Recent Updates · AE Arcade

CURRENT · v2.162.0

What’s new in AE Arcade

Eighteen more upgrades across the admin panel and My School Day.

September 28, 2026

v2.162.0 — admin + My School Day upgrade bundle round 6 (18 features)

LEARNING ZONE

Year-end tax/bookkeeping export: one-click CSV with monthly gross revenue, refunds, Stripe fees, disputes, payouts, and net (fees labeled as estimated at 2.9% + 30¢ per charge).
Dispute evidence-packet assembler: auto-builds a printable packet for each open Stripe dispute with order details, payment record, tracking/delivery proof, and Principal Tech message history including persisted reply-email outcomes.
Curriculum asset health scan: scheduled crawl of curriculum content for broken images, missing audio, and dead links, reported per subject folder.
Arcade config snapshot and one-click rollback: snapshots pricing plans, premium items, feature flags, and arcade config; diff view plus typed-confirm restore, audit-logged.
Revenue anomaly alerts: daily baseline check flags revenue dips or spikes over 40%, refund surges over 3×, and failed-payment spikes over 2×, wired into critical alerts.
Duplicate-family detector and merge: finds duplicate family accounts by email or child name, with audit-logged merge (typed confirm) or keep-both review.
Curriculum tour step analytics: per-step completion, skip, and drop-off rates for the 16-step guided tour (the tour itself is unchanged).
Maintenance mode scheduler: one-click maintenance banner plus scheduled maintenance windows on public pages.
Parent reteach request (PIN-gated): "have Grace re-teach fractions" lands as a Grace-led review block right after roll-forward work in tomorrow's plan.
End-of-block child self-check: "How did that feel? 😊😐😟" feeds struggle detection; only the sad face opens a struggle signal.
Rushing detector: blocks finished in under 25% of a 5-plus-minute estimate get Grace's gentle re-check instead of full completion credit.
Focus mode during school hours (parent toggle): hides arcade, shop, and game links while a school block is active; learning links stay visible.
Friday struggle-review deck: an auto-built five-minute flashcard review from the week's open struggle flags, run by Grace.
"Why this matters" purpose line: Grace opens each block with a one-liner connecting the subject to real life plus a Bible thread, for all 12 subjects.
Reading log: log books finished and minutes read with Bookshelf title suggestions; Grace celebrates 5/10/25 books and 100/250/500/1000-minute milestones once each.
Daily reflection journal: end-of-day "What did you learn today?" saved to the portfolio; Grace reads the week's entries back on Friday.
Parent praise note at kickoff: a parent's encouraging note read aloud by Grace at the next day's kickoff, read once.
Mid-year placement re-check (parent-initiated, PIN-gated): re-runs the existing placement logic for one subject and shows the parent the result and reasoning.

September 27, 2026

v2.161.0 — admin + My School Day upgrade bundle round 5 (18 features)

LEARNING ZONE

Admin: every shop purchase and paid coin pack is now recorded in the coin ledger, so coin movements finally have a full paper trail.
Admin: new premium-revenue ledger tracks premium items, coin packs, and storage plans in one place.
Admin: Principal Tech reply-email outcomes are persisted — real send failures raise an alert and failed replies can be retried.
Admin: bullying and cheating reports now get the same SLA and stale-queue tracking as the rest of the safety queue.
Admin: the Monday digest now also covers safety reports, Stripe disputes, and backup freshness.
Admin: the newest backup gets a deep check — its JSON is parsed and record counts are compared, read-only, never auto-restoring.
Admin: new abuse watch for live rooms and failed joins, sanitized so no chat text, socket IDs, or profile IDs are ever exposed.
Admin: seven-day failed-login IP leaderboard wired straight into the existing block controls.
My School Day: live in-progress blocks now sync to the parent's Today card.
My School Day: after grading, kids get a "Take me to my next block" return card.
My School Day: day-off view for non-school weekdays and vacation ranges — and the schoolwork-first arcade gate auto-relaxes on day-offs.
My School Day: Grace announces when finishing school unlocks the arcade.
My School Day: the parent's Approved ✅ stamp and PIN-gated sign-off now show right on the Today card.
My School Day: same-day struggle nudges now include counts.
My School Day: parents can expand a view of the actual work items scheduled today.
My School Day: the morning-prep card now shows a per-block time breakdown.
My School Day: new plain-language weekly completion summary.
My School Day: Grace's kickoff lines now display as readable, dismissible text.

September 27, 2026

AE Arcade v2.160.0 — Admin + My School Day upgrades, round 4

LEARNING ZONE

Admin: paid-but-unlinked checkout reconciliation — daily server-side scan of completed Stripe checkouts never linked via /api/billing/verify, surfaced on the Money tab with the customer email so access can be granted before the "I paid and it's locked" email arrives; new seen/reconciled-session store avoids re-alerting.
Admin: outbound webhook delivery health log — last-N delivery results (ok/failed, status, time) per configured webhook URL in a JSON ring buffer, shown next to the critical-alert settings; outcome + timestamp + URL index only, never request bodies.
Admin: Stripe dispute/chargeback watcher — polls Stripe's disputes API daily and fires a critical alert + banner entry with amount, reason, and evidence-due date; amounts family-linked, never card details.
Admin: backup freshness alarm — heartbeat check on backup age with a banner item when no successful backup exists in 3+ days; distinguishes "disk writes failing" (critical) from "backup exists but is old".
Admin: automatic audit-chain tamper check — runs the existing verifyAuditChain() on a daily schedule instead of only on button-press; critical alert + banner on a broken chain, verified twice before alerting, report-only, never auto-repair.
Admin: gift code expiry and stale-code hygiene — optional expiry set at creation, "expires in X days / expired" column on the gift table, and a banner nudging revoke-or-extend for stale unredeemed codes; existing codes grandfather as never-expiring.
Admin: chat repeat flag-offender counts card — counts-only Players-tab card with playerId + linked family, flag-word block count in the last 30 days, current mute state, and one-click mute; counts only, never message text, report-only with human mute.
Admin: monthly-to-yearly savings announcement segment — new draft-only audience type resolving to monthly-paying families where yearly costs less than 12 monthly payments, amounts pulled from the already-resolved Stripe prices; comp and free-slot families excluded.
School Day: "Start my school day" kickoff ritual — child taps it and Grace says good morning by name, reads today's lineup, announces rolled-forward work, states the day's coin goal and break cadence, then lands the child on the first block; honors opt-outs and parked blocks, a prompt not a gate.
School Day: parent evening wrap-up card — when the child finishes, the Parent Dashboard gets an evening summary ("Today Maya finished 7/8, Math took the longest, streak at 5 days, 1 block rolled to tomorrow"), read-only from done-state stores, parent-side only.
School Day: Grace midday check-in — at 50% of today's blocks Grace pops in with a spoken pick-me-up naming the child and the next block; fires once per day per child; no streak/coin/roll-forward changes.
School Day: "Read my whole day to me" hands-free mode — one tap and Grace narrates the day's blocks in order (subject, work items, time estimate, what's rolled forward), advancing automatically, with stop control and per-block skip; respects parked blocks and opt-outs.
School Day: per-block countdown timer with Grace time cues — tap a start chip on a block for a countdown from the existing time estimate; Grace announces "half your time is left" and "5 minutes left"; pacing aid only, never force-submits or locks work.
School Day: parent PIN-gated "sign off on the day" — after the child finishes, a parent enters the PIN to stamp the day "Approved", visible on the parent dashboard and in the CSV export; neutral in streak math and roll-forward, it stamps the record and never changes done-state.
School Day: per-child weekly trend strip on the parent Today card — small per-child bars showing the last 7 days / 4 weeks of completion % fed by the existing 60-day progress history, with a "syncing" note when the child works on another device.
School Day: printable full-day worksheet packet for offline days — the day's actual classwork sheets (questions, answer lines, Grace's written guidance header) for a trip day with no signal; printing never advances or mutates the sequence and practice/redo never double-awards coins.

September 27, 2026

AE Arcade v2.159.0 — Admin + My School Day upgrades, round 3

LEARNING ZONE

Admin: money-plumbing health card — each configured Stripe price ID resolved read-only, plan name/amount shown, test-vs-live mode flagged, red banner on failure; status only, never the key.
Admin: post-deploy smoke check — on-demand plus auto-run after a deploy-hook fire; fetches live /health and version markers from served HTML/JS and compares against the repo; banner on mismatch or stale, with a "re-check in 5 min" button.
Admin: entitlement/access-leak audit scan — one-click fleet scan comparing unlocked items (star locks, premium skins, classroom entry) against entitlement; report-only, free-lifetime slots and comps accounted for before flagging.
Admin: onboarding stall finder — funnel card (account created → placement started/finished → first school day done) with counts and per-family drill-down; recent signups excluded.
Admin: critical-alert delivery — genuinely urgent events (money-plumbing failure, site-down, disk nearly full, SLA pile-ups) routed through the already-configured outbound webhook URLs, with a narrow event-type checkbox definition in settings.
Admin: site-down watcher — lightweight heartbeat on /health via the existing schedule runner, consecutive-failure tracking, downtime windows in the panel; Render "instance asleep" distinguished from down.
Admin: server disk-space guard — free-space card on the data dir, banner under a configurable threshold, oldest-backup rotation when tight.
Admin: top-reported-questions content QA rollup — "worst 20 questions fleet-wide" aggregated over existing reports, weighted by distinct families, hidden-state respected, with the existing typed-confirmation hide flow attached.
My School Day: the day's coin goal appears as a header chip on the child's day view ("Finish every block → +N") that fills as blocks complete, only when the parent-set rule is active.
My School Day: "Do this later" — a per-block button that parks a hard block at the bottom of today's list (capped, persisted); parked blocks stay unfinished for roll-forward and the schoolwork-first gate.
My School Day: parent morning prep card — "Today: ~90 min, fluency due, Creation Lab needs [materials], carrying 2 unfinished from yesterday"; read-only over existing stores.
My School Day: parent-configurable school-week days — per-family picker (default Mon–Fri) feeding streak math, the rhythm strip, and the catch-up detector; forward-only.
My School Day: per-child core-subject opt-out (PIN-gated) — opted-out subjects show a neutral chip, never roll forward, stay neutral in streak math, and are excluded from the schoolwork-first gate.
My School Day: same-day struggle nudge — two "I don't know"s or two low score chips in one subject surfaces a quiet "Math may need a look today" on the parent Today card, parent-side only.
My School Day: retroactive excuse (PIN-gated) — "mark yesterday excused" when a missed day is detected; clears the pending catch-up offer atomically; ~7-day lookback; audit-logged; shares one excused-day record with the sick-day flow.
My School Day: "copy school-day settings to all learners" — one tap applies subject order, break cadence, and gate settings across children (the family-level coin rule is excluded).

September 27, 2026

Admin + My School Day upgrade bundle, round 2 (v2.158.0)

LEARNING ZONE

Admin: school-day completion CSV export (per-child latest-day %, unfinished subjects, backlog volume, days-since-completion; audit-logged, anonymized like other exports).
Admin: backlog-threshold banner alert when a child carries 5+ days of roll-forward or goes 7+ days without a full day.
Admin: 12-week per-family completion % trend on the dashboard card.
Admin: Monday digest gains a school-day section (fleet completion %, worst backlogs, biggest movers).
Admin: "finished school day" events now appear in the unified family timeline.
Admin: Tests & Graduation fleet tracker — per child tests taken, scores, diplomas earned, who's eligible next (read-only; grading stays Grace's).
Admin: new school-day webhook events schoolday.first_full_day and schoolday.backlog_threshold (operator-supplied HTTPS URLs only).
Admin: struggle-flag aging and escalation — flags open 14+ days with no portfolio-score improvement get a brighter banner and Monday digest inclusion.
Admin: assignment sync-code visibility — see active family codes, revoke a leaked one (audit-logged).
My School Day: school-day streak for the kid — consecutive full days with Grace celebrating 3/7/14/30-day milestones.
My School Day: "Ask Grace" help button per block opens Talk-to-Grace with that block's subject context (hints stay hints).
My School Day: parent one-tap "sick day" (PIN-gated) — marks today excused, no roll-forward guilt, excused days stay neutral in streak math.
My School Day: per-block score chips show each finished block's result right on the day's list.
My School Day: printable day checklist (big type, checkboxes, warm-paper styling).
My School Day: tomorrow preview — Grace shows tomorrow's lineup after finishing.
My School Day: week rhythm strip — Mon–Fri completion states atop the day view.
My School Day: Grace reads block instructions aloud — tap-to-hear per block for pre-readers and struggling readers.

September 26, 2026

Admin + My School Day upgrade bundle (v2.157.0)

LEARNING ZONE

New school-day completion dashboard in the admin panel: per-family day-completion %, chronically unfinished subjects, and roll-forward backlog volume (school-day progress now syncs to the server so it follows the child across devices).
Struggle-flag alerts: kids with open struggle flags surface as a banner count in the admin panel with per-family drill-down.
Fleet subject-struggle heatmap: wrong-question reports and struggle flags aggregated by subject and age band, feeding the question-override workflow.
One-tap school-day repair tools: reset a child's today done-state, clear a stuck rollover, or re-run one subject's Week-1 placement, with typed confirmation and audit logging.
School-day activity as a churn signal: "days since last school-day completion" added to the churn-risk scorecard.
Fluency WPM trend per child: WPM-over-time chart from the fluency-checks store inside the per-player learning snapshot view.
"Behind on schoolwork" announcement segment: computed segment of families with N+ unfinished/rolled-forward days for draft announcements (nothing auto-sent).
Inbox duplicate-thread detection: duplicate parent tickets are flagged and linked so reply-SLA tracking doesn't double-count.
Parent "Today" live-progress card: per child in the Parent Dashboard — today's completion %, done/in-progress/unfinished subjects, Parent-PIN-gated.
Rolled-forward work goes first: Grace's intro tells the child to start with yesterday's work before today's new lessons, and the list orders it first.
End-of-day Grace recap: a short spoken recap of what was finished, what improved, and what's left when the day completes.
Day-complete coin bonus: "finish the whole school day" added as a parent-set coin reward rule (default off).
Estimated minutes per day: per-subject time estimates on the My School Day card, labeled as estimates.
Child-facing fluency progress chart: the child sees their own WPM trend climbing over weeks.
Grace break reminders: after every N blocks (parent-settable, default 3), Grace suggests a short movement break.
Parent-set subject order: parents reorder the day's subjects from the Parent Dashboard; the school day renders in that order.
Catch-up plan after a missed day: Grace offers a guided catch-up that folds a fully missed day's essentials into today, idempotent against the existing roll-forward.

September 27, 2026

Keep-It-Fresh removed from the classroom (v2.156.3)

LEARNING ZONE

The 🌱 Keep-It-Fresh review tile is gone from the classroom home (per your request).
Spaced-review data stays saved on the server; the tile simply no longer appears in the classroom.
The guided curriculum tour no longer mentions the tile (still 16 steps).

September 26, 2026

Reading Fluency Check leaves the classroom (v2.156.2)

LEARNING ZONE

The Reading Fluency Check no longer appears as a tile on the classroom home — it now lives only in My School Day's Reading & Writing block, launching in place exactly as before.
The /classroom/fluency deep link is retired; the hidden launch slot reveals itself only when My School Day starts the check.
Unchanged: the fluency engine, passages, WPM/transcript-match scoring, Week Ahead line, roll-forward rule, and Student Work Portfolio saves.

September 26, 2026

Easier-to-read fluency text (v2.156.1)

LEARNING ZONE

Reading Fluency Check passage text is now larger and easier to read, with generous line spacing on the warm-paper, dark-ink treatment from the lesson scripts.
While the microphone is listening, the passage grows even larger and becomes the hero of the tile, with the timer and mic status kept below the text.
Presentation only: the fluency engine, scoring, WPM math, honesty labels, and passage content are unchanged; works the same from the classroom tile and the My School Day item.

