Homeschooling in Texas

On the free plan, up to 30 minutes a day for each child. When the time is used up, the session ends and the tutor waits until the next day. You can't set a shorter limit in Epivo yourself, though Android's Family Link can limit the phone as a whole. Paid plans add more time, and you only pay if you choose one: nothing can be bought inside the app.

Create your free parent account at app.epivo.ai and add your child. Your parent account then shows a code: scan it with your child's Android phone, and it installs Epivo from Google Play if needed and connects the app to your account. Epivo runs on Android phones today; the iPhone app is on its way.

Written lessons are fact-checked against independent published sources before they're taught. The tutor follows a planned route through the course, and your child can tap Sources in the app to see what each session drew on, including links to the original sources. In your parent account you can read each topic's written lesson, where there is one, and its sources.

ChatGPT answers what your child asks. The tutor leads the way: a planned route through the course, one question at a time, picking up where they left off. Your child does the thinking, and once their app is connected to your account, you can see what they covered.

It depends on your child's age and the country they're in. The law sets an age below which a parent must agree: 13 in the US, the UK and Sweden, 16 in Germany and Ireland, for example. If we can't tell which country they're in, we use 16. If you add your child in your parent account with their date of birth, you give consent there if it's needed. If your child tells the tutor an age below that age, the tutor won't teach until you approve, from an emailed link or by scanning a code shown in the app.

Once your child's app is connected to your parent account, you can see which topics they've started, which they've shown they understand and which need a review. You can see each session's topic, date and length, and read the conversation itself. You choose their courses and their tutor there too. All of this stops when your child turns 18: from then on, their learning is their own.

Your child talks only with AI characters, their tutor and a storyteller, and the app says "AI tutor" beside the tutor's name. There are no other people to chat with and no ads. The tutor is instructed to stay on the lesson, refuse harmful requests and keep the conversation suited to your child's age. If your child seems upset, the tutor is instructed to answer kindly and suggest talking to a trusted adult, and where we know their country, the tutor may give them a children's helpline number. If anything the tutor says worries you, tap Report issue in the app and it comes to us. We don't use your child's conversations to train AI models, and their voice isn't stored.

Epivo's Texas curriculum, built around the Texas state standards (TEKS). For grades 4 to 8 it covers reading and writing, math, science and social studies, including Texas history and US history. It also has some high-school courses: Algebra I, Biology, Chemistry and World History. Your child tells the tutor their grade and starts on that grade's courses. It's a learning aid, not an official qualification.

Below grade 4 or above grade 10, your child can take Epivo's International curriculum, which runs from grade 1 to grade 12 and includes math, English and science. In grade 9 the Texas curriculum has Algebra I and Biology, and in grade 10 Chemistry and World History.

Epivo can't advise on that. Rules change, so check the current requirements for homeschooling in Texas before you start. Epivo doesn't register you with, or report to, any authority: it's a learning aid your child uses alongside your own homeschooling plan.