About Parker Smart Kids

Why this exists

The biggest worry parents bring to us is the same one: my child is growing up around AI that can answer anything for them, and I want their thinking to stay strong. Parker Smart Kids was built for that worry. Not as a brain game. Not as another worksheet stack. As a serious, structured way to practice thinking — six skills, every day, with a real ranked-choice format that requires the child to weigh options instead of guessing.

Who built it

The lessons are authored by Timothy E. Parker — a Guinness-recognized crossword constructor and decades-long puzzle author — together with the curriculum team at Advanced Learning Academy. The combination matters: puzzle construction is the discipline of building decisions where the right answer is hidden but knowable, and that's exactly the structure each Parker Smart Kids lesson uses.

What the program is

• 180 lessons across nine ages (8 through 16). Twenty per age, sequenced for a full year.
• 1,080 questions total. Six per lesson, one for each thinking skill: reasoning, judgment, pattern recognition, problem solving, emotional intelligence, and decision quality.
• 4,320 ranked-choice options, each with an explanation of why that option is the strongest, strong, partial, or weak answer — so kids learn the structure of good decisions, not just the right answer.
• 180 parent summaries showing exactly what the child practiced and why it matters at this age.
• 15 minutes a day, Monday through Friday.

What it is not

• Not tutoring. There are no live sessions or scheduled appointments.
• Not a worksheet generator. Every lesson is a designed scenario with a real decision at its core.
• Not a screen game. There are no points-for-points rewards, no in-app purchases, no advertisements, no behavioral nudges built around addictive engagement.
• Not a substitute for school. It complements school by training thinking quality across subjects.

Research foundations

The structure draws on documented findings from cognitive science: deliberate practice (Ericsson), retrieval and spaced practice (Roediger and Karpicke; Cepeda et al.), interleaved skill practice (Rohrer and Taylor), cognitive load theory (Sweller), spiral curriculum design (Bruner), and what cognitive psychology actually shows about how children learn (Willingham). The white paper that explains the foundations is available on request.

Our promises

• No advertising to children. Ever.
• No selling or sharing of family data. Ever.
• COPPA-compliant by design — see our Privacy Policy.
• 14-day satisfaction refund for new subscribers (details).
• Cancel anytime. Your data is yours.

Get in touch

Questions, partnerships, press, or just thinking out loud about education: contact us.