September 26, 2026

Reading Fluency Check in My School Day (v2.156.0)

LEARNING ZONE

🎙️ Reading Fluency Check in My School Day: the one-minute read-aloud is now a daily item in the Reading & Writing block, right after classwork.
📖 Placement-matched passages: the check runs the existing transcript-matching engine with a passage band matched to your child's Week-1 reading placement.
🔁 Fair roll-forward: finish today's check to mark it done — an unfinished check returns tomorrow on top of the next day's work.
🗓️ Week Ahead line: parents see the daily fluency check in the Week Ahead planner.
🗂️ Portfolio capture: fluency results are saved to the Student Work Portfolio for parent review.
🔗 Deep link: /classroom/fluency opens the check in place on the classroom home.
🎤 Talk-to-Grace: the classroom mic button now covers the fluency tile too.

September 26, 2026

Classroom, Principal Tech & Coach Caleb upgrades (v2.155.0)

LEARNING ZONE

🔧 Fix-It Round with Teacher Grace: after a graded worksheet or quiz, Grace walks your child through each missed question for a second try — the original score never changes.
🌱 Keep-it-fresh tile: Grace schedules quick review right when a topic starts to fade, with a streak that grows each time it is remembered.
🎤 Reading fluency checks: one-minute read-alouds with transcript matching and gentle pacing feedback.
📅 Week-ahead planner: parents see what is coming next week for each child.
🔗 Family assignment sync: one family code syncs assignments across all your devices — enter the same code on another device to join it.
👨‍💼 Principal Tech now tracks your requests with live status, takes grade-review requests (unlocked with your parent PIN — grades never change automatically), builds a conference brief, prints your NC homeschool records packet, and awards monthly Honor Roll certificates.
🏋️ Coach Caleb now starts every workout with a gear & body check — an "owie" switches to gentle stretching and saves a parent-visible note.
📊 Quarterly workout benchmarks with charts tracking daily gym, themed packs, challenges, and recess play.
💬 Eight Bible-threaded sportsmanship huddle talks, before and after workouts, plus Go Play! recess prompts matched to the current PE strand.
📷 Camera honesty: the workout camera is now described as a live mirror for your child — never form analysis.

September 26, 2026

17 more admin upgrades (v2.154.0)

ADMIN

Inbox reply-SLA tracking: threads breaching the reply target surface in the alert banner.
Unified per-family timeline: activity, billing, and messages in one read-only view.
Churn-risk scorecard flags at-risk subscribers before they cancel.
Subscriber cohort retention curves show how each signup month holds up.
Configurable outbound webhooks for new, failed, and canceled subscriptions, urgent inbox messages, billing disputes, and error spikes (operator URLs only).
Gift subscription codes grant comp months through the audited billing path.
Per-question text overrides, editable right from the wrong-question report queue.
One-shot scheduled announcements plus best-send-time suggestions.
New-IP admin-login anomaly alerts in the banner and a known-IP list.
Single-use TOTP recovery codes, hashed and shown once.
Dunning outcomes with Stripe-hosted invoice PDFs on every row.
Player tags with bulk tag management.
Per-child learning pace overrides: week skips, subject holds, roll-forward pause.
Deploy history log for one-click Render redeploys.
Linked student and account names everywhere — no more unexplained "Player".
Stripe automatic retries and dunning now limited to AE Arcade & Learning items only.
Stripe retry table gains an Invoice column with a one-click PDF link per invoice.

September 26, 2026

15 more admin upgrades (v2.153.0)

ADMIN

🚀 **One-click Render redeploy** — paste your Render deploy-hook URL once into the Deploy status card; a "Redeploy now" button triggers it from the panel. The URL is never shown back, never logged, and never leaves the server.
🧠 **Student learning snapshot** — expand any player row to see struggle flags grouped by subject, Week-1 placement levels with reasoning, and portfolio score trends (recent vs. earlier averages).
👁️ **View as family** — a read-only support view of exactly what a family sees (announcements, storage state, subscription summary). Every view is audit-logged; nothing can be changed from it.
🤖 **Inbox auto-responder rules** — match text in a message's subject/body to auto-apply labels, set priority, and queue canned replies as **drafts only — never auto-sent**. Rules fire on each new message and on demand.
📤 **Scheduled CSV exports** — weekly/monthly exports (players, subscribers, inbox, coin ledger, announcements) delivered by email (to you only) or saved to disk, with a run-now button and job-status tracking.
🧪 **Announcement A/B testing** — send variant A to half a segment and B to the other half, compare seen-rates from read receipts, declare a winner (or pick manually on a tie), then full-send the winner.
📈 **Player activity timeline + busy-hours heatmap** — per-player newest-first timeline (sign-ins, matches, coins, schoolwork) and a fleet-wide 24×7 busy-hours heatmap for the last 60 days.
💳 **Stripe retry visibility** — the dunning card now shows each open invoice's retry attempt count and next retry date from Stripe (or reports honestly when Stripe isn't configured).
🧾 **Family billing timeline** — chronological money history per family: plan start, comp months, refund notes, cancellation records, storage-plan events. Card charges themselves still live in the Stripe dashboard.
⌨️ **Typed confirmations + 7-day soft-delete** — destructive buttons (bulk delete, log-out-everywhere, restore) require typing DELETE/RESTORE. Deleted players are soft-deleted with a 7-day restore window via the "Recently deleted players" card, then purged.
🌙 **Dark/light mode, shortcuts, remembered UI** — opt-in light theme toggle, keyboard shortcuts (g p / g t / g i / / / ? / Esc), per-card collapse, and the last tab remembered across visits. Zero visual change until you opt in.
🔐 **Optional TOTP 2FA** — set up an authenticator app for the admin panel from the Access tab (secret shown once). When enabled, login requires password + 6-digit code.
📰 **Monday admin digest** — a weekly business summary (new vs. churned subscribers, MRR move, inbox volume, server errors, deploy version) emailed to you every Monday; test-send any time.
🚩 **Wrong-question reports + kill-switch** — kids can flag a wrong worksheet question with two taps; the admin queue shows every report with a one-click hide/unhide switch that pulls the question from rotation instantly.
🕵️ **Sign-in history** — last 20 sign-ins per player (time, IP, coarse device label), auto-pruned; full device details are never stored. Disclosed in Terms §2.

September 26, 2026

15 more admin upgrades (v2.152.0)

ADMIN

MRR / churn revenue analytics card (Tools tab; estimates labeled as estimates, test players excluded)
Churned-subscriber win-back list with one-click **draft** offer text (drafts only — nothing is ever sent or comped automatically)
Room chat moderation: flag-word list, per-player chat mutes (chat text is never persisted)
Household challenge team-name review: rename, hide/unhide teams
Announcement drafts, recurring announcements (with due-runner), and seeded announcement templates
Follow-up reminders on inbox threads and private player notes, with due counts in the alert banner
Premium-item catalog manager with disable/enable and validation
Deploy status card (version, commit, uptime, data-dir size)
Server error-log viewer (errors captured from boot)
Read-only API tokens with scoped access to players/subscribers/billing reads
Audit-trail integrity seal: hash-chained entries plus a "Verify integrity" button in the Audit Log tab
Storage trends and cleanup suggestions per child
Inbox bulk actions (label / resolve / delete)
Full mobile-friendly admin pass (responsive layout, 44px tap targets)
Terms of Service §3 now notes room messages may be filtered for safety and players may be muted when necessary.
Login-view mounting safeguards (from the v2.151.1 fix) extended to all new modules: no authenticated fetch before the panel is visible.

September 26, 2026

Admin login refresh-loop fix (v2.151.1)

ADMIN

**Admin page no longer refreshes endlessly on the login page.** The v2.151.0 ops module mounted its cards by polling for elements that exist (hidden) behind the login view, so the backup card's initial data load hit `GET /api/admin/ops/backups` while signed out → 401 → `location.reload()` → loop. Mounts now wait until the admin panel is actually visible, the 401 handler only bounces to the login view when the panel is up, and the upgrade-module inits re-run from `showPanel()` so a slow sign-in still gets its cards.
Added regression test `test/admin-ops-login-view.js` (jsdom): asserts zero `/api/admin/ops/*` calls and zero reloads from the login view, and normal mount + load once signed in. Negative control confirmed the old code reproduced the bug.
No server changes. No Terms changes (admin-only behavior fix).

September 26, 2026

15 new admin upgrades (v2.151.0)

ADMIN

💾 **Backup restore + auto-backups** — the Audit tab could download a backup but never restore one. Now: backup history list, nightly auto-backups, one-click restore (with confirm + audit entry), and a per-file integrity check.
☑️ **Bulk player operations** — multi-select checkboxes on the player table: bulk suspend, unsuspend, access-type change, and delete, with one audit entry per bulk action.
🔍 **Family 360° search** — one search box (name, email, player ID, short ID) returning a unified family card: player, subscriber, open inbox threads, recent audit entries, coin-ledger summary.
✉️ **Proactive family messaging** — "Message this family" on player/subscriber rows; delivers as a targeted announcement plus an inbox thread, replies land back in the inbox.
💳 **Past-due dunning dashboard** — past-due subscriptions (from Stripe behind-tracking, with subscriber fallback) with one-tap reminder drafts, comp months, and cancellation notes — all logged as billing actions, never auto-sent.
🛡️ **Fraud & abuse signals** — flags coin velocity spikes, repeated free-slot claims, and failed admin logins by IP, with block/unblock controls.
😴 **Quiet-player win-back** — "Gone quiet" list (7/14/30 days, configurable) with one-tap targeted announcement nudges.
🔑 **Admin session management** — active-sessions list (login time, IP, current highlighted) with per-session revoke and "log out everywhere", next to Log out.
📧 **Outbound email log** — digest/inbox mail queue with pending/failed/sent status, SMTP status inline, and manual retry where a resend path exists.
🪙 **Coin economy dashboard** — total coins in circulation, awarded vs. spent (week/month), top earners, and spike alerts on unusual award bursts.
🔀 **Merge duplicate players** — combine split profiles: coins summed, items unioned, ledger history moved, both IDs kept in the audit trail.
🧪 **Test-player flag** — mark your own test players; they're excluded from the stats row, player compare, bulk grants, and CSV exports unless explicitly included.
📦 **Per-family data export** — one-click JSON bundle (profile, coin ledger, learning summary, inbox threads, announcements, billing notes) for parent data requests.
📊 **Announcement read analytics** — per-announcement delivered vs. seen counts and open rates in the announcements list.
🗓️ **Scheduled jobs dashboard** — one view of every scheduled task (scheduled announcements, retention policy, digest cadence) with last-run, next-run, and last result.

September 26, 2026

Student name syncs to the arcade player name (v2.150.1)

ADMIN

🐛 **Admin panel player names fixed** — Austin reported the admin panel still showed "Player" after a student's name was set. Root cause: the admin reads the arcade player profile's name, but nothing copied the family account's student name onto the student's linked arcade profile — not at first login, not on rename. Now the student's name syncs onto their arcade player profile on every student sign-in and whenever the parent renames the student. The parent's own profile is untouched.

September 26, 2026

Coach's Corner in PE worksheets (v2.150.0)

LEARNING ZONE

🏋️ **Coach's Corner in every PE worksheet** — the full Coach's Corner panel (Daily Gym, Warm up, Coach my workout, Cool down, themed workout packs, streak line, weekly challenge, family challenge, Coach Plus) now appears inside each Physical Education worksheet, right after the intro and before the questions. Grade-aware, feature-flag aware, and PE-only — other subjects are untouched.

September 26, 2026

Back-office, dashboard, Principal Tech, and Coach upgrades (v2.149.0)

ADMIN

🛠️ **Admin alert banner** — unread inbox, failed logins, quota warnings, and new subscribers at a glance.
📢 **Segmented announcements** — target paying families, new families, or specific players instead of everyone.
💬 **Inbox canned replies** — one-click templates for recurring parent topics.
💳 **Billing admin tools** — link subscribers to Stripe, record refunds, comps, and cancellations.
💾 **Per-child storage quotas** — override quotas and delete individual cloud files.
🔍 **Audit drill-downs** — filter by action, player, and date range.
📊 **More CSV exports** — subscribers, inbox, coin ledgers, announcements.
🔖 **Saved player filters** — one-click named searches.
🚦 **Feature-flag kill switches** — disable a broken feature without redeploying.
🏷️ **Inbox labels & escalation** — tag threads, flag priorities.
🗑️ **Data retention controls** — configurable caps with auto-purge.
👥 **Player compare** — side-by-side view to spot duplicates.
📝 **Bulk-grant reasons** — note why a grant went out; stored in the ledger and activity feed.
📧 **Weekly digest email** — the Principal Tech digest sent by email, archived in-dashboard.
🖨️ **Printable report cards** — per-child one-pager with averages, attendance, and a Grace comment.
🔔 **Falling-behind & streak nudges** — proactive alerts before a streak breaks.
📈 **Curriculum pacing** — per-subject pace vs. the 36-week plan with projected finish.
🪙 **Parent-set coin rewards** — automatic coin rules for learning milestones.
⏱️ **Screen-time insight** — classroom study time next to arcade play time.
🔕 **Notification preferences** — parents choose which notices they get.
📅 **Attendance calendar** — printable school-year record with vacations overlaid.
⚖️ **Child comparison** — quiz averages, attendance, streaks, books read side by side.
🎯 **Learning goals** — weekly/term goals with progress rings.
📚 **Reading-band progression** — track growth toward the next band.
⭐ **Portfolio highlights reel** — curated best-work showcase.
🚨 **Urgent-flag escalation** — parents pin urgent messages to the top of the inbox.
🤖 **Smart FAQ auto-answers** — suggestions before a message is even sent.
⏳ **Stale-thread SLA reminders** — nudges for threads unreplied 48+ hours.
📆 **Monthly trend reports** — month-over-month per-child rollups.
🤝 **Conference scheduling** — parents pick slots, Austin confirms in admin.
🧾 **Billing-dispute flow** — guided form pre-sorts disputes.
🎙️ **Voice input** — dictate Principal Tech messages.
📝 **Curriculum-change requests** — structured, trackable forms.
👀 **Read receipts** — parents see "Seen by the team."
🕘 **Office-hours expectations** — stated reply windows, urgent-flag aware.
📊 **Inbox trend spotting** — category and keyword aggregation.
🏅 **Coach streak coin rewards** — coins at 3/7/14/30-day milestones.
🏁 **Goal races & personal bests** — weekly challenges plus per-exercise bests.
🧠 **Adaptive difficulty** — Coach suggests the next level after 3 completions.
🎬 **Exercise demo library** — "Show me how" gallery with form cues.
🗓️ **Weekly workout plan** — Mon–Sun schedule with rest day, all checkable.
🏋️ **Monthly fitness report card** — print/CSV month view.
😴 **Rest-day logic** — streaks pause gracefully one day a week.
🥗 **Nutrition tie-ins** — Bible-threaded fuel tips after workouts.
⚔️ **Matchup duels** — kid-vs-parent weekly duels on the family leaderboard.
🔄 **Movement-break variety** — rotating stretch routines.
🍂 **Seasonal challenges** — month-themed layers on the weekly challenge.
🌍 **Household team challenges** — opt-in, team display names only.

September 26, 2026

Admin panel expansion (v2.148.0)

ADMIN

📝 **Private player notes** — Austin can keep notes on any player, right in the player row. Only visible in the admin panel; never sent to family devices.
🎁 **Bulk grants** — give coins or a premium item to every player at once (or active players only, skipping suspended ones). Coins floor at zero per player and every move is recorded; one confirmation step, one audit entry.
📅 **Scheduled announcements** — announcements can be posted now or scheduled for a future date and time. Parents only see them once their time arrives; the admin list shows upcoming items with a "posts …" badge.
✏️ **Announcement editing** — fix a typo in a posted announcement with inline Edit/Save, without deleting and reposting.
🔍 **Inbox keyword search** — search the unified inbox across subject, message, and sender, alongside the existing status/type filters.
🪙 **Coin ledger** — every coin movement per player, newest first: games, schoolwork, admin adjustments, and bulk grants, each with the balance after the move.
💾 **One-click full backup** — a single button in the Audit tab downloads every data store as one timestamped JSON file (players, announcements incl. scheduled, notes, ledger, inbox, game reports, audit log, learning profiles). Secrets and keys are never included.
🕘 **Recent activity feed** — a newest-first timeline on the admin home: new players, new subscribers, announcements, inbox arrivals, and key admin actions.

