KidUniversity › Parents guide
The parents guide
Everything a grown-up needs to know to get your family started with Professor Hoot, find the right starting point, and follow along as your kids learn.
Get started in 5 steps
Create your family account
Open app.kiduniversity.net in any web browser and choose Create an account. Use your own email and a password of at least 8 characters. One account covers the whole family.
Add each learner
Add each child with a first name or nickname (a nickname is fine) and their school grade, from 2 to 8. Every child gets their own progress, stars, plan and report. To switch between kids, tap the learner's name at the top of the screen.
Take a check-up in each subject
Open Check-up, pick the grade and a subject. In about 10 minutes, Professor Hoot finds what your child already knows and makes a study plan. How it works ↓
Follow today's plan
The home screen shows today's plan. A lesson is one school day: a short explanation, an example and practice questions. After lessons, kids can read in the Library, watch a Watch & Learn video or play a game.
Check in from the Grown-ups area
Tap Grown-ups (🔒) and answer the grown-ups question. There you'll find each child's progress report, Ask Hoot (off until you turn it on), KidUniversity Plus, the read-aloud voice, the weekly email and your account settings.
How the check-up works
The check-up is a short placement check for one subject at one grade. It's free, and it isn't a test: nothing is graded, and "I'm not sure yet" is always a fine answer.
What it asks
Three questions from each of several units spread across the school year, taken from that grade's own lessons. Reading and English check fewer units, because each one comes with a short passage to read. It takes about 10 minutes.
What it decides
A unit counts as already strong when your child gets at least 2 of its 3 questions right. Units with misses go to the top of the plan, so practice starts where it helps most.
The study plan
- Practice these first: units where questions were missed.
- Then keep going: the rest of the year, in order.
- Already strong (skip ahead!): units your child already knows.
Finding the right grade
If your child gets about three quarters or more of the questions right, Hoot suggests trying the next grade's check-up. If fewer than half are right, Hoot suggests the grade before, to find what to practice first. Check-ups at different grades add up, and each grade's latest check-up counts, so you can take one again at any time.
Reading the parent report
Open Grown-ups → Progress report and pick a learner. Each child has their own report.
This week
Lessons this week, days learning (out of 7) and the current day streak.
All time
Lessons in all, books finished and questions to review.
By subject
For each subject, the share of questions your child got right on the first try in their grade, and how many lessons they've finished.
Worth another look
Lessons where fewer than 70% were right on the first try. Missed questions also wait in Practice what I missed, where each fix earns a star.
You'll also see Recently finished lessons. Every Sunday we email a short note about what each child learned that week, in the language the app is set to. You can turn it off in Grown-ups → Weekly email.
Tips for a happy learning routine
Keep it short and daily
One lesson per subject is one school day. A little every day keeps the streak going and adds up to a full year.
Use "Practice what I missed"
Missed questions wait there. Getting one right on the first try fixes it for good and earns a star.
Retakes are welcome
Unit tests show a score and can be retaken as many times as needed. Celebrate the improvement, not just the score.
Read together
Tap "Read to me" in the Library and follow the highlighted words together. You can pick the read-aloud voice in Grown-ups.
Turn on Ask Hoot when you're ready
Ask Hoot is off until you turn it on. When you do, read some questions and answers together and talk about not sharing personal information.
Try both languages
Tap 🌐 to switch the whole app between English and Spanish, any time.
Cheer the little wins
Stars, stickers, badges and streaks make progress visible. Ask your child to show you their sticker collection.
Plan a graduation day
When every lesson in a grade is done, Professor Hoot runs a graduation ceremony with a diploma to save, print or share.
Ready when you are
Unit 1 of every course is free, and so are the check-up and parent reports.