How it works
Ten minutes, then go be a kid
BrightStep is a supplement, not a curriculum. It repeats what they're already learning at school, keeps it short, and ends on its own, so there's no spike and no crash after.
Two minutes: the first sign-in and every number on the dashboard
Add your kids
First name and grade, nothing else. One account covers the whole family, and each child gets their own profile, progress, and avatar.
Set your PIN and limits
The grown-up area is behind a 4-digit PIN. Set three screen-time limits: a gentle nudge, a stronger one, and a hard stop that needs your PIN to lift.
They do a daily check-in
Your child picks a subject and answers four questions in grades 1-2, five in grades 3-5, or six in grades 6-8. It takes a few minutes, not an hour. Six subjects: Reading, Math, Writing, Science & Social, Move, and Life Skills.
The app adapts
Get things right and it moves harder; struggle and it eases off. Anything missed comes back on a spaced schedule so it actually sticks, while questions they've already answered step aside for fresh ones.
You see what to practice
The grown-up dashboard shows accuracy and difficulty for every subject, the standards behind the questions they missed in plain words, and the exact questions they keep getting wrong. Check it when you want, not every night.
They earn stars, you approve
Stars unlock avatar characters and scenes, and buy real-life rewards: the built-in ones at prices you set, or rewards you make up. Turn on chores and those earn stars too. Anything that costs you something waits for your approval, and the only thing we mail is a plaque with their name on it at 150 full days.
Then it sends them off
Sessions end. Limits are enforced. Many activities are deliberately off-screen: move for five minutes, ask a parent about their day, do the chore nobody assigned you.
What's inside
- Six subjects, every grade 1-8, each written for that specific grade: a fifth grader and a sixth grader never see the same set.
- More than 26,000 questions, over 18,000 of them tagged to a Common Core or NGSS standard, so you can see exactly what's been practiced. Every subject holds at least a hundred days of material before anything repeats.
- Writing ends with building, not picking: every writing session finishes with a Sentence Stretch, where a short sentence grows one piece at a time (what kind, how, where, why, and clauses and asides from grade 6), then your child stretches one of their own.
- Six question types: multiple choice, true/false, typed answers, put-in-order, open “explore” questions that have no wrong answer, and the Sentence Stretch above.
- Life Skills that go beyond money and time: self-discipline and follow-through, decompressing after school and naming what set you off, and building a stronger bond with parents and siblings.
- Easy / Medium / Hard on demand, or let it choose automatically.
Common questions
Does this replace school or our curriculum?
No. It's a daily supplement. Think of it as practice and habit-building, not a full course of study.
How long does it take?
A single subject runs two to four minutes. In our house, a full day of all six usually takes under ten minutes, and the screen-time limits keep it honest.
Do my kids need their own logins?
No, and that's deliberate. Children never create accounts or enter personal information. You log in; they pick their profile.
What does it cost?
$25 a month, or $250 a year (about two months free). Every account starts with a 7-day free trial, one account covers every child in your family, and you can cancel anytime from the parent dashboard.
What do you do with my child’s data?
We collect a first name and grade, plus their progress. No ads, no third-party tracking, no social features. See the Privacy Policy.
My daughter was behind for her grade and now she feels all caught up with her reading and math.
BrightStep is a ten-minute daily check-in for children in grades 1-8, used by families anywhere in the US. It adjusts to each child and ends when the work is done.
Start the free weekOne hour with a tutor costs more than a month of this: a year is about 68¢ a day, for every child in the house. Or see real questions from every grade first.