September 25, 2026

v2.147.1: Admin panel auto-refresh

LEARNING ZONE

Admin panel now auto-refreshes its data every 5 minutes (players, subscribers, cloud storage, inbox, audit log, announcements)
Refreshes pause while you're typing, while the tab is in the background, and can be paused/resumed with the new toggle in the header
In-progress inbox reply drafts are preserved across refreshes
"Updated" timestamp in the admin header shows when data was last pulled

September 25, 2026

v2.147.0: Admin panel, rebuilt + family fitness

LEARNING ZONE

🗂️ **Reorganized admin panel.** The `/admin` panel is now five tidy tabs — **Players**, **Premium & Coins**, **Cloud Storage**, **Access**, **Audit Log** — with the Principal Tech inbox and the family-announcement composer kept above the tabs. Every existing function survived the move: player lookup and management, premium-item grant/revoke, coin adjustments, immediate suspensions, manual access-type controls, per-child cloud-storage display, learning-profile star/academy-name/PIN-reset controls, subscribers, the inbox, the full append-only audit history, and free-slot revocation.
📊 **Admin stats overview.** Total players, active count, suspended count, and total cloud storage used — right at the top of the panel.
🔍 **Player search and filters.** Search by name, label, or ID; filter by active/suspended and by access type.
⏳ **Timed suspensions.** Suspend through a future date with a required reason — lifts automatically after expiry, reason lands in the audit log; the immediate suspension still works as before.
📥 **CSV exports.** One-click downloads of the player list and the complete retained audit log.
🗑️ **Inbox deletion.** Austin can now delete **resolved** inbox items — parent messages (with their whole reply thread) and student game reports — permanently. The button appears only on resolved items; every attempt is audit-logged, and the audit log itself is never touched.
🏋️ **Family fitness challenge.** Coach Caleb's opt-in weekly challenge with a family leaderboard for children and parents, announced in Coach's own natural voice.
🧘 **Movement breaks.** Brief, dismissible, cheerful stretch breaks during long lessons and practice — never in quizzes, tests, exams, or placement, never in the opening minutes.
📢 **Family announcements.** Posted from the admin panel, timestamped and newest-first; parents see them in the Parent Dashboard. Austin can delete them.
💡 **Smart check-ins.** Principal Tech surfaces dismissible check-ins in the Parent Dashboard after three quiet days, or at three or more struggle flags — no push notifications, ever.
📜 Terms updated (new section 18) and the 16-step curriculum tour stays current.

September 25, 2026

v2.146.0: Coach Caleb themed workouts, weekly fitness summary, and Principal Tech weekly parent digest

feature

🎭 Coach Caleb themed workouts: Coach's Corner in the PE elective now has **Bible Heroes** (train like David, Samson, and Deborah), **Animal Movers** (bear crawls, frog jumps, crab walks), and **Sports Skills** (footwork, power, balance) workout packs, each with **Beginner**, **Intermediate**, and **Advanced** difficulty levels. Difficulty scales the reps, seconds, and circuit rounds to the child's grade band. Coach leads every themed workout in his own natural voice through the guided workout runner with the optional camera mirror, and themed completions are stored on the device.
🏋️ Weekly fitness summary: the Parent Dashboard's Principal Tech tab now shows a weekly fitness summary from Coach Caleb's stored workout data — workouts completed this week (daily gym + themed packs), active days, the current workout streak, and weekly challenge progress, with a per-pack breakdown. Workout storage is per-browser, so the summary is labeled as the family total on this device.
📬 Principal Tech weekly parent digest: a per-child weekly digest in the Parent Dashboard's Principal Tech tab — what the child completed this week (saved schoolwork, subjects, average score), their current struggle areas from the struggle flags, and what's next (the suggested focus with the next real lesson) — drawn from the portfolio, grades, and progress already on file. Principal Tech still greets the parent by chosen title and last name, and child names stay first-name-only.
⚡ Principal Tech support quick actions: the quick-actions panel gains **Billing question**, **Curriculum question**, and **Request a call**. Each drops the parent into the existing message flow with the right category and a suggested subject, using the same send pipeline (email when configured, server queue, or the email app) as before. Requesting a call collects a callback number and time in the message — nothing is auto-scheduled.
📜 Terms updated: the Terms now describe the weekly parent digest and weekly fitness summary (new section 17) and the support quick actions (section 8).
The 16-step curriculum tour stays current with this release's additions.

September 25, 2026

v2.145.0: Welcome Page After Checkout, Log Out Buttons

FAMILY ACCOUNTS

👋 New `/welcome` landing page: parent login, student login, and parent-account creation in one place
✅ Subscription confirmation banner after checkout, with the plan and email
📧 Parent-account form pre-fills the Stripe checkout email
⏻ Log out buttons on the arcade and classroom headers return to the welcome page
🔒 Signed-in families see "Continue to the classroom" or can switch accounts from the welcome page

September 25, 2026

v2.144.0: Parent Login After Subscription, Student Logins in the Parent Dashboard

LEARNING ZONE

👤 The parent login is now created after the subscription starts: right after a verified Stripe checkout, parents are invited to create their login (email pre-filled from the checkout), and the paid subscription is linked to the new family account automatically.
🔒 Creating a parent login without a verified paid subscription is no longer possible — checkout comes first. Logging in with an existing account is unchanged.
🎒 Student logins are now set in the Parent Dashboard: a new "Student logins" section lets the signed-in parent add students, rename them, set new PINs, and remove them.
🏫 A student signs in with the parent's email, their name, and their PIN — on any device — and it opens their classroom, with the family's paid subscription following them.
🎒 The arcade page header now has a Student Login button too, so a student on a new device can sign in and head straight to their classroom.

September 25, 2026

v2.143.0: Family Accounts, Principal Tech Reliability, Coach Caleb Streaks

LEARNING ZONE

👤 **Family accounts — one login on any device.** Families can now create a free family account: the **parent login** (email + password) is the main login, and each **student** gets a separate simple login (parent's email + their name + a short PIN the parent sets). Sign in on any phone, tablet, or computer and the linked profile — coins, premium items, avatars — comes along, along with a paid subscription bought while signed in (checked live on every device). Parents manage students, change passwords and PINs, reset a forgotten password by email, and log out from the Family dialog.
🏫 **Principal Tech reliability.** Half-typed messages survive reloads, the conversation persists, failed sends get a one-tap retry, and a new-reply banner appears without wiping a draft. The mail-app fallback is cleaned up after use. Each child's flagged struggle now points the parent at the next real lesson — the matching Study Materials shelf — and the weekly letter carries per-child stats, shared family totals, and one suggested focus.
🏋️ **Coach Caleb upgrades.** Workout streaks with milestone celebrations at 3, 7, 14, and 30 days, active-days-this-week tracking, a deterministic weekly bodyweight challenge, and a gentle nudge after three quiet days.
📖 **Tour & docs.** The 16-step curriculum tour recaps what's new, the README documents the v2.143.0 changes, and the Terms describe family accounts, password/PIN responsibilities, and cross-device paid access.

September 25, 2026

v2.142.0: Dashboard Tabs, Weekly Letter, Virtual Dissections, Hymns & Avatars

LEARNING ZONE

Dashboard Tabs: the five Parent Dashboard groups are now tabs — Setup, Progress, Work, Principal Tech, Settings — with arrow-key navigation and the last tab remembered
Weekly Principal Tech letter: a Monday check-in summarizing the child's week with one suggested focus, shown once per week
Virtual Dissection Labs: three premium screen-only labs (frog, earthworm, cow eye) with guided walkthroughs and quizzes; hands-on dissections stay free with supplier ordering links in the dashboard
Six premium hymns in the music shop: Amazing Grace, It Is Well, Great Is Thy Faithfulness, Holy Holy Holy, Come Thou Fount, Be Thou My Vision
Five new avatars: Brave Lion, Night Owl, Swift Shark (coin shop), Starlight Unicorn, Ember Phoenix (premium)
Dissection kit ordering links beside pending and planned dissections

September 25, 2026

v2.141.0: Floating Back-to-Top Button

LEARNING ZONE

A floating back-to-top button now appears on every page once you scroll down — one tap smooth-scrolls back to the top.
Big phone-friendly touch target, keyboard accessible, and respects reduced-motion settings.
Sits quietly below popups and menus so it never covers anything important.
A 👪 Parent Dashboard button now sits at the top of the arcade page — one tap opens the PIN-gated dashboard straight from the arcade home.

September 25, 2026

v2.140.0: Science Dissections

LEARNING ZONE

Optional preserved-specimen studies for high-school Biology: earthworm, crayfish, perch, frog, fetal pig, cow eye, sheep heart, and flowering plant — each with a Grace-led step-by-step walkthrough.
📦 **Ordering notes:** every specimen card tells the family the specimen may have to be ordered ahead (1–3 weeks for preserved specimens), so parents schedule the dissection after it arrives.
🙋 **Ask parent to schedule:** the student taps a button on their science week and the request waits in the Parent Dashboard, where the parent picks a date and assigns it to the Planned Dissections schedule.
Safety first: grown-up nearby, gloves, optional studies with virtual/model alternatives that always count — never live animals.

September 25, 2026

v2.139.0: Realistic Coach Caleb portrait

LEARNING ZONE

Coach Caleb is now a realistic photo portrait like Teacher Grace: friendly coach in his red cap and blue polo with his whistle, shown in Coach's Corner, workout sessions, guided PE lesson workout steps, and PE worksheets.
The old cartoon SVG portrait is retired everywhere — the lesson player, Coach sessions, and PE worksheets all show Coach's real photo.

September 25, 2026

v2.138.0: Coach Caleb's natural voice + PE worksheet coaching

LEARNING ZONE

Coach Caleb's voice now sounds like a real person: the app picks the most natural-sounding English voice on the device (neural/natural voices first), with a warmer pace, gentle pitch and speed drift, and a natural breath between sentences.
Coach Caleb now coaches the Physical Education worksheets: his voice introduces the sheet, reads the questions aloud, and walks the child through "Do it with Coach" one question at a time with his portrait and encouragement. Grace still grades every paper.
PE worksheet work saves to the Student Work Portfolio as Coach-taught, and the Parent Dashboard's Taught by filter includes Coach Caleb.

September 25, 2026

v2.137.0: Daily Gym and Coach's camera

LEARNING ZONE

New: 📅 Daily Gym with Coach Caleb — six everyday moves (jumping jacks, squats, push-ups, plank, tree pose, stretch), scaled by grade band, with Coach counting every rep and daily completion tracked.
New: 📷 optional camera mirror in Coach sessions — turn it on so Coach can watch your child's form next to the cues; video never leaves the device and is never recorded.
Coach's Corner grows to four buttons: Daily Gym, Warm up, Coach my workout, Cool down, with a daily status line.
Terms of Service: new section 9 covers the optional camera (local-only, never recorded); effective date updated.
New regression coverage in test/coach.js: daily routine scaling, daily completion, camera graceful-degradation, terms numbering.

September 24, 2026

v2.136.0: Coach Caleb joins Physical Education

LEARNING ZONE

New character: Coach Caleb, the Physical Education coach — whistle portrait, his own voice, and Bible-threaded coaching ("your body is God's temple").
Coach's Corner in every PE week: Warm up with Coach (grade-scaled warm-ups), Coach my workout (counts every rep of the week's workout with form cues and water breaks), and Cool down with Coach.
Coach-led workout sessions with a big rep counter, spoken counting, exercise-matched form cues, pause/skip/end controls, and stars for finishing.
Guided PE lessons: Grace still teaches and demonstrates each skill, then Coach Caleb takes the whistle for the workout — his name and portrait appear in the lesson player.
New regression tests in test/coach.js: grade bands, warm-ups, rep parsing, form cues, classroom wiring, styles, and the 16-step tour.

September 25, 2026

v2.135.0: Sudoku

ARCADE

🔢 New arcade game: Sudoku. Classic 9x9 with Easy, Normal, and Hard puzzles (42, 32, and 26 givens), every puzzle verified to have exactly one solution. Play solo, race computer opponents, or race friends online — every racer gets the same puzzle. Wrong entries count as mistakes but are never placed; pencil notes, erase, and row/column/box highlighting included.
🧪 New regression tests pin Sudoku's unique-solution puzzles, race rules, and bot pacing.

September 24, 2026

v2.133.0: Life Skills moves into Core Subjects

LEARNING ZONE

Life Skills moved into Core Subjects: the classroom's Life Skills dropdown is gone and the Life Skills tile (real home skills, 5 levels x 36 weeks, Grace-taught with Bible threads) now lives inside the Core Subjects dropdown. The classroom is now six dropdown sections: Core Subjects, Watch & Explore, Practice & Fun, My Learning, Parent-Led Lessons (still hidden), and Do Together.
Guided tour updated: the Life Skills stop now opens Core Subjects and explains the move; the Core Subjects stop lists Life Skills among the full-year courses; the 16-step tour is intact.
Regression tests updated: classroom dropdown, category, priority-order, and tour tests pin the new six-group order and the Life Skills tile inside Core Subjects.

September 24, 2026

v2.132.0: Classroom dropdowns and Grown-ups bar parent tools

LEARNING ZONE

🗂️ The classroom is now one organized list of dropdown sections — the "Taught by Teacher Grace" and "Taught by Parent" banners are gone. Tap any section (Core Subjects, Life Skills, Watch & Explore, Practice & Fun, My Learning, Do Together) to open or close it, and the app remembers your choices on the device.
🧑‍🦳 The Parent Dashboard, Principal Tech, and Today's progress moved together into the Grown-ups quick bar at the top of the classroom page — no more scrolling past the classroom to reach parent tools.
🔒 Age filtering now hides dropdown sections left with no matching tiles, so filtered views stay tidy.
🧭 The guided tour opens each dropdown section as it walks you through it, and its parent step now spotlights the Grown-ups bar.
🧪 New regression tests pin the dropdown structure, toggle wiring, collapsed-by-default rendering, per-group saved state, age-filter group hiding, and the Grown-ups bar's three buttons.

September 24, 2026

v2.131.0: Three question levels in every question game

ARCADE

🎮 All 17 question games now have three question levels: Level 1, 2, and 3 — each level asks different questions, with Level 3 the hardest. Pick your level when you start a game.
📚 That covers Math Blitz, Word Voyager, Atlas Quest, Grammar Galaxy, Lab Legends, Count the Stars, Colors of Creation, Covenant Math, Temple Math, Doctrine Detectives, Epistle Exam, Kings & Kingdoms, Loaves & Fishes, Mission Map, Proverbs Logic, Scripture Sleuth, and Exodus Path.
🔁 After finishing a game, the Next-level button takes you straight into the next harder set of questions — beat all three levels to be crowned a Level 3 Champion.
🧒 Quiz Bowl and Bible Race already asked different questions every round, so they are unchanged — and the matching, memory, and ordering games ask no questions to level.
🧪 New regression tests pin all three levels: disjoint question banks, harder questions at higher levels, level pickers, next-level progression, and the champion crown.

