Starting kindergarten at home

How do I know if my child is ready for kindergarten at home?

A child is usually ready when they can listen to a short story, follow a two-step direction and stay with one activity for about ten minutes. Reading, writing letters or counting high is not required to start, because kindergarten is where those are taught.

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Signs that matter

Interest in books and letters, playing with sounds and rhymes, counting a few objects, and sitting with you for a short task. If most of these are there, start small and see how it goes.

Keep it short

At this age a lesson is ten to fifteen minutes, and the rest of the day is play, read-alouds and time outside. If a lesson ends in tears most days, wait a few weeks and try again.

What Clareza's kindergarten asks of you

Phonics and math run on screen: Clara reads every question aloud and your child taps the answer, with you close by. Science and social studies are short activities you do together, two or three times a week. See a sample week at /homeschool/kindergarten.

What this is not

  • This is not a readiness test or a developmental screening. If you are worried about speech, hearing or development, ask your pediatrician.
  • Starting ages and attendance rules differ by state. Check yours at /homeschooling-in.
  • No screen replaces read-alouds and play at this age. Clareza is part of the day, not all of it.

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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 my child need to read before kindergarten?

No. Kindergarten is where reading starts. Clareza's phonics begins with four letter sounds.

How long should a kindergarten lesson be?

About ten to fifteen minutes. Stop while it is still going well.

What if my child is not ready yet?

Wait a few weeks and keep reading together. A late start at five or six costs very little.

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