Safety and privacy
A grown-up sets up every account and sees every lesson, and no child is left alone with a worry.
Every message is checked
A second AI checks every message. If one suggests a child may be at risk, you get this email straight away.
Thena flagged a message from Sam
Please read this when you can.
During a lesson, Sam wrote something that could mean they need help:
“nobody at school will play with me”
Why it was flagged: Sam says other children leave them out, which may be bullying.
Thena answered kindly, encouraged Sam to talk to a trusted grown-up, and mentioned the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline and the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
If you think a child is in immediate danger, call 911.
- Upset about a sum
- Thena comforts them and makes it easier. An ordinary wobble doesn’t email you.
- Upset about life
- Flagged to you at once, with the reason in one plain sentence.
- Rude or unsuitable
- Thena doesn’t play along, and steers back to the lesson.
- “Ignore your rules”
- Tricks to make her someone else, or to do homework to hand in, don’t work.
You see it all
- Every lesson, word for word
- What Thena said and drew, and every answer your child gave.
- What she noticed
- Notes on what they find tricky, which she uses to plan the next lesson.
- Your password, again
- The grown-ups area asks for it after 15 minutes, so a child on a shared tablet can’t wander in.
- You set their level
- See each subject’s level and change it, or ask Thena to check again.
Maya’s lesson, today
Fractions, 14 minutes, 3 stars
- Thena
- Which is bigger, a half or a quarter?
- Maya
- A quarter, because 4 is bigger.
- Thena
- Let’s cut two pizzas and see.
What Thena noticed
- Thinks bigger bottom numbers mean bigger fractions
- Got it on her own after the pizza drawing
- Next: comparing fractions, with a warm-up tomorrow
Only what teaching needs
- Month and year of birth
- Never the day. The teacher only ever gets your child’s age in months.
- Photos from our own site
- Pictures in lessons are fetched once and served by us, so your child’s device only talks to Thena.
- Her voice says only her lessons
- Each line is signed by the lesson it belongs to, so nobody can make Thena say anything else.
- They stop when they choose
- The next lesson waits until they ask for it. Streaks, leaderboards, timers and things to buy are left out, and children never get notifications.
Questions parents ask
Is Thena a real person?
No. Thena is an AI: a computer program that teaches. She says so to children, never pretends to be a person, and a grown-up sets up every account.
Will it just do their homework?
No. Thena gives the least help that gets them moving: a nudge, then a hint, and only after a few tries does she show the way, followed by a twin question to do alone.
How much screen time is it?
Lessons grow with them: about 10 minutes for the youngest, and up to about 30 from age 11. Thena never starts the next lesson by herself, and nothing pings a child to come back.
See for yourself
Three free lessons, and every word of them in your grown-ups area.
Try 3 lessons free