Coming soon · For parents of 3-to-5-year-olds
Kindergarten Companion is a coach in your pocket for busy parents — short lessons that adapt to what your child is ready for next, woven into your daily routine: at the table, in the car, waiting in line. No curriculum to design, no schedule to keep.
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We'll email you once, when it's ready. Nothing before then.
At bedtime
In the meantime, here's one to try tonight: before you close the bedtime book, ask four quick questions — who was it about, where did it happen, why did that happen, and what do you think happened after the end.
Say the answer back after each one, even when they get it right. That's the whole thing.
Kindergarten Companion does the opposite.
Most of it happens away from the screen — you'll read a prompt, put the phone down, and the learning happens between the two of you. When an activity does use the phone, it's short and shared.
Counting the stairs. Three colors at snack time. Four questions before you close the bedtime book. Short and often is what survives a real week.
Why H, W and Y are the hardest letters. Why a child can count to twenty and still not know what four means. Kindergarten Companion explains the reasoning, not just the instruction.
Small things, in moments that are already happening.
On the stairs
Count them out loud on the way up. Once that's easy, count them backwards on the way down.
At the table
"We need four forks. Can you get four?" If they bring three, count them together out loud rather than correcting it.
At bedtime
Before you close the book: who was it about, where did it happen, why did that happen, and what do you think happened next. Thirty seconds.
In the car
Numbers are on everything outside — house doors, bus fronts, speed signs. Call one out and see if they can name it.
On a walk
Pick two or three things you both see and ask what sound they start with. Dog. Door. Post box.
A short, honest look at one skill — all 26 letters, all 11 colors, counting as high as they can. At the end you'll get a real list: knows 19 of 26 letters, and here are the seven. Not a score. A list of what to work on.
Short sessions on the ones they missed. Kindergarten Companion will remember every letter and number separately, lead with the shakiest, and skip what's already learned — so your two minutes go where they're needed.
One small thing to do in a moment that's already happening. No setup, nothing to buy. This is where most of the repetitions come from.
The letters, sounds and listening that reading is built on.
Letter Recognition · Phonological Awareness · Print Awareness · Story Comprehension · Vocabulary Development
Counting that actually means something — not just the counting song.
Number Sense & Counting · Quantity & Comparison · Sorting & Classifying
Colors and shapes as they turn up in the real world, not as neat swatches.
Color Recognition · Shape Recognition
Noticing how the world works. Most of it happens on a walk.
Five Senses · Living Things · Nature & Seasons
I wanted to help my own kids get ready for school without putting them in front of a screen and hoping for the best — the primary lesson a screen teaches is that the screen is who your kid should learn from. There weren't any great solutions for busy parents like my wife and me: both working 40–50+ hour weeks in corporate jobs, both taxiing our kids to and from school and extracurriculars. We wanted to be actively involved, but we were limited by the one constraint nobody can fix — time. (If only there were more than 24 hours in a day.)
The solutions that came close weren't quite right for our situation. They were either full-blown homeschool curricula — maybe in a perfect world, but I didn't have 4 hours a day to homeschool — or completely unstructured material with no real pedagogy behind it: here's a deck of flash cards, good luck.
What was missing was an efficient solution — one that:
I wanted something to help me help my kids learn in a few focused minutes each night — and in the car, at the park, waiting in line — all the small moments we already have together. I wanted to be a better teacher all the time, not just for a few minutes a night.
What was missing was something that told me what to do — in the car, on the stairs, at the sink — and knew what my child was actually ready for next.
So that's what Kindergarten Companion is. The app does the remembering and the choosing. You do the part that only a parent can.
Harrisen
Founder, Front Row Parents
We're opening Kindergarten Companion to a first group of families. Leave your email and you'll be among them.
One email when it's ready. Nothing else.
You're on the list.
We'll email you once, when it's ready. Nothing before then.
At bedtime
In the meantime, here's one to try tonight: before you close the bedtime book, ask four quick questions — who was it about, where did it happen, why did that happen, and what do you think happened after the end.
Say the answer back after each one, even when they get it right. That's the whole thing.