Ages 3 and 4

What should I be doing with my 3 or 4 year old? Do I need a pre-K curriculum?

Usually you do not need a formal pre-K curriculum: reading aloud every day, lots of talk, play, time outside and everyday counting and sorting cover most of what 3 and 4 year olds are learning. Clareza Academy starts at kindergarten and has nothing for preschool, so this page is general guidance, plus what to look at when kindergarten gets close.

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What matters most at 3 and 4

Read aloud, talk together and answer their questions. Play, puzzles, drawing, cooking together and counting real things build the skills school later relies on.

If they want letters and numbers

Follow their interest and keep it short and playful. Some 4 year olds are ready for letter sounds and some are not, and both are normal. If you have concerns about speech or development, ask your pediatrician.

When kindergarten is close

Clareza's kindergarten year is phonics and math on screen, read aloud and answered by tapping, plus science and social studies you do together from a short script. See it at /homeschool/kindergarten, and print the first phonics unit free at /free/learning-to-read.

What this is not

  • Clareza has no preschool or pre-K content. It starts at kindergarten.
  • No screen replaces read-alouds, play and time outside at this age, and our kindergarten page says the same.

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Before your child starts: what we collect and why

We collect only what it takes to teach your child: the first name and sign-in you choose, their answers and progress, and their chat with Clara (written by Anthropic's AI, read aloud by OpenAI). Nobody trains AI on it or sells it, and you can see or delete it any time. You create your child's account yourself. Paying by card is how you give consent.

Read what we collect and why

Your consent is needed before we collect anything from your child, and we collect nothing without it. You create your child's account yourself; they never sign up alone.

  • What we collect from your child: the first name and sign-in you choose, their answers, time on lessons and progress, and their chat with Clara. Used to run the lessons, build their transcript and show you how they are doing.
  • Who else handles it: Anthropic (an AI company) receives the chat text and the lesson, with your child's first name but no last name or account details, to write Clara's replies. That is how Clara works, so it is part of the service. If you switch on answering out loud for a child, their voice is turned into text on our own server and then discarded; it is never sent to another company. OpenAI turns lesson text and Clara's replies (which can include your child's first name) into the read-aloud voice. Our email provider sends you reports about your child. Nobody trains AI on your child's data, and nobody sells it.
  • Your rights: see everything collected from your child, have it deleted, or stop further collection at any time, from your account or by emailingour support address. If you refuse the AI sharing above, Clara cannot teach, so the service cannot run. Chats are deleted after 30 days.
  • Safety: if your child writes something suggesting they may be hurt or in danger, we email you and Clareza's owner the same day.

Paying by card is how you give consent. Full details, including how long we keep each thing: Privacy Policy (version 2026-10-05).

By continuing you agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy.

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Questions parents ask

Does Clareza have a preschool program?

No. Clareza starts at kindergarten.

Do I need a pre-K curriculum?

Usually not. Reading aloud, talk, play and everyday counting cover a lot. Ask your pediatrician if you have concerns about development.

Is there anything free to try for early reading?

Yes. The first unit of the K-2 phonics course is a free printable at /free/learning-to-read, with no email and no account.

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