Everything parents actually ask us

Yes — that's what we built it for. Maple is designed to scaffold, not solve, so your child can't just ask for the answer. The persona is rule-bound: it never pretends to be human, never reciprocates emotional intimacy, and always points distressed kids to a trusted adult. If a conversation signals distress, Maple surfaces Kids Help Phone (1-800-668-6868, free 24/7) and alerts you. Every session is reviewable in your parent dashboard.

Entirely in Canada. Servers, databases, AI processing, and backups all live on Canadian infrastructure. Your child's data is governed by Canadian law (PIPEDA and, for Quebec families, Law 25) and cannot be accessed under the US CLOUD Act or similar foreign legislation. We voluntarily align with COPPA's strongest protections even though we are not subject to it.

Maple is built to recognize when a child may need more than homework help. If a conversation signals distress, Maple validates the feeling, offers an age-appropriate scaffold (brain break, smaller piece, talk to a grown-up), and surfaces Kids Help Phone for acute signals. The parent receives an alert. You can also flag any Maple message yourself — our team reads every report.

No — Maple is a coach, not an answer engine. Every response is designed to scaffold toward understanding: ask first, hint progressively, never reveal the answer the child hasn't earned. We use a six-level hint ladder so a child who's stuck gets exactly enough help to keep going, not so much that they stop thinking. The whole architecture is built around the idea that the child does the work.

For parents, tutors, and teachers, SmartStudy's tools cover the full official Ontario curriculum for Kindergarten to Grade 8 (K–8): Mathematics, Language, Science & Technology, Social Studies / History & Geography, the Arts, and Health & Physical Education. The kid-facing Maple (coming Nov–Dec 2026) will launch with a focused subset of these while it completes testing. Grades 9–12 are on the roadmap, and we expand to other provinces — BC next — one at a time.

Yes — Maple was built that way from the ground up. Universal Design for Learning is baked into every lesson, not bolted on as a feature. That means karaoke read-along, auto-adjusted reading level, brain breaks every five questions, multi-modal input (type, speak, listen), and pacing that adapts to your child. No labels, no special-mode toggles. What helps some kids helps all kids.

No. Maple is a daily reinforcement for what your child is learning in class — not a substitute. Curriculum-aligned lessons mirror what teachers cover, so your child sees the same concepts again at home, in a way that matches their pace and style. SmartStudy does not diagnose learning differences, replace classroom instruction, or guarantee academic outcomes.

Yes. SmartStudy is built on the same Ontario curriculum the EQAO assessments are based on, so Grade 3 and Grade 6 students practise the right skills — in the digital question formats they'll actually see on test day. We focus on readiness, confidence, and familiarity with the format. We don't guarantee scores, and we're not affiliated with EQAO. (Grade 9 math and the OSSLT literacy test join SmartStudy as we expand to Grade 9–12.)

EQAO is Ontario's provincial assessment program, run by the Education Quality and Accountability Office. The Grade 3 and Grade 6 assessments are diagnostic — they measure reading, writing, and math against the provincial standard but don't affect your child's report-card marks. They're a useful checkpoint on whether your child is on track, which is exactly what SmartStudy's progress insights are designed to show you, all year long.

SmartStudy is in pre-launch, so pricing isn't final and nothing is for sale yet. Our pricing page shows the planned, indicative tiers (and a free tier) so you can see where we're headed — but the way to get in is to join the waitlist, where founding families get advance notice and a grandfathered rate before launch. The free Homework Decoder is already live to try now.

Cancel with one tap from your account home or the Stripe Customer Portal. No retention loops, no “are you sure?” screens. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current paid period. Full refund within 48 hours of any charge, no questions asked. Annual subscribers get prorated refunds within 30 days. We built billing the way we'd want it for our own families.

Three quick contrasts. Khanmigo is excellent but US-billing-only — Canadian families literally cannot purchase the learner subscription. SmartStudy is Canadian, curriculum-aligned to your province, and built for Canadian privacy law. Prodigy wraps math practice in a fantasy-game upsell engine and was the subject of a 2021 FTC complaint over kid-facing ads and under-placement that inflated engagement; SmartStudy ships zero kid-facing ads, zero in-app purchases, and starts placement at your child's registered grade. IXL is a drill platform whose asymmetric scoring (one wrong answer drops a 90 to 75) has been linked to homework stress; SmartStudy never punishes a missed question — mastery accumulates, it doesn't get penalized away.