September 24, 2026

v2.130.0: My School Day coin fairness, roll-forward, and storage honesty

LEARNING ZONE

🪙 My School Day worksheets now earn exactly 1 coin per completed sheet — and only when the sheet is fully answered and every answer is correct. No coins are awarded until every question is answered.
📅 If your child doesn't finish all of the day's My School Day subjects, the unfinished ones roll into the next day on top of that day's regular work.
🧠 Questions across My School Day, worksheets, quizzes, tests, and exams now accept multiple right answers — an answer that is correct but worded differently still counts as right.
🗓️ Upcoming Features items marked as delivered now drop off the list 4 days after delivery (previously 7).
🔁 Arcade games have a new Next round / Next level button — when a game ends, one tap takes your child straight into the next round or level.
👧 The arcade player name now follows the child's name you set in the Parent Dashboard — set it once, and it shows up on every game.
💾 The admin panel now shows how much cloud storage each child is using.
⚠️ The Parent Dashboard warns you when a child reaches 80% of their storage limit, with a get-more-storage option right there.
🛑 When a child's storage plan is full, saving to the cloud stops cleanly with a clear message instead of failing silently — saving on the device keeps working offline, and saved work is never deleted automatically.
🗑️ You can now delete individual saved files from the Parent Dashboard (behind your parent PIN) to free up space on a child's storage plan.
🙋 Every field trip now has an "Ask parent" button so your child can ask you to schedule the trip.
🎵 The Founding Documents library now holds five patriotic songs alongside the six founding documents: the national anthem (The Star-Spangled Banner, all four verses), America the Beautiful, My Country, 'Tis of Thee, and Yankee Doodle with complete lyrics printed in the app (offline-friendly), plus God Bless America with its Library of Congress story.

September 20, 2026

v2.129.0 — Full K-12 grades

LEARNING ZONE

Math, English Language Arts, Reading & Writing, IEW Writing, Science (K–8 general science, then biology, chemistry, anatomy, and a Grade-12 capstone), Physics, Geography, History, Bible, Civics, Arts & Crafts, Physical Education, Life Skills, Vocabulary, Music, Computer Skills, and Languages (Spanish).
The Week-1 assessment week places an exact grade per subject, so a child can be ahead in Math and lower in Reading independently. My School Day, worksheets, study materials, quizzes, tests, the gradebook, transcripts, and certificates all follow each subject's placed grade.
Grade content loads per subject and grade on demand, keeping the app fast.
The Matching Sets item in My School Day and the Matching Sets worksheet subject now follow the child's placed grade.

September 20, 2026

v2.128.2 — Matching Sets in My School Day and worksheets

LEARNING ZONE

**My School Day:** a daily 🔢 Matching Sets practice item now appears under Bible (outside assessment weeks), with done/started/to-do status and Grace coaching every pick.
**Worksheets:** a new "🔢 Matching Sets" worksheet subject builds a two-column matching sheet from your child's real verse deck, with Grace's introduction and a PIN-gated answer key.

September 20, 2026

v2.128.1 — Idea #14 correction: numbered verse matching sets

LEARNING ZONE

🔢 Correction: idea #14 is in. v2.128.0 shipped fourteen ideas with the numbered memory-verse matching sets left out — that exclusion was a mistake, not the plan. Memory Verse Cards now has a 🔢 Matching Sets mode: numbered verses on one side, shuffled references on the other. Tap a number, then tap its reference; Grace coaches every pick, matched pairs lock in, and results save through the FlashCards session engine (stars, Student Work Portfolio, struggle flags). The retired Bible Memory activity stays retired.
🧪 Tests corrected. The v2.128.0 integration suite wrongly asserted idea #14 was excluded; it now requires all fifteen ideas, and the verse-cards suite covers the new Matching Sets mode.

September 20, 2026

v2.128.0 — The classroom-ideas wave, AE Arcade style

LEARNING ZONE

✅ Self-checking worksheets. Worksheets now check each answer the moment the child works it — instant ✓/✗ feedback with Grace's voice coaching through the 3-try rule. "Grade my paper" still stays locked until every question is answered, and Teacher Grace still does the final grading. Parents see self-check practice in the dashboard.
📖 Parent Editions. Every worksheet subject now ships a Parent Edition: the answer key (always behind the parent PIN), 2–3 discussion prompts, and a 5-minute extension activity for a short devotional-style conversation.
📝 Assign to your household. Parents can assign a worksheet, game, verse, or collection to one child or all children from the Parent Dashboard — it lands in the child's My School Day as extra work. Finishing a unit triggers milestone celebrations (🎉 "Finished the Genesis unit!") with Grace cheering the child on.
📊 Parent gradebook. A new printable gradebook report auto-builds from saved grades — per child, per subject averages, academy name, term dates — formatted for state homeschool record-keeping, with CSV download.
📚 Named collections. Parents bookmark activities, worksheets, verses, and videos into named collections ("Noah unit", "Psalm 23 week") and send a collection straight to a child's device as their to-do list.
📅 This Week + Grace Recommends. A fresh themed resource set drops every week for every level, with Grace's own picks-of-the-week cards by theme and season — plus a 📧 Email to family button so a spouse or grandparent can reinforce the week's learning.
🔊 Audio for pre-readers. Every instruction and question in the new games (and youngest-band worksheets) gets a big 🔊 "Hear it" button — Grace reads it aloud so pre-readers play independently.
🎙️ Quiz Bowl. Grace hosts a game-show: three rapid-fire rounds of KJV-grounded Bible questions across all five age bands, with "I don't know" on every quiz question, beat-your-best tracking, and coin rewards.
🦒 Ark Sort. Hold-and-drag sorting games: pair animals into the ark, sort Bible books into Old vs. New Testament, sort parables by theme.
🗺️ Quest Map. Treasure-map adventures — answer to advance along the path of Paul's missionary journeys or the Exodus route, with Grace narrating every stop.
🎲 Family Game Night. Printable Bible board games for the whole family: the Exodus Journey Race board, Disciple Match memory cards, and car-trip Bible Bingo.
💪 Praise workouts. Twelve guided movement-break cards between lessons — stretch, march, and dance with verses about praising God with our bodies; a "Take a praise break" card appears between My School Day subjects.
🎵 Scripture Songs. The Learning Theater gains a sing-along shelf: eight KJV memory verses set to singable melodies with word-by-word highlighting as Grace sings along — plus a song of the day.
🔢 Numbered matching sets. Memory Verse Cards gains a Matching Sets mode: numbered verses on one side, shuffled references on the other — tap a number, then tap its reference, with Grace coaching every pick. (Completed in v2.128.1.)

September 19, 2026

v2.127.0 — Retire orphaned activities; bubble-only tools; remove Bible Heroes

LEARNING ZONE

Retired 16 standalone activities from the Classroom: Bible Heroes, Creation Order, Scripture & Origins, Bible Bookshelf, Bible Memory, Verse Builder, Fruit of the Spirit, Bible Math, Number Quest, Word Lab, Science Lab, Geography Quest, Time Machine, World History, American History, and Year of Learning. Their sections, routes, menu tiles, and game code are gone.
All of the retired games' questions live on where they matter: the Quiz Center, Worksheets, Flash Cards, and Study Materials still draw on the same curriculum data.
Bible Heroes is removed as a standalone game per Austin's direction. The Bible Heroes Trail (learning trail) is renamed to Bible Stories, and its stops still lead to Bible curriculum, worksheets, Quiz Center, and Children's Bible. The Bible Heroes assessment subject is retired; Creation is now the default assessment subject.
Holy Bible, Children's Bible, My Notebook, and Hometown Map are now Student Tools bubble-only: their Classroom menu tiles are removed, but the full readers, notebook, and map stay available from the 🧰 Student Tools bubble on any screen.
Arts & Crafts and Physical Education stay available as My School Day electives (Music, Computer Skills, and Languages alongside them); their classroom tiles were already hidden and their sections, curricula, and elective wiring are untouched.
Teacher Grace's "Learn with Teacher Grace" buttons now cover the live activities only: Quiz Center, Creation Lab experiments, Academy modules, and the curriculum tour. The retired games' Grace wrappers are removed.
"Talk to Teacher Grace" mic coverage now matches the live classroom: retired games removed from its activity lists.
The 16-step guided curriculum tour is updated: it no longer claims the retired games still work from their own pages.
New regression test (test/product-pruning-2127.js) pins the pruning: retired IDs absent from the registry/sections/routes, bubble tools present in the Student Tools bubble, 16 tour steps with resolving targets.

September 19, 2026

v2.126.0 — Hygiene pass: dead-code removal, name unification, verification gaps closed

LEARNING ZONE

Hygiene pass: removed dead code (unused Hebrew/Greek courses file, six dead helpers) and duplicate Parent Dashboard summaries
One shared game display-name source (game-names.js): Tetris, Pac Maze, 8-Ball Pool, Solitaire
Renamed: Find a Lesson, Founding Documents, Word Explorer, Tests & Graduation
Student Tools bubble: Dictionary + Encyclopedia merged into one tool
New real-render tests: Story Workshop, Fruits of the Spirit, Five-Step Lessons, Week-at-Home Packets, Secondary Academy, Notebook CRUD, certificate/diploma snapshots, Field Trips Add-button regression

September 19, 2026

v2.125.3 — Field trip date note + child last name

LEARNING ZONE

Parent Dashboard field trips: a visible note now tells parents to pick the trip date first — a date is needed before a trip can be added.
Child profiles: new optional last name field in the setup wizard and on the Manage Children page; prints on graduation certificates and diplomas alongside the first name. Teacher Grace still addresses every child by first name only.

September 19, 2026

v2.125.2 — Curriculum tour covers the 20 new arcade games

LEARNING ZONE

The guided curriculum tour's Arcade step and final recap now name the 20 educational games shipped in v2.124.0 (Letter Ark through Epistle Exam) alongside the existing lineup; the tour stays at exactly 16 steps.

September 19, 2026

v2.125.1 — Grown-ups bar above My School Day

LEARNING ZONE

**🧑‍🦳 Grown-ups bar moves above My School Day.** On the classroom landing, the Grown-ups quick bar (Parent Dashboard / Today's progress) now renders above the My School Day section instead of below it — in both DOM order and visual order. The bar's buttons and wiring are unchanged. Covered by a new `test/grownups-bar-order.js` regression test.

September 19, 2026

v2.125.0 — Classroom systems + games wave

LEARNING ZONE

🔒 Schoolwork first: parents can flip a per-child toggle in the Parent Dashboard that locks arcade games until the child finishes all eight required My School Day subjects — parent PIN overrides for the day, vacation days and existing admin bypasses unchanged
🎟️ Child sign-in codes: every child gets a password-free 4-letter code (unambiguous letters only); siblings switch learners by tapping their name and typing their code — wrong codes get a gentle "ask a parent for help"
🪙 Schoolwork coins: classroom saves now pay real arcade coins through the server (worksheet 3, quiz 5, sprint 2, drawing 2, story 3, virtues day 3) with a 20-coin daily cap and no double-pays — coins spend in the existing Arcade Shop, and saved drawings can become the child's profile picture
🏁 Bible Race: a race-and-pause game in three parts (Creation, Exodus, Jesus) — 150 original KJV-grounded questions across 5 age bands; the child advances on correct answers while Grace's Lamb advances on a timer; pause freezes the countdown, the lamb, and feedback
🏆 Beat your best: every finished arcade match now records the local player's score (Bible Race included) — arcade cards show "🏆 Best: N" and new records get a celebration
🎬 Sequel progression: finishing Bible Race Part 1 unlocks Part 2, then Part 3 — locked parts show teasers instead of questions
New modules: public/{bible-race,bests,sequels}.js; server endpoint POST /api/schoolwork/reward in src/profiles.js
Child records gain schoolworkFirst, signInCode, avatarDrawingId (browser-local drawing avatars, +2 stars per saved drawing)
Schoolwork completion = all eight required My School Day subjects done; the arcade's aeSchoolworkDone flag is written by the classroom only and rolls over daily
Bible Race is client-only by design (pause needs local timers) — it skips the multiplayer mode chooser and the generic socket restart button is hidden during a race
Curriculum tour stays at exactly 16 steps; the final recap now covers schoolwork-first, sign-in codes, coins, Bible Race, bests, and sequels
README + Terms updated (child sign-in codes, stored Bible Race/sequel/best records)
test/v2125-classroom-systems.js: 42 pass (codes, locks, flags, drawing avatars)
test/v2125-games.js: 150-question integrity, pause behavior, bests, sequels
test/v2125-integration.js: 67 pass (wiring, schoolwork gate truth table, coin claims, recordArcadeBest sandbox)
test/schoolwork-rewards.js: live route, idempotency, 20-coin cap, day rollover
Full npm test suite: green (EXIT=0)

September 19, 2026

v2.124.0 — Classroom content wave

LEARNING ZONE

Biblical Hebrew & Koine Greek: two 12-week language courses (real scripts, KJV-grounded) join Electives Languages (17 courses total)
Grace's Typing Studio: 6 levels × 4 drills, live WPM/accuracy, per-child bests
Fluency Sprints: 60-second math/word sprints, 5 age bands, personal bests
Grace's Story Workshop: settings, characters, surprise combos, saved stories
Fruits of the Spirit: 9-week virtues track (Galatians 5:22–23)
Seasonal Activity Packs: Fall/Winter/Spring/Summer, auto-selected by month
Five-Step Lesson Sessions: 12 Grace-led sessions, sing → practice → apply → story → quiz
Week-at-Home Packets: 5 days × 5 subjects, printable, deterministic
Search Library: searchable index of every classroom activity
Creation Lab reports gain a measurements/data field (4-section reports)
New content files: public/content/{typing-program,virtues-track,seasonal-packs,story-workshop,lesson-sessions,hebrew-greek-courses}.js
New UI modules: public/{typing,virtues,seasonal,story,sessions,packets,sprints,library,lab-writeups}.js
protected/kids.html: 8 new classroom tiles + sections + script tags (content first, then modules)
public/kids.js: activities list, show() routes, Parent Dashboard summaries for all 8 modules
public/progress-sync.js: aeSprintBests, aeLabWriteups, aeTypingProgress, aeVirtuesProgress, aeSeasonalProgress, aeStories, aeSessionProgress, aePackets
config/electives-curricula.json: + bible-hebrew, koine-greek (12 weeks each, electives schema)
Locked five-step lessons show the standard lock panel + parent-PIN unlock (was inert)
Five-step portfolio saves file under the lesson's real subject area (was all 'bible')
Week-at-home packet completions file under 'homeschool' (was 'bible')
Portfolio Area dropdown gains 'Fluency Sprints' + 'Bible' areas
README + 16-step curriculum tour + Terms updated
test/electives.js: 17 courses, 12-week language course invariants
test/parent-dashboard-areas-graph.js: 23 areas incl. sprints + bible
test/lab-writeups.js (new): 4-field markup, persistence schema, prefill, empty guard, portfolio entry
test/content-wave.js: five-step order, packet structure, seasonal month selection
jsdom smoke: all 8 module renders + story/sessions flows + 25 packet slots + 6 typing levels
20 new educational arcade games (all Bible-threaded, Teacher Grace intros, solo/computer/online, star-priced, age-banded with real locks): Letter Ark, Count the Stars, Creation Days, Colors of Creation (4-6); Verse Scramble, Temple Math, Exodus Path, Parable Pairs (7-9); Kings & Kingdoms, Loaves & Fishes, Mission Map, Wisdom Words (10-12); Scripture Sleuth, Covenant Math, Reformation Race, Greek Roots (13-15); Doctrine Detectives, Prophets & Kings, Proverbs Logic, Epistle Exam (16-18).
Student Tools bubble gains Word Reference, Dictionary, Encyclopedia, and Drawing Pad — each opens as an overlay on top of the current screen (Bible, Children's Bible, Notebook, Hometown Map unchanged); the old Classroom tiles are removed, sections/routes/deep links retained.
Learning Theater grows to 32 videos: 10 new biblically backed videos (BibleProject Exodus 1-18, Creation, Noah's Ark, David & Goliath, Easter, Proverbs overviews, LifeKids Easter/Creation, Crossroads Creation) plus Scripture backing on the existing Genesis overview; cards and the player show the backing verse (Backed by Scripture).
Learning Theater joins My School Day: one deterministic, age-appropriate daily video per child, opened straight from the School Day row; marking any video complete stamps the day (re-marking a watched video stamps today without duplicate stars); Grace names the video in the morning greeting.
16-step curriculum tour updated in place: Student Tools lists Word Reference/Dictionary/Encyclopedia/Drawing Pad, Word Reference is no longer called a full-year course, My School Day names the daily Learning Theater video.

