger kid so they weren't as intimidating. This was a lot more manageable for my reluctant writer. Eventually his creativity shone in these shorter activities and I'm glad we didn't abandon working on it in favour of these boring copywork and grammar studies, especially since my kid was already reading full length novels on his own.

MVMarielle V

Duolingo ABC (the app) is a phonics app and was amazing for my slow reader. I tried all the phonics apps (well, a lot) and it was the best one. It's also free. We had less success with Duolingo for language learning. Both of my kids got really discouraged when they ran out of hearts or lost their streak and then refused to return to the app. Unfortunately I think if you're going to use this with kids, you should spring for the paid version (which is more forgiving) at the outset. I also agree with the other poster it's not a complete resource for language learning, but I do think it makes a good supplement.

MVMarielle V

I was pretty excited for this and unfortunately at present it's entirely useless. I hope they fix it! But I think the launch was premature. I understand it's a very hard thing with AI to balance just doing the work in its entirety for the child, versus giving canned responses that are unhelpful. You have to strike the right balance. Unfortunately this tool leans way too far towards canned responses that are unhelpful. I wish they had taken more of a risk and given the AI a little more flexibility, even if it meant sometimes being too helpful, because I would have preferred that to being completely unhelpful.

AGAndrew G

I started TheHomeschoolingCompany because I homeschooled myself, and I kept being disappointed by the one-size-fits-all curricula that were the only options. I felt that the freedom that homeschooling allows was being squandered in these unimaginative, public school knock-offs that could allow us to totally reshape how we do education. The idea is simple: every kid deserves something like their own Aristotle, someone who can meet them where they are, with what knowledge they have, what they are interested in, their own goals, and shepherd them toward where they want to go. AI finally makes that realistic. So that’s what we’re building: a learning path that actually feels personal. It adapts to your kid’s interests, pace, and strengths, and it’s built to be practical for real life, so parents can support their kids without having to become a full-time teacher.

AMAnna Lisa M

Very futuristic platform that's great for tech savvy kids that want to explore and socialize with new peers. I didn't get to see any of the programming, but on my general tour of the platform, students seemed to be genuinely having fun!