Math on paper. The planning and grading are on us.
For kindergarten through grade 5. No screen for your child. You print once a week and photograph the day's pages. We check the work against the answer key and plan what comes next.
The waitlist opens shortly. When it does, the form will be at the bottom of this page.
How we teach
- A new step starts with a worked example on the page and a short note for you.
- Practice mixes problem types, and your child moves on when a skill holds up over time, not after one good page.
- A slip and a wrong rule are different mistakes. A wrong rule gets a short printed lesson that shows the right one, not a redo.
- We grade the answer, so your curriculum's method is welcome. Our lessons show one route.
- Your child may stay on a skill longer than you expect. That's on purpose: we'd rather add a week of practice than move on too early.
Your part
Weekend
Each weekend, print one PDF with the week's pages.
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Monday to Friday
Your child works Monday to Friday. Once a day, photograph the day's pages and send them from your phone's browser. There's nothing to install.
Saturday
Missed a day? Saturday is there to catch up.
Every week
- When a new step arrives: read the short note, go through the worked example and the next two problems with your child, then let your child carry on alone.
- While your child works, please don't give answers or show how to solve a problem; if they're still stuck after a real try (reading it again together, trying the first step), it's fine to leave it blank and move on.
- The week's last page is done alone: no help while your child works.
- Each day's last page has a spot for how long the pages took. Your child fills it in, or you do for a younger child. It's a record, never a race.
Some days
- A few questions from us, about a digit we couldn't read or a box left empty. We never read an empty box as a zero.
- When the marked photo comes back, it brings a short line for that day; please read it first. If it shows a mix-up in how a kind of problem is done, or says the day was too hard, please don't have your child redo the problems, and there's no need to explain the method: Monday's pages bring the printed lesson or adjusted work. On other days you're welcome to look at the marked page together and ask your child how they did one; a small slip can be fixed right there.
You don't plan, choose levels or grade pages. That part is ours.
If you've tried…
A tablet program
Here your child never sees a screen, and you see the marked photo yourself.
Printable worksheets
Here we choose the pages, check them, and decide the next step by a written rule.
A weekly learning center
Here it all happens at home, a few pages a day.
What you can count on
- Every level change follows a written rule and comes with one sentence saying why. Days without photos never move your child ahead.
- Your child has no account and never signs in. Before your family starts, the invitation sets out how we handle your child's data, and you decide then.
Who it's for
- For kindergarten through grade 5. Where your child starts comes from a short placement on paper, not the grade.
- You'll need a printer and a phone with a camera.
Who's behind this
I'm Sinan, a software engineer in Texas. I wanted the children in our family to practice math on paper, with someone planning the next step and checking the work. I couldn't find a program that did both, so I started building one. It first ran with four children in our family, for about nine weeks. That's small, and it isn't a study; it's why we're now inviting a few families from outside our own.
Every page is checked against its answer key. If we can't read a digit, we ask you instead of guessing. If you think we got one wrong, tell us, and I answer every one myself.
You can write to me at hello@pencilkite.com.
Join the waitlist
We invite families in small groups, in the order they join the list, as pages that fit their child are ready. Joining the list commits you to nothing. When it's your turn, the invitation sets out what joining involves, and you decide then.
The waitlist opens shortly. When it does, the form will be right here.