September 19, 2026

Public Speaking empty-screen fix 2.123.2

LEARNING ZONE

Fixed: the Public Speaking practice screen in My School Day opened empty because its render function was never exposed as a page global — kids.js silently skipped it. It now renders every time.
The speak screen can never render blank again: every age band resolves to real practice items, unknown or missing age bands fall back to a sensible default, and a defensive empty-state shows Grace's warm-up line instead of nothing.
Regression coverage: the speak view is now rendered for each of the 5 age bands (correct band's first item), a child with no age set, an unrecognized band, and a missing band function — all non-empty.

September 19, 2026

Field trip Add fix + unlocked experiments 2.123.1

LEARNING ZONE

Fixed: tapping "Add trip" in the Parent Dashboard now shows a confirmation naming the trip and its date, so it is always clear the trip was saved.
Fixed: "Add this trip" on one of Grace's 24 field trip ideas no longer loses its confirmation when the list re-renders — parents see the trip was added.
Added: after adding a trip, the Planned trips list scrolls into view so the new trip is immediately visible without hunting for it.
Fixed: if the browser refuses to save (private mode, full storage), the dashboard now says so honestly instead of silently showing an empty list.
Added: planned field trips now sync to the server disk when available — browser storage stays the offline fallback — like the rest of the learning data.
Fixed: My School Day's biweekly Science experiment is now picked from the child's unlocked Creation Lab experiments only — a locked premium experiment can never be assigned.
Fixed: tapping the experiment in My School Day opens that experiment's own directions, not the generic Creation Lab landing.

September 19, 2026

v2.123.0 — Public Speaking, calculator lockout, IDK leaves tests

LEARNING ZONE

**🎤 Public Speaking joins My School Day.** Austin asked for a daily public-speaking subject where the student says it back to Teacher Grace — every school day now carries a 🎤 Speak row. Grace speaks an original line or short passage first (Bible themes, short speeches, story prompts — five age bands), then the student taps the big microphone and says it back through the existing TalkToGrace push-to-talk mic. Grace gives specific, warm feedback with the familiar 3-try pattern; a third miss records a Needs a little help struggle flag. Every finished practice saves to the Student Work Portfolio.
**🚫 No calculator on assessments.** Austin asked that the calculator sit out formal assessments — it is now hidden and locked during Quiz Center quizzes, unit tests, end-of-year/end-of-grade exams, and Week-1 placement diagnostics. Grace says out loud: "No calculator on this one — you've got this!" Practice worksheets keep the calculator.
**🤷 "I don't know" leaves tests and exams.** Austin asked to remove the honest-unknown button from unit tests and end-of-year/end-of-grade exams — one attempt per question, no opt-out. It stays on Quiz Center quizzes and Week-1 placement diagnostics with the same no-penalty rule.
**👨‍👩‍👧 Manage Children is its own page.** Austin asked that it stop living at the bottom of the Parent Dashboard — it now opens on its own page at **/classroom/manageChildren** (deep-linkable), still PIN-gated like the dashboard, with a working back button to the Parent Dashboard.

September 18, 2026

v2.122.2 — I don't know on assessments

LEARNING ZONE

🤷 "I don't know" on every assessment question (Austin's request): Quiz Center quizzes, unit tests, end-of-year exams, end-of-grade exams, and Week-1 placement diagnostics now carry a big, phone-friendly "🤷 I don't know" button on every question.
An honest unknown is never right and never wrong: it is excluded from the score denominator (score = correct ÷ questions answered with a real attempt), so it can never lower a grade or drag a placement level down.
Grace responds warmly when a student taps it ("That's okay — not knowing yet is how we learn. We'll come back to this one together."), and the topic feeds the existing "Needs a little help" struggle flag + year-long spaced reinforcement so she re-teaches it later.
Parent Dashboard grade rows and the Student Work Portfolio show unknowns distinctly ("🤷 Didn't know yet") instead of lumping them with wrong answers.
Worksheets are untouched — ✅ Grade my paper still waits for every question to be answered before it unlocks.

September 18, 2026

v2.122.1 — Grade gate: Grade my paper unlocks only when every question is answered

LEARNING ZONE

✅ Grade my paper now stays locked until every question on the worksheet has an answer (Austin's request).
A short hint beside the button ("Answer every question to unlock grading ✏️") tells the student what unlocks it, and Grace's sheet intro mentions it too.
Grading refuses (with Grace saying "Answer every question first!") no matter which path calls it while a blank remains.
Curriculum tour worksheet copy updated in place (still 16 steps).

September 18, 2026

AE Arcade v2.122.0 — every worksheet question has real teaching; 17 menu tiles hidden, content kept

LEARNING ZONE

All 23 former worksheet gaps now backed by original Grace-taught teaching content — the known-gaps list is empty, and all 9,077 classwork questions resolve to a real teaching page.
New 🔬 Everyday Science topics: Mercury, oxygen, roots, and caterpillar-to-butterfly metamorphosis.
New 📜 History Milestones lessons: the Silk Road, Magna Carta, the Renaissance, Gutenberg, the Industrial Revolution, the United Nations, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the 13th Amendment, Harriet Tubman, and the 19th Amendment.
New 📖 Bible lesson: Jonah and the great fish, for all five age bands.
8 new spelling words — planet, forest, bright, friend, garden, school, animal, bridge — in a new week-37 "Everyday Words" list (vocabulary curriculum now 908 words).
Every new topic reaches all five: worksheets, flash cards, Quiz Center quizzes, tests, and exams, across all five age bands.
17 menu tiles hidden at Austin's request — 15 games from Practice & Fun, plus Arts & Crafts and PE from Do Together — with every route, section, configuration, and JS file retained so they can come back later.
Arts & Crafts and Physical Education remain child-pickable electives with full Grace-taught lessons, worksheet pools, and My School Day rows; the 16-step curriculum tour explains the change for parents.

September 18, 2026

AE Arcade v2.121.0 — every worksheet question links to where it was taught

LEARNING ZONE

Every classwork worksheet question now carries a "taught from" source: the 📖 Find it button under each question opens the exact study card the question was taught from — 8,788 of 8,903 questions across all 19 subjects and all five age bands.
Every legacy hand-written question (math, science, geography, history, Bible, spelling) was audited one by one against the actual lesson text and mapped to the real teaching week — no false mappings, no dead links.
New 📚 Study Materials shelves: Physical Education and Electives (Music, Computer Skills, Languages), built from the existing Grace-taught lesson content — PE and elective worksheets get working Find it / Look it up buttons too.
New Creation & Origins section on the Bible shelf, built from the existing origins lessons — the 10 origins worksheet questions now link to their exact lesson.
23 legacy questions have no teaching page anywhere in the product (verified against every lesson); they render no Find it button rather than a false link. A new permanent coverage test fails the build if any future question lacks a resolvable source.
The 🗺️ Curriculum Map now shows the Creation & Origins weeks on the Bible island, each deep-linking into its study page.

September 18, 2026

v2.120.0 — per-question Find it links on worksheets

LEARNING ZONE

Every worksheet question whose study provenance resolves to a real study page now carries a small **📖 Find it** button under the prompt (core subjects only).
Tapping it saves the typed answers, has Grace say where she's taking the student, and opens the exact 📚 Study Materials study card the question came from — the return trip restores the sheet with typed answers kept.
Questions with shelf-level/legacy provenance render no button — never a dead link.
Grace's sheet intro now mentions the per-question Find it button; the guided tour's worksheet copy was updated in place (still 16 steps).
The Grace-led "Do it with Grace" session is unchanged — she teaches missed answers there herself after three tries.

September 18, 2026

v2.119.1 — Assessment level-check now opens directly (placement launch transport fix)

LEARNING ZONE

Fixed the My School Day Assessment handoff: tapping the Assessment item now
After the level check launches, the URL is cleaned so refreshing or taking
Added `test/placement-launch.js` covering the URL transport, the fallback,

September 18, 2026

2.119.0 — Worksheets inside Catch Up with Grace, and Catch Up joins My School Day

LEARNING ZONE

💛 "Show what you know" removed from study materials — the confidence check-in page is gone from every study card, cheat-sheet card, and word card (no page, no heading, no routing).
📝 "Study this first" — the learning behind every quiz question. Every study card was audited (all 2,148 cards, 2,355 self-check questions): any question whose answer wasn't already taught by the card's lesson, key words, worked examples, or Bible passage now gets a 📝 Study this first page placed before the quiz, carrying the teaching for each question — the answer plus its explanation, straight from the curriculum.
✅ My School Day classwork finally shows Done. Grading a worksheet used to advance to the next sheet, so the day's row flipped to "Not started" on a fresh sheet and the finished work never showed as done. Now the row reports the sheet graded today as ✅ Done (a sheet graded yesterday doesn't leak into today), 🔄 In progress while the child is typing answers, and still opens the next sheet when tapped.
🔄 Assessment rows show In progress mid-diagnostic. The 📋 Assessment item used to sit on "Not started" until the whole 12-question level check finished. The store now records when the child begins a subject's diagnostic, so the row moves Not started → 🔄 In progress → ✅ Done.
\ud83d\udcdd Practice worksheets inside Catch Up with Grace. Every catch-up lesson now ends with a linked Practice with a worksheet step — real questions from the subject's existing worksheet pool at the child's working band (placed band when assessed, age band otherwise). Grace teaches the lesson, then guides the worksheet with the normal three-try/hint/grading flow; the queue item is marked done only when the worksheet is graded. Worksheets save per child under stable IDs, appear in Student Work and the Parent Dashboard, and sync to the server.
\ud83d\udcaa Catch Up with Grace joins My School Day. For each subject placed below the child's age band, the day's schedule carries a Catch up with Grace item under that subject. Tapping it jumps straight into that subject's next catch-up step (Grace's lesson first, then its worksheet). Status follows the queue: Done when the subject's catch-up plan is complete, In progress once work begins, otherwise Not started. Never shown during assessment week, and Grace's "Walk me through my day" names the practice kindly — bonus practice with her, never "behind."
The 16-step curriculum tour stays at exactly 16 steps.

September 18, 2026

v2.118.0 — Interactive Study-Card Self-Checks

LEARNING ZONE

**🧠 Interactive study-card self-checks.** Austin asked to "allow the student to click or type the answer on the study cards" — the 🧠 **Quiz me!** self-check is no longer self-report: students **tap a choice or type the answer**, and Teacher Grace checks it on the spot with the worksheet-style **3-try rule** — escalating hints, then she teaches the answer. Practice only, never graded; per-child practice progress (topics practiced, first-try successes) shows in the Parent Dashboard.
**📖 Bibles open as an overlay.** Austin asked that opening the Bibles from Student Tools "overlay it on top of the other screen so the student can lookup what they need then go back to the work" — the **Holy Bible** and **Children's Bible** now open **on top of the current screen** instead of navigating away. The student looks something up, taps the big **✕** or **← Back to work** (or Escape), and lands right back on the exact study card or worksheet with typed answers, quiz progress, and scroll position intact. Grace chapter read-aloud and story narration still work inside the overlay. The study card's own 📖 Bible tool opens the overlay too.
**🗓️ Year of Learning removed from Parent tools.** Austin asked to remove it — the entry is out of the 🛠️ Parent Tools list; all Year of Learning code and data are retained.
**🧰 Student Tools grows.** Austin asked to "add my notebook, drawing pad, and hometown map to student tools" — **My Notebook**, the **Drawing Pad**, and the **Hometown Map** now ride in the 🧰 Student Tools bubble alongside the Bibles. Each opens as an overlay on top of the current screen with a big **✕** / **← Back to work**, so the student never loses their place; notebook and drawing saves and the Parent Dashboard read-only views work exactly as before, and the hometown stays parent-set only.
**First-try counting fixed.** A self-check question missed in round 1 and answered correctly on its recycle can no longer count as a first-try success in the Parent Dashboard.
The 16-step curriculum tour stays at exactly 16 steps with updated copy.

September 18, 2026

v2.117.0 — Student study cards, Student Tools bubble, Bookshelf, Parent-Led Lessons hidden

LEARNING ZONE

Student study cards: Study Materials now read like real study cards (what you'll learn, the big idea, the lesson, key words, worked examples, God's Word, remember-this, Quiz me self-check) instead of a parent-style week schedule; the week-by-week schedule moved to the Parent Dashboard.
Student Tools bubble: the Holy Bible (all 66 books, Grace chapter read-aloud) and the Children's Bible (18 illustrated stories) now live in the tools bubble labeled Student Tools.
Bookshelf: a student bookshelf of the Reading & Writing reading-list books with Grace read-along sessions, per-child progress, and age locks.
Parent-Led Lessons tile hidden for now at Austin's request (code retained); added to the Upcoming Features roadmap as a planned item.

September 18, 2026

v2.116.0 — Curriculum Map, Custom Worksheets & Learning Trails

LEARNING ZONE

🗺️ Visual Curriculum Map — the whole school year drawn as an island map: one island per core subject, every course a path, every week a stop colored by real progress (done / in progress / not started), each week node linking into the matching Study Materials page, with a per-child overview in the Parent Dashboard.
🛠️ Custom worksheet builder — parents build one-of-a-kind Grace-led worksheets from real lesson topics (child, subject, age group, topics, question count, name, question mix); sheets follow the regular worksheet contract, auto-save, grade in one tap, and appear in My School Day as extra work.
🌟 Grace-led learning trails — eight ordered adventures (Bible Heroes, Math Facts, Creation Week, Word Builders, Young Scientists, Time Travelers, Reading Adventures, Grace's Star Path) through study pages, worksheets, quizzes, and activities; stops unlock in order, study stops follow placed levels, per-child progress with a Parent Dashboard panel.

September 18, 2026

Version 2.115.0 — Game Problem Reports & Principal Tech Replies

FEATURE

Every arcade game view and lobby has a big, child-safe "🐞 Report a problem" button with large touch targets.
Kids pick what went wrong: Froze, Would not load, Buttons broken, or Something else.
Optional first name and description; Principal Tech confirms the report was passed along.
The game, child name, category, description, app version, and timestamp are stored on the server.
No admin internals or identities ever appear on child-facing pages.
Student game reports and parent Principal Tech messages now share a single Admin queue.
Every item moves through Unread → Reviewed → Resolved.
Status filters and type filters help triage the queue.
Reply to any parent message right from the Admin inbox.
When a parent email was provided and email delivery is configured, the reply is emailed too; otherwise it is saved in the app.
Parents see each reply as a threaded conversation under their message in the Parent Dashboard, with a "Principal Tech replied" notice when something new arrives.
Parents can include a reply-to email when sending, and the team always answers back inside the dashboard.
Terms of Service updated: new section 8 covers problem reports and support messages (effective September 18, 2026).
Guided curriculum tour (still 16 steps) now mentions game reports and Principal Tech replies.
Roadmap updated with the delivered Game Problem Reports & Principal Tech Replies card.

September 18, 2026

v2.114.3 — Week-1 placement assessments

LEARNING ZONE

📋 Week-1 placement assessments. Every child starts with assessment week: a short Grace-led level check in each of the eight core subjects (Bible, Math, English Language Arts, Reading & Writing, Science, Social Studies, Life & Arts, Life Skills), right inside My School Day — 12 questions mixing easier, age-level, and harder questions from the real worksheet pools; typed answers, one pass per question, encouragement only, no coaching.
🎯 Each subject places independently. A child can place at a higher band in Math and a younger band in Reading at the same time. From the moment a subject is assessed, its worksheets, quiz/exam eligibility, and study references follow the placed level — the age band stays the fallback for unassessed subjects. My School Day shows 📋 Assessment items during assessment week, then normal work resumes.
👨‍👩‍👧 Parents see everything. The Parent Dashboard shows each subject's placed level with Grace's score reasoning, full attempt history, PIN-gated level adjust, per-subject reset/retake, and reset-all. Assessment attempts save to the Student Work Portfolio and sync to the server.
📖 Curriculum tour + Terms updated. The 16-step tour's age-level step now explains week-1 placement, and the Terms of Service describe assessment storage and parent placement controls.

September 18, 2026

AE Arcade v2.114.2 — Study Materials for every core subject

LEARNING ZONE

📚 Study Materials is here. Every one of the eight core subjects — Bible, Math, English Language Arts, Reading & Writing, Science, Social Studies, Life & Arts, Life Skills — is now a full study section built from the 36-week lessons: subject shelf → course → week → study page, with objectives, core ideas, teaching text, Bible threads, watch-me steps, your-turn steps, mastery checks, review questions, and word lists.
📖 "Look it up" lands on the matching study page. Every worksheet question now carries study provenance — curriculum questions point at their exact course and week, math facts point at topics like Adding or Telling Time, Bible questions point at the study week covering the quoted passage, vocabulary points at its word-list week. The button opens 📚 Study Materials with "On your worksheet" quick-links to the sheet's topics; questions with no exact page land on their subject's shelf — never a dead link.
✏️ Typed answers survive the study round trip. Your sheet (answers included) is kept while you study; "← Back to worksheet" restores the exact sheet with every typed answer intact.
✏️📖 Original study cheat sheets. Reading & Writing gets six method pages (outlines, retelling, summaries, strong verbs & vivid adjectives, sentence openers, stylistic techniques); English Language Arts gets four grammar pages (parts of speech, complete sentences, punctuation, capitalization). Original, Bible-threaded content — Teacher Grace opens with "Let's study this together."
📚 The 16-step curriculum tour now describes Study Materials and the new Look it up routing.

September 18, 2026

AE Arcade v2.114.1 — Reading & Writing and Life Skills as core subjects

LEARNING ZONE

✏️ Reading & Writing is now a core subject — daily Grace-led classwork worksheet, a Quiz Center quiz for every age band, and a Tests & Graduation exam, built on an original 5-course × 36-week structure-and-style writing curriculum (key-word outlines, retellings, summaries, dress-ups, sentence openers), Bible-threaded and inspired only by general methods.
🏠 Life Skills is now a core subject — daily Grace-led classwork worksheet, a Quiz Center quiz extended to all five age bands, a Tests & Graduation exam, and a monthly family field-trip idea.
📚 Eight required subjects in My School Day (was six): Bible, Math, English Language Arts, Reading & Writing, Science, Social Studies, Life & Arts, and Life Skills — Teacher Grace names all eight in "Walk me through my day."
📝 The former "Reading & Writing" worksheet is now English Language Arts; 📖 Look it up opens the matching lessons for every subject.

September 18, 2026

v2.114.0: Elective + PE worksheet pools

LEARNING ZONE

🎼💻🌍 Every elective now has its own Grace-led worksheet pool: Music, Computer Skills, and Languages join Arts & Crafts and PE (which already had theirs) with 20-question sheets, answer fields on every question, auto-save to the Student Work Portfolio, Grace auto-marking ✅/❌ with score %, and Parent Dashboard print/CSV.
📚 The new pools are drawn from each elective's own curriculum — Music from the music courses, Computer Skills from the computers courses, Languages from the Spanish courses — age-banded across all five age groups, with the same band-aware routing that keeps older kids off locked courses.
📝 My School Day elective rows now carry a real worksheet work item with genuine Done / In progress / Not started status from saved portfolio data, alongside the existing "Continue" jump; Teacher Grace names the elective worksheet in her "Walk me through my day" narration.
🔁 The in-order worksheet sequencing and the 📖 "Look it up" study reference extend to the new elective worksheets automatically — no second-class electives.

September 18, 2026

v2.113.9: Classwork 📖 Look it up study references

LEARNING ZONE

📖 Every classwork worksheet now has a "Look it up" button: stuck on a question, the student taps it and Teacher Grace opens the lessons the sheet's questions came from — the subject's curriculum/lesson browser (or the Word Reference dictionary for spelling and vocabulary) — so they can study the source material and find the answer themselves.
🔗 References open on their own page, exactly like the Classroom tiles (Bible → Bible lessons, Math → Math lessons, Reading & Writing → ELA lessons, Science → Science lessons, History → History lessons, Arts & Crafts → Arts & Crafts lessons); anything unmapped falls back to the Reference Library, so there is never a dead link.
👩‍🏫 Grace introduces the button on every sheet ("Stuck on a question? Tap 📖 Look it up…"); answers typed so far are saved before the page opens. The answer key stays behind the parent PIN — this is a study reference, not the answers.

September 18, 2026

v2.113.8: My School Day buttons open their own pages

LEARNING ZONE

📄 My School Day buttons now open their own pages: tapping any work item (classwork, quiz, exam, field trip, experiment, elective) takes the child to that activity's own page, exactly like the Classroom tiles — no more rendering at the bottom of the welcome page.
🔗 Every destination page keeps its ← Classroom back button, returning the child to My School Day.
🧠 Context is preserved across the page jump: classwork opens the child's sequenced worksheet (same sheet in order), quizzes open with the subject pre-selected, electives open at the child's age band.

September 18, 2026

v2.113.7: Classwork worksheets progress in order

LEARNING ZONE

Classwork worksheets now **progress in order** — the next worksheet in the child's sequence, labeled "Worksheet 3 of 8", instead of a fresh random sheet each day.
An unfinished worksheet **stays assigned**: the same questions wait tomorrow until the sheet is graded.
Grading advances the child **exactly one** worksheet; re-grading the same sheet can't skip ahead. Finishing the set loops back to Worksheet 1 for a review round.
Every child and every age band keeps its **own place** — siblings progress independently, and switching bands starts (or resumes) that band's own sequence.
Sequence positions save per child (`aeClassworkSeq`) and **sync to the server** like other progress.
Completion states are honest now: an unfinished sheet stays **🔄 In progress** across days and reloads, and the next sheet starts **⬜ Not started** instead of inheriting ✅ Done from the sheet just graded.
Curriculum tour's My School Day copy updated (tour stays 16 steps).

September 18, 2026

v2.113.6: Child elective picker + electives in My School Day

LEARNING ZONE

The child can now tap **🎯 Choose your electives** in My School Day and pick
Creation Lab, Atlas, and Field Trips are **not** electives and never appear
Each chosen elective renders as its own group below the six required
Elective rows carry real ✅ Done / 🔄 In progress / ⬜ Not started states
Picks save immediately per child (`aeChildElectives`, synced to the server
**👩‍🏫 Walk me through my day**: Grace now narrates the child's chosen
Parent Dashboard family view shows a read-only 🌟 Electives summary per
Curriculum tour's My School Day step updated (tour stays 16 steps).

September 18, 2026

v2.113.5: Quiz, experiment, and exam cadence in My School Day

LEARNING ZONE

**✏️ Quizzes every 2 weeks.** My School Day now lists each subject's Quiz Center quiz only during quiz weeks (even weeks) — the quiz stays up all week so the child has the full week to take it, instead of appearing every day.
**🔬 Experiments every 2 weeks.** The Science Creation Lab experiment runs on the same biweekly rhythm as quizzes — an experiment week, not an experiment every day.
**🎓 Exams every quarter.** Tests & Graduation exams now appear only during the first 7 days of January, April, July, and October — a real quarterly exam season.
**🗣️ Grace frames the rhythm.** Her "Walk me through my day" narration and the panel greeting name "this week's quiz," "this week's experiment," and "this quarter's exam" only when they're actually there — she never promises one on an off week.
**📝 Classwork stays daily.** The Grace-led worksheet for every subject is still there every day, so each subject always has real work to do.

September 18, 2026

v2.113.4: Daily classwork in My School Day

LEARNING ZONE

**📝 Daily classwork in My School Day.** Every one of the six required subjects now lists a **Classwork** item every day — a fresh Grace-led worksheet sheet for that subject, first in each subject's lineup. Tapping it opens that subject's worksheet directly.
**✅ Classwork completion is real.** The item shows ⬜ Not started until the child types answers (auto-saved to the Student Work Portfolio), 🔄 In progress while the sheet is being worked, and ✅ Done once Teacher Grace grades the paper. Grace's "Walk me through my day" narration names each subject's classwork too.

September 18, 2026

v2.113.3 — Monthly field trips in My School Day

LEARNING ZONE

🚌 Field trips are monthly now. My School Day only suggests a field-trip idea during the first 7 days of each month — plenty of notice, and no more daily trip pressure. Mid-month, subjects that only had a trip show when the next idea arrives. The Field Trips page still holds all 24 of Grace's ideas anytime.
👩‍🏫 Grace's walkthrough frames it as "this month's field trip idea" and never promises a trip on other days.

September 18, 2026

My School Day boot fix (v2.113.2)

LEARNING ZONE

📅 Fixed: My School Day actually appears now. The panel's render code only ran inside show('welcome'), but nothing ever called show('welcome') when the Classroom loaded — the boot path only reacted to deep links like /classroom/quizCenter. So the section stayed an empty box forever and the panel never appeared for anyone, on any device. Opening the Classroom with no deep link now lands on the welcome view, which renders My School Day at the top.
🧪 New boot regression test. test/school-day-boot.js loads the real Classroom page in a simulated browser and proves the panel is populated on a plain load, that deep links still open their activity, that the first-run setup wizard still appears over the welcome view, and that returning visitors get the panel too.

September 17, 2026

v2.113.1: Cache-buster fix — every page loads the new build

LEARNING ZONE

**🔄 Fixed: new builds now actually reach your browser.** v2.113.0 shipped with the arcade home page (`public/index.html`) still pointing at `?v=2.106.0` script and stylesheet URLs, so browsers kept running the old cached JavaScript after a redeploy — new features like My School Day never appeared even though the server had the new code. Every script and stylesheet URL on every page now carries the current version's cache-buster.
**🤖 Cache-busters are automatic from here on.** `scripts/release.js` now rewrites every `?v=` inside page URLs across all HTML files (arcade + classroom) as part of every release — no manual step, so this class of bug can't recur.
**🧪 New release test.** `test/cache-busters-all-pages.js` fails the build if any page's script or stylesheet URL carries a stale version, so a release with old busters can never ship again.
Full source suite and clean-extract ZIP suite green.

September 17, 2026

v2.113.0: Homeschool section removed; My School Day shows quizzes, tests, field trips, experiments

LEARNING ZONE

🏠 Removed the standalone Homeschool Curriculum section from the Classroom — its tile, page, and nav links are gone (shared quiz, worksheet, and progress data are untouched, and the NC homeschool-requirements guide moved to the Parent Dashboard)
📅 My School Day no longer lists lessons — each subject now lays out the day's quiz (Quiz Center), test (Tests & Graduation), field trip (season-matched Teacher Grace idea), and, for Science, a Creation Lab experiment, each with ✅ Done / 🔄 In progress / ⬜ Not started states and tap-to-jump
👩‍🏫 Grace's "Walk me through my day" now narrates the quizzes, exams, field trips, and experiments for the day
🗺️ 16-step curriculum tour rewritten for the new structure (still exactly 16 steps)

September 17, 2026

v2.112.0: School Day work items, first-name Grace, 3 more arcade games

LEARNING ZONE

📅 **My School Day now shows the day's actual work.** Each of the six required subjects lays out today's specific work — the lesson (title and number), worksheet, quiz, and reading assignment for your child's age band and current curriculum week. Every item has its own ✅/🔄/⬜ state, tapping one jumps straight to it, and Teacher Grace's "Walk me through my day" names the actual work: "First up is Math — Lesson 12 and your worksheet…"
👋 **Teacher Grace now uses just your child's first name.** Everywhere Grace speaks or writes your child's name — greetings, lesson intros, grading announcements, topic popups, school-day narration — she uses only the first name ("Michael", never "Michael Matthis"), falling back to "friend" when no name is set.
🎮 **Three more classroom-subject arcade games** (20 total): 🧪 **Lab Legends** (science quiz challenges, 5⭐), 🏛️ **Timeline Trek** (put Bible and history events in order, 6⭐), and 🌌 **Grammar Galaxy** (parts of speech and punctuation, 5⭐). Each offers Solo, Computer Players, and Online Room modes with Easy/Normal/Hard bots, age-band locks, and Parent Dashboard records.

September 18, 2026

v2.111.0: Teacher-style examples + My School Day organizer + white Classroom tiles

LEARNING ZONE

**Teacher-style example popups (👩‍🏫 "Class, watch this!")** — Whenever Grace works an example in a lesson, a friendly popup frames it just like a real teacher addressing her classroom: "Class, watch this — Teacher Grace is showing: Example N — …". Examples are numbered, each unique example announces once per lesson, numbering resets for each new class, long examples shorten to 140 characters, one big tap dismisses it, and it never blocks the lesson.
**📅 My School Day organizer** — A new panel at the top of the Classroom home shows each student's whole typical school day: the six required subjects (Bible, Math, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, Life & Arts) with real completion states — ✅ Done (checked complete), 🔄 In progress (Grace taught it today), ⬜ Not started — plus a progress bar, today's topic and minutes per subject, optional electives, and a big **👩‍🏫 Walk me through my day** button where Grace herself narrates the day like a teacher welcoming her class. Tapping any subject opens it in the Homeschool Curriculum.
**⚪ White wording on every Classroom tile** — All tile titles and subtitles are now white for easier reading. The six formerly light pastel tiles (Dictionary & Encyclopedia, Vocabulary, Arts & Crafts, History, Math, Physics) were deepened into rich colors in the same hue families, and every tile's wording carries a soft text shadow so it stays crisp on phones.
The 16-step curriculum tour copy now describes the teacher-style example popups, My School Day, and the white tiles.

September 18, 2026

v2.110.0: Teacher Grace popups, three classroom arcade games, worksheet auto-grading

ARCADE + LEARNING ZONE

📖 A friendly popup now announces what Teacher Grace is teaching when each lesson starts and whenever the topic changes — one big "Got it! 👍" tap dismisses it.
🔢 Math Blitz: new arithmetic arcade game (5-star unlock, ages 4–6 up) with age-band questions, streak bonuses, and Solo/Computer/Online play.
🧭 Word Voyager: new vocabulary arcade game (6-star unlock, ages 4–6 up) — match words from the 900-word curriculum to their definitions; Teacher Grace teaches missed words.
🗺️ Atlas Quest: new geography arcade game (6-star unlock, ages 7–9 up) — 60 verified questions across all five age bands: states, capitals, countries, continents, oceans, and Bible lands.
📝 Worksheets now auto-fill today's date, and grading fills in the score right on the sheet.
✅ One-tap grading: "Grade my paper" now grades the whole worksheet in one tap — Grace marks every answer ✅/❌, announces the score aloud, and saves the graded sheet to the Student Work Portfolio.

September 17, 2026

v2.109.0: Word Wheel game + worksheet answer fields

ARCADE + LEARNING ZONE

🎡 New arcade game: Word Wheel (14th game) — spin the wheel, guess consonants, buy vowels, and solve the phrase; 50 Bible/kid-friendly phrases across all five age bands, 3 rounds, Solo / Computer Players / Online Room, Easy/Normal/Hard bot play, 7-star unlock
📝 Every worksheet now has answer text fields: students type answers right on the sheet, answers auto-save to the Student Work Portfolio (per child, per date) with Grace's auto-marking ✅/❌ and score %, visible in the Parent Dashboard with print/CSV export
🐝 Spelling Bee fix: the 25-point streak bonus was being awarded twice on milestone streaks — now awarded exactly once

September 17, 2026

v2.108.0: Seasonal field trips + tools bubble fix

LEARNING ZONE

🚌 Field trips: 24 of Teacher Grace's trip ideas (was 8), each tagged with its best seasons — botanical gardens in spring, tide pools in summer, apple orchards in fall, aquariums in winter, and more, every one with before/during/after classwork.
🗓️ Seasonal sorting: Grace's ideas sort themselves — in-season trips first, based on the trip date picked (or the current month). Each idea shows its season badges (🌸☀️🍂❄️).
📚 Matches what's being taught: ideas whose subject matches the family's recent schoolwork (from the Student Work portfolio) get a "matches recent work" badge and sort higher.
🔧 Tools bubble fix: the bubble script now loads before the calculator and stopwatch scripts, so both widgets reliably dock inside the bubble instead of floating on their own.

September 17, 2026

v2.107.0: Tools bubble: calculator + stopwatch follow the student

LEARNING ZONE

Calculator and Grace's stopwatch now live together in one collapsible tools bubble on the side of every Learning Zone page — tap to open, drag to move it.
The bubble follows the student across classroom activities; position, open state, and active tab are remembered.
While the stopwatch runs, the collapsed bubble shows the live time.
During quizzes and tests the calculator tab locks with a friendly note; the stopwatch stays available.
The curriculum tour now describes the tools bubble.

September 17, 2026

🐝 New arcade game: Spelling Bee (v2.106.0)

ARCADE

**🐝 New arcade game: Spelling Bee!** Turn-based spelling showdown built on the 900-word vocabulary curriculum — hear each word read aloud, read the definition and example sentence, then type the spelling. 3 tries per word with escalating letter hints; Teacher Grace teaches every missed word.
**🎂 Fair for every age.** Words come from each speller's own age band (Word Explorers 4–6 through Word Masters 16–18), so siblings of different ages can play together and everyone gets words at their level.
**🏆 5 words each, highest score wins.** 100/60/30 points by attempt, plus word-length and streak bonuses. Solo practice, computer opponents (with Easy/Normal/Hard spelling skill), or online rooms.
**🔒 Locked like every arcade game.** 5 stars per day to play (4–6 band), parent-PIN early unlock, relocks daily.

September 17, 2026

🏫 Learning Zone moves to /classroom (v2.105.0)

LEARNING ZONE

**🏫 New address: /classroom.** The Learning Zone (formerly at /kids) now lives at /classroom, matching the Classroom name kids already see.
**🔗 Old links keep working.** Any saved /kids bookmarks or links automatically redirect to the matching /classroom page.
**🧭 Every activity page moved too.** Deep links like /kids/bibleCurricula now resolve at /classroom/bibleCurricula, including the assessment center and parent dashboard.
**🧱 Blocks stay put in the Blocks game.** Fixed a bug where locked Tetris pieces vanished the moment they landed — blocks now stack on the board, and only completed lines clear.

September 17, 2026

🎚️ Arcade difficulty levels & win records (v2.104.0)

ARCADE

**🎚️ Difficulty levels: Easy, Normal, Hard.** The play-mode dialog now has a difficulty picker for Solo and Computer games — pick the challenge before you tap a mode.
**🤖 Computer opponents play to the difficulty.** Easy bots make kid-friendly mistakes, Normal plays the classic game, and Hard bots hunt your ships in Radar Fleet, rarely miss a slap in Slap Jack, and stick to basic strategy in Blackjack.
**⏩ Game speed follows difficulty.** Timed games run slower on Easy for young kids and faster on Hard. Solitaire deals draw-3 on Hard and draw-1 on Easy and Normal.
**🏆 Wins are recorded per child.** Every finished Solo, Computer, and Online match banks the win with its game, mode, and difficulty — siblings each keep their own record.
**⏱️ Play time is tracked too.** Time spent playing is recorded per child and per game, including games left early.
**📊 New Parent Dashboard section.** "Arcade wins & play time" shows each child's wins by game and difficulty plus total play time, with a Download arcade CSV button.

September 17, 2026

📝 Worksheets: age groups (v2.103.0)

LEARNING ZONE

**🎂 Age groups on worksheets.** The worksheet picker now starts with an age-group row — Ages 4–6 through 16–18 — pre-selected from the active child's age, so every sheet is built from that level's lessons.
**📚 Age-matched questions.** Curriculum questions filter to the picked band (vocabulary and spelling pull only that band's word lists; history, Bible, and every other curriculum pull only that band's course), and the math and time/money generators scale their numbers — little learners get little numbers, teens get the full range.
**🖨️ Band printed on every sheet.** The age group appears on the printed worksheet header, in Grace's spoken intro, and in the saved work title in the Parent Dashboard, so parents always know which level a sheet was built for.
**🏁 Back to the lobby when a game ends.** When a match finishes, an 8-second banner counts down and the game automatically returns to the lobby — tap **Stay** to keep viewing the final result.

September 17, 2026

v2.102.0 — Family mode: multiple children, one-tap switching, per-child everything

LEARNING ZONE + ARCADE

👨‍👩‍👧 Add each child once in the Parent Dashboard under **My children** — every child keeps their own age locks, star balance, notebook themes, portfolio, and progress.
🔄 Switch the active learner from the header switcher (in the Learning Zone and the arcade); Grace, worksheets, stars, age locks, and the arcade profile all follow.
🎮 Daily arcade unlocks are now per child, and a parent PIN unlock opens just that one game for the day instead of all of them.
✏️ Renaming a child carries their star balance; removing a child removes their profile and balance while saved work stays in the portfolio.
☁️ Family profiles ride along with server progress sync, and the Terms of Service now describe multiple child profiles.

September 17, 2026

v2.101.0 — Grace-led worksheets: do-it-with-Grace mode, Grace grades the paper sheet, 20 questions, bigger pools

LEARNING ZONE

Teacher Grace now leads every worksheet: a spoken intro greeting, a read-my-sheet aloud mode, and a do-it-with-Grace session that asks each question, checks answers with the 3-try rule, gives progressive hints, teaches missed answers, saves the work to the portfolio, and flags struggles.
New: Grace grades the paper sheet too — the child reads back what they wrote, Grace marks every answer one by one, and the graded result with its score is saved to the Parent Dashboard under that subject's category, with missed questions flagged for review.
Sheets grow from 10 to 20 questions.
Much bigger question pools: math gets a fresh arithmetic generator (200 problems), time & money gets clock-reading and coin-counting generators, spelling draws on the full 900-word vocabulary course, and vocabulary quizzes both directions.

September 17, 2026

v2.100.0 — Blackjack 21, Slap Jack, Principal Tech upgrades, worksheets for every subject

ARCADE + LEARNING ZONE

🃏 Blackjack 21 joins the arcade: beat the dealer to 21 in solo, computer-player, or online rooms, with 100-chip stacks, 10-chip bets, and 3:2 blackjack payouts (ages 13–15, 10 stars).
👋 Slap Jack joins the arcade: flip cards in turn, slap the pile when a Jack lands — first slap takes it, false slaps cost a card, and cardless players can slap their way back in (ages 4–6, 7 stars).
Principal Tech upgrades: 📊 a weekly report (work saved, stars, active days, average scores, struggle flags), ⚡ quick actions (unlock all arcade games for today, grant bonus stars, mark a vacation day), 📢 announcements fed from the patch notes, and a gentle heads-up when topics need a little help.
📄 Worksheets & Workbooks: printable 10-question practice sheets for all 15 classroom subjects — from Math to Bible — generated fresh from the lessons, with the answer key behind the parent PIN.
The arcade player name now always shows the child name set by the parent in the setup wizard; the arcade name fields are gone, but avatar and color stay changeable.

September 17, 2026

v2.99.3 — Parent-set player name, read-only in the arcade

ARCADE

The arcade player name is now parent-set and read-only: removed the name text fields from the arcade home page join box and the "Your player" profile dialog, replacing them with a static display of the child's name from the setup wizard. Children can still change their avatar and color.
The setup wizard pushes the child's name to the server profile on finish, and the avatar-only profile save no longer wipes the name server-side.

September 17, 2026

v2.99.2 — Arcade account fields join the setup wizard

LEARNING ZONE

The first-run setup wizard now collects everything in one place: parent title, last name, first name, optional email, and parent PIN, plus the child's first name, birthdate (with live age-band preview), hometown, and academy name. The name and email are saved for the arcade account — after subscribing, the account form comes pre-filled and the parent only confirms it.
The arcade's post-subscription account dialog pre-fills the parent name and email saved by the wizard (never clobbering anything already typed).
Regression coverage: setup-wizard.js and the new account-prefill.js are now wired into npm test.

September 17, 2026

v2.99.1 — Academy name in the setup wizard

LEARNING ZONE

Academy name is now collected in the first-run setup wizard (Child step, optional): it is printed on certificates and diplomas, defaulting to "AE Learning Academy" when left blank.
The Done summary shows the academy name, and re-running the wizard pre-fills it from storage.
Guided tour setup step mentions the academy name in the wizard.

September 17, 2026

v2.99.0 — First-run setup wizard

LEARNING ZONE

First-run setup wizard: auto-shows on first classroom visit when no parent PIN exists yet.
4 steps — Welcome, Parent (title + last name for Principal Tech, 4–8 digit PIN), Child (first name, birthdate with live age-band preview, optional hometown), Done summary.
Saves through the existing storage keys (parent PIN hash, student name, child profile, Principal Tech title/last name); no new data schema.
Re-runnable anytime from the Parent Dashboard via the new "Setup wizard" button; on re-run the PIN step is optional (blank keeps the current PIN).
"Skip for now" closes it; the wizard returns on the next visit until setup completes.
Big 52px touch targets and large type throughout, per the phone-friendly rule.
Guided tour step "First: tell Grace who is learning" now describes the wizard.

September 17, 2026

v2.98.5 — Paywall copy fix and free-slot startup log

patch

Fixes the paywall message that still said "first four browsers" after the slots were cut to 1.
The server now logs the effective free-slot count at startup (and whether it came from the FREE_LIFETIME_SLOTS env var or the config default) so the Render logs show which setting is in force.

September 17, 2026

v2.98.4 — Revoke free-slot grants from the admin panel

patch

New admin button "Revoke all free-slot grants" clears every granted lifetime-free browser slot in one tap.
Previously issued free cookies stop working immediately; those browsers fall back to the paywall.
Auto-detected "Free slot" player labels reset to active; access types set by hand are never touched.
Freed slots can be claimed again afterwards by real visitors.
Fixes a stale "one of the first four" popup left over from the 1-slot change.

September 17, 2026

v2.98.3 — FT-1 now reports why the Field Trips script didn't load

LEARNING ZONE

The Field Trips "having trouble loading" message (code FT-1) now includes a load diagnosis: whether `/field-trips.js` finished loading and the first browser error captured (script-tag load failure vs. parse/runtime error with file and line).
New inline bootstrap in `protected/kids.html` records script load/error events before `field-trips.js` runs; `renderFieldTripsSafe()` in `public/kids.js` appends the diagnosis to the FT-1 message.
`test/page-cache-bust.js` now tolerates script-tag attributes (e.g. onload/onerror); `test/field-trips-debug.js` covers the new diagnosis output.

September 17, 2026

v2.98.2 — Free access slots set to 1

ARCADE

The automatic lifetime-free browser allocation is now a single spot (`freeLifetimeSlots: 1`), down from four. The `FREE_LIFETIME_SLOTS` environment variable still overrides it when set.
README, Terms of Service, and deployment examples updated to describe one free spot.
New regression test `test/free-slots-default.js` pins the built-in default at 1.

September 17, 2026

v2.98.1 — Field Trips failure visibility + fresh cache-busters

LEARNING ZONE

The classroom Field Trips activity can no longer go silently blank. If its
All classroom script and stylesheet URLs carry fresh `?v=2.98.1` cache-busters,
New test/field-trips-debug.js: happy path renders Grace's idea cards with no
Full source suite and clean-extract ZIP suite green.

September 16, 2026

v2.98.0

ARCADE

**Manual access type in the admin panel.** The player Manage view now has an Access type dropdown: Active, Paying (subscription), Free slot (lifetime free), or Suspended. Paying and Free slot stick — the billing auto-sync will not overwrite a manual choice; Active clears the manual choice and follows the player's own pass. Every change is audit-logged.

September 16, 2026

v2.97.3

ARCADE

**Coin awards retuned.** Finishing a game now awards 1 coin for playing and 2 bonus coins for winning (changed from 25 / 50), in Solo, Computer Players, and Online modes. Vacation days still award no coins.

September 16, 2026

v2.97.2 — Coins in every mode, Field Trips dashboard fix

ARCADE + LEARNING ZONE

Coins (25 for playing, 50 bonus for winning) now awarded in Solo and Computer Players modes, not just Online rooms
Coin count on screen refreshes automatically when a game finishes
Vacation days still award no coins, as before
Parent Dashboard sections are now failure-isolated so one error can no longer blank Field Trips
Fixed apostrophes showing as code text in field trip ideas

September 16, 2026

v2.97.1 — Computer opponents fixed

ARCADE

Fixed computer-opponent moves never reaching the screen in Go Fish, Dominoes, Poker, Color Clash, Solitaire Race, and Radar Fleet — the server now broadcasts every bot move to all players.
Fixed Solo mode for Solitaire Race and River Hop — they no longer refuse to start ("needs 2 players"); a computer opponent joins you.
Added a full arcade games audit (test/arcade-games-audit.js) that verifies all 10 games: menu wiring, renderers, server registration, live room create/start, human actions, and computer-opponent broadcasts.
Upcoming Features roadmap: delivered items now carry a delivery date and are automatically removed from the panel 7 days after delivery.

September 16, 2026

v2.97.0: Age-banded arcade games & hometown field trips

ARCADE & LEARNING ZONE

Arcade games are now grouped by age band: ages 4-6 get River Hop, Go Fish, Blocks, and Neon Maze; 7-9 adds Dominoes, Color Clash, and Solitaire Race; 10-12 adds Pool and Radar Fleet; 13-15 adds Poker; 16-18 gets everything.
Poker variants count as separate games in the rotation, so exactly 11 games show on the menu at a time.
The weekly game rotation now picks only age-appropriate games, and games for older kids stay visible with a lock and their age label.
A parent can unlock any locked game with the Parent Dashboard PIN (saved on the child profile), and each game unlocks on its own when the child reaches its age group. Daily star unlocks still apply after the age check.
Teacher Grace's field trip ideas are now based on the hometown set in the child profile: the library and map-walk ideas name your town, and adding an idea plans the trip from your hometown.
The Classroom field trip view suggests Grace's ideas when no trips are planned yet, so the section is never empty. Set or change the hometown in the Parent Dashboard child profile.

September 16, 2026

v2.96.0 — Go Fish & Dominoes

ARCADE

Two new arcade games: Go Fish and Dominoes, each with solo (plus one computer player), computer opponents, and online room modes.
Go Fish: ask opponents for ranks you hold, go fish from the pond on a miss, make books of four — most books wins.
Dominoes: classic block dominoes with a double-six set; match tiles to the open ends, pass when stuck, empty your hand to take the round.
Computer players use real strategy: Go Fish bots ask for their most-held rank, Dominoes bots play their heaviest fitting tile.
Both games join the daily star-unlock lineup (7 stars each) and the arcade rotation.

September 16, 2026

v2.95.0 — Field Trips & Principal Tech Upgrades

LEARNING ZONE

🚌 Planned Field Trips — plan trips in the Parent Dashboard (name, date, location, subject, notes) and pick from 8 of Teacher Grace's trip ideas, each with classwork attached. Kids open trips from the Classroom, hear Grace's plan out loud, do the classwork, and their answers save to the Student Work portfolio.
🏫 Principal Tech upgrades — ❓ Quick help with instant answers to common questions, 📨 a My messages history of everything sent to the team, and 📧 a direct-email option alongside the chat.
The Upcoming Features roadmap now marks both as Delivered.
The guided tutorial tour covers Field Trips and the new Principal Tech options.

September 16, 2026

v2.94.1 — Principal Tech addresses the parent as themselves

LEARNING ZONE

**Principal Tech now addresses the viewing parent as themselves.** When a support message is queued because the email sender is not set up, he says "you will see it yourself" instead of referring to "Austin" in the third person.
**Upcoming Features: Planned Field Trips.** Field trips planned by parents and Teacher Grace, each with classwork to go along with it.
**Upcoming Features: More Principal Tech Upgrades.** More upgrades for Principal Tech — new ways for parents to reach the team behind AE Arcade and get help.
**Game rotation: 11 games at a time.** The arcade menu now shows at most 11 games at once. When more games are added, the visible lineup rotates every 7 days so every game gets its turn — the same lineup shows for everyone, with a note naming the rotation.
**Named holiday vacations.** Parents can now give each Holiday Vacation Day range a name (e.g. "Christmas Break") and rename it later. The arcade's free-play badge shows the vacation name on those days.

September 16, 2026

v2.94.0 — Vacation date ranges and a self-updating Recent updates blurb

LEARNING ZONE

**Holiday Vacation Days now take a start day and an end day.** Every day in between counts as a vacation day — every arcade game unlocks free and no coins are awarded, same as before.
Consecutive vacation days group into one tidy range (e.g. "Thu, Dec 24, 2026 – Sat, Dec 26, 2026 (3 days)") with a single Remove button.
Ranges are limited to one year, and the end day must be on or after the start day.
**Fixed: the arcade home screen's "Recent updates" blurb** now always describes the latest patch — it was stuck describing an older release. It refreshes automatically with every future release.

September 16, 2026

v2.93.0 — Parent-taught classroom, Parent-Led Lessons, and Holiday Vacation Days

LEARNING ZONE

The classroom is now organized into two categories: **Taught by Teacher Grace** (Core Subjects, Life Skills, Watch & Explore, Practice & Fun, My Learning) and **Taught by Parent** (Parent-Led Lessons, Do Together, Parent Tools).
New **Parent-Led Lessons** hub: parents pick a subject, course, and lesson and get a step-by-step teaching script to lead themselves — Grace stays quiet unless the family uses the mic. Completing a lesson saves portfolio work marked "Parent-taught".
**Do Together** group: Creation Lab, Arts & Crafts, PE, My Hometown Map, Drawing Pad, and My Notebook — hands-on activities to do with your child.
**Parent Tools** group: Parent Dashboard, Year of Learning, and Principal Tech.
New **Holiday Vacation Days** in the Parent Dashboard: parents pick the days, and on those days every arcade game unlocks free — no stars needed. No coins are awarded for games played on vacation days.
Student Work now records who taught it; the Parent Dashboard can filter the portfolio by Teacher Grace or Parent.
Added "More Arcade Games" to the Upcoming Features roadmap.

September 16, 2026

v2.92.0 — Draw-your-own hometown roads, no duplicate work saves

LEARNING ZONE

My Hometown Map base maps no longer draw any roads — the child draws their own roads and trails with the line tool (the map stays a blank "drawing map, not to scale" with only the hometown named).
Student Work Portfolio no longer stacks duplicate entries: re-saving the same writing assignment, mastery check, play-money result, or drawing updates the one entry in place.
Stars can no longer be farmed by re-tapping: play-money Check awards stars once per challenge, drawing saves award stars only for genuinely new drawings, and the catch-up skills check awards stars only on the first placement per subject.

September 16, 2026

v2.91.0 — Grace's voice-controlled stopwatch

LEARNING ZONE

New floating stopwatch on every kids page: big Start/Stop and Reset buttons with a live time display, sitting bottom-left so it never covers the calculator or the Talk-to-Grace mic
Teacher Grace obeys voice commands: say "start the stopwatch", "stop the stopwatch", "reset the stopwatch", or ask "how long on the stopwatch" — she confirms out loud and announces the measured time
Made for timed physics experiments (rolling races, pendulum swings, bounce-height tests) and PE workouts — no parent needed to work the timer
Tap targets stay big-finger friendly, and lesson questions like "what does stopwatch mean" still go to vocabulary, not the timer

September 16, 2026

v2.90.0 — inline academy names, and Grace teaches physics solo

ADMIN + LEARNING ZONE

The Learning profiles table in the admin panel now shows each family's academy name in its own column
Change any academy name inline: edit the name right in the row and press Save — no more opening each profile one at a time
Saving still asks for confirmation and is audit-logged; the new name lands on the family's device at the next sync
Teacher Grace now walks your child through every physics experiment step by step in the guided lesson — she narrates each step and the child does it right after her
All 180 physics weeks reworded so no experiment needs a parent to teach it; only 5 genuinely hazardous sub-tasks (needle, screwdriver, pin, multimeter, wall adapter) keep a grown-up safety rule, and Grace still teaches the rest

September 16, 2026

v2.89.0 — 24 physics experiments for the Creation Lab

LEARNING ZONE

24 new physics experiments in the Creation Lab: 12 included free, 12 premium
Free experiments: Inertia Coin Drop, Glass Xylophone, Paper-Clip Chain, Seesaw Lever Lab, Spinning Egg Test, Shadow Size Lab, Wave Rope, Mirror Message, Comb Kazoo, Floating Needle Compass, Bounce Height Test, Rolling Race
New premium pack: Physics: Motion Lab (1,500 coins) — Marble Loop-the-Loop, Egg Drop Engineering, Catapult Launch, Friction Shoe Slide, Domino Wave, Stomp Rocket
New premium pack: Physics: Energy Lab (1,500 coins) — Citrus Battery, Electromagnet Crane, CD Spectroscope, Pinhole Camera, Conductor Detective, Pizza-Box Solar Oven
Every experiment keeps household materials, step-by-step instructions, the science behind it, a Bible reflection with a real Scripture reference, and safety guidance
Premium experiments use the same server-side gating: locked details never reach the browser until the pack is owned
Creation Lab now totals 114 guided experiments, 30 included free

September 16, 2026

v2.88.0 — Physics curriculum joins Core Subjects

LEARNING ZONE

Physics joins the Learning Zone Core Subjects: 5 age-banded courses (Ages 4–6 through 16–18), 36 weeks each — 180 weeks total with 360 knowledge checks (2 per week)
Every physics week is Grace-taught: lesson objectives, animated Watch Me demonstrations, hands-on Your Turn activities, and a Bible reflection, with Teacher Grace narrating out loud
Knowledge checks use the 3-try rule with better hints, struggle flags in the Parent Dashboard, and year-long spaced reinforcement until mastery
Age locks genuinely lock: tabs for older age bands show the lock icon and stay closed until unlocked with the parent PIN
Physics work auto-saves to the Student Work Portfolio — parents can browse by date or subject, print, and download CSV
Physics joins the Assessment Center with unit quizzes and end-of-year exams, plus Catch Up with Grace skills checks and Parent Dashboard progress graphs
Talk to Teacher Grace mic is available in every Physics lesson, and the first-visit tutorial tour mentions the new subject

September 16, 2026

v2.87.5 — Parent Dashboard reorganized, PIN change & admin reset

LEARNING ZONE

Parent Dashboard reorganized into five labeled groups: Learner & Family Setup first, then Progress & Grades, Your Child's Work, Principal Tech, and Account & Settings.
Export buttons moved next to their records: quiz CSV beside Quiz grades, vocabulary CSV beside the Vocabulary record, flash-card export beside Flash Cards.
Parents can change the Parent PIN from inside the dashboard: enter the current PIN, then a new 4–8 digit PIN twice.
New admin PIN reset: from the admin panel's 🔑 PIN button on any learning profile, request a reset; on the family's next sync the Parent Dashboard offers a one-time new-PIN form (the old PIN isn't needed), and only the PIN changes — grades, progress, work, and purchases are untouched.
Principal Tech now lives in its own dashboard section instead of floating between the struggle flags and the settings.

September 16, 2026

v2.87.4 — Songbooks to Arcade Shop, hometown privacy, version bumps

LEARNING ZONE

Songbooks moved: Songbook Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 are now in the Arcade Shop for 300 game coins each (star purchases still honored).
My Hometown Map no longer names roads or surrounding towns — only the hometown itself; kids label their own places.
The Atlas Hometown tab now uses the parent-set hometown from the Parent Dashboard; children are never asked to type it.
Version numbers now bump with every update or patch.

September 16, 2026

🐞 Version 2.87.3: Complete bug sweep and subscriber controls

LEARNING ZONE

🏛️ New Civics & Government section: 12 lessons × 5 age levels on democracy, republic, oligarchy, dictatorship, theocracy, anarchy, communism, socialism, fascism, monarchy, authoritarian rule, and totalitarian rule — the good and the bad of each, with real examples from today and history, every lesson Grace-taught with knowledge checks and a Bible thread.
💵 Play Money workshop (Life Skills): big touch-friendly bills ($1–$20) and coins (1¢–25¢) — Teacher Grace names each value out loud as it's tapped.
🧮 Play Money make-the-amount challenges with price tags, too-high/too-low hints, praise, and stars — plus a printable cut-out bill & coin set for hands-on lessons.
📈 Parent Dashboard: new Progress by child section graphs each child's quiz and vocabulary scores over time with averages, best scores, and activity counts.
🗂️ The Student Work area dropdown now lists every area (Homeschool, Vocabulary, Reading, Science, Arts & Crafts, History, Math, ELA, Geography, Electives, Life Skills, PE, Quizzes, Tests & Assessments, Flash Cards, Maps & Atlas, Graduation) — and PE, ELA, Geography, and Life Skills work keeps its real area instead of falling back to Homeschool.
📅 Parent Dashboard From/To date fields now fit on phone screens with no sideways scrolling.
Complete bug sweep of the entire codebase: 29 fixes verified by regression tests.
The Holy Bible "Read this chapter" button now reads verse by verse with the current verse highlighted and scrolled into view — iPhones silently refuse one giant voice chunk, so Grace no longer goes quiet mid-chapter.
My Hometown Map now fits on any screen: the toolbar wraps instead of forcing sideways scrolling, pins stay inside the map edges, and the map no longer traps page scrolling on touch screens.
Classroom tile icons for Dictionary & Encyclopedia, Arts & Crafts, Vocabulary, History, and Math now display crisply in uniform badges.
The first-visit tutorial now tells new players they get 100 free game coins at sign-up, spendable in the Arcade Shop.
New 💳 Subscribers section in the admin panel: every paying subscriber (parent, plan, email, signup date, status) stays listed and manageable even when they're not on the site.
Fixed the dead Principal Tech tile, malformed player cookies crashing profile pages, failed saves falsely claiming "Saved on server," and empty assessment answers burning the single attempt.
Fixed flash-card and quiz views scrolling on phones, Grace narration and microphone session glitches, actor mouth movement, and read-along timer defects.
The Parent Dashboard academy-name field is a one-time setup. After the family saves it, the field renders locked — the app offers no way to change it again, and it prints on every certificate and diploma as before.
Only the admin panel can change it: the Learning Profiles card has a new **🏫 Academy** editor per family. The new name lands on their device at the next sync and becomes the new permanent name (newest admin override always wins).
The Student Work **Area** filter now lists every area — Homeschool, Vocabulary, Reading & Writing, Reading, Science, Arts & Crafts, History, Math, English Language Arts, Geography, Electives, Life Skills, Physical Education, Quizzes, Tests & Assessments, Flash Cards, Maps & Atlas, Graduation — even before any work is saved. PE, ELA, Geography, Life Skills, test and graduation work now keep their real area instead of collapsing into Homeschool.
The **From/To date filters** now fit on phone screens with no sideways scrolling.
New **📈 Progress by child** section: each child gets a graph of quiz (blue dots) and vocabulary (purple diamonds) scores over time, with average, best, and graded-activity counts.

September 15, 2026

📝 Version 2.87.2: Start quiz never silently dies

LEARNING ZONE

Quiz Center: the Start quiz button no longer silently does nothing when the student-name field is empty — it now shows a clear prompt, has Grace say it out loud, and scrolls the name field into view.
Quiz Center: starting a quiz and finishing one now scroll the questions and the grade into view on phones.

September 15, 2026

✨ Version 2.87.1: Grace comes alive

LEARNING ZONE

Assessment Center: pressing Start test (or finishing) now scrolls the test into view on phones — the questions were rendering below the button, so it looked like nothing happened even though Grace's introduction played.
Watch Me: Grace's animation rebuilt — eased, natural motion with anticipation and follow-through, smoother walk cycle, blinking, breathing, skirt sway, and her mouth moves while she speaks.
Watch Me: each action now starts exactly when Grace's voice starts that step (with a timer fallback on iOS), instead of running on a fixed timer.
Teacher Grace personality: warmer, livelier delivery everywhere — varied enthusiastic praise and step openers, no more flat "good job" on repeat.

September 16, 2026

🎬 Version 2.87.0: Animated Grace

LEARNING ZONE

**Animated Grace in Watch-me videos (carried into this release):** every Watch-me step now stages a full-body animated Grace beside the lesson visual — she walks in, picks things up, points, writes, sweeps, stirs, folds, celebrates, and acts out each beat while Teacher Grace talks, with a spoken caption for every step.
**Fixed the blank Tests & Graduation page:** a missing section element made `show()` throw a `TypeError`, and the talk-to-grace wrapper swallowed that error silently — so the assessment renderer at the end of `show()` never ran and the page stayed empty with no console error. `show()` is now null-safe (a missing section is skipped instead of aborting the render), and the wrapper now logs failures instead of hiding them.
**Self-healing deep link:** the assessment self-heal no longer depends on another script's helpers — it resolves `/kids/assessmentCenter` from the URL itself and unhides the section before rendering.
**Update-proof script loading:** all 20 classroom scripts in the Learning Zone now load with `?v=2.87.0`, so a stale cache can never keep running the previous build's JavaScript after an update (this was the signature behind "still empty / still no animation" right after updating).
New regression tests: a faithful jsdom harness boots the real page at the real deep-link URL (fails on the old `show()`, passes on the fix), a DOM playback test presses Play and proves the animated Grace SVG is staged, and a cache-bust test pins every script URL to the release version.

September 15, 2026

💾 Version 2.86.0: Storage Shop

LEARNING ZONE

💾 New **Get more storage** button in the Parent Dashboard opens the Storage Shop — buy a monthly cloud-storage plan per child: **+5 GB ($1.99/mo), +25 GB ($3.99/mo), +100 GB ($7.99/mo)**. Secure card checkout via Stripe; one plan per child, and upgrading replaces the old plan automatically.
Every child starts with **1 GB of free cloud space** for drawings, maps, the notebook, and schoolwork. The dashboard shows a usage bar, the active plan, and plan history.
If storage runs out, new cloud saves pause with a friendly "ask a parent to get more space" message — saved work is **never deleted**, and everything keeps working on the device.
If a subscription ends, the child falls back to the free plan; only new saves pause until there's room again.
*Setup for Austin:* create 3 **monthly recurring** Stripe Prices and map them in `PREMIUM_ITEMS_JSON` as `storage-5gb`, `storage-25gb`, `storage-100gb` (see STORAGE_SHOP_SETUP.md).

September 15, 2026

🎬 Version 2.85.0: Grace Demo Videos

LEARNING ZONE

Watch Me is now a real video player: Grace performs each step on screen like a video, narrating as she goes.
Every step shows what Grace is holding up large on stage - maps, globes, charts, and photos.
New video controls: play/pause, step back and forward, tap any step tick to jump, and replay.
When the video ends: "You watched Grace do it - now your turn!" with Replay and a Start-your-turn button.
If the voice is off, the video still plays as a silent film with a Tap-to-continue button.
Tutorial updated: the tour now describes Grace's step-by-step demo video.

September 15, 2026

🪙 Version 2.84.1: Book Library Coins Note

LEARNING ZONE

The Upcoming Features panel now says the Digital Book Library books will be unlocked with coins.

September 15, 2026

🗺️ Version 2.84.0: My Hometown Map

LEARNING ZONE

🗺️ The Harrells Map is now the My Hometown Map: set your child's hometown once in the Parent Dashboard (city, state) and the map's base map matches their town — Harrells, NC by default
🧭 Corrected Harrells geography: Clinton sits to the north, Garland to the northwest, and Roseboro to the west, with NC-41/Tomahawk Hwy running north–south through town and US-421 east toward Clinton — still a drawing map, not to scale
🏠 The hometown field lives only in the Parent Dashboard (like the age rule) — it needs no parent PIN to change, and Grace names your child's town when she teaches the activity
💾 Saved maps now carry their base town, and the Parent Dashboard shows each map's town alongside its pins, roads, and map key

September 15, 2026

🏠 Version 2.83.0: Life Skills Section

LEARNING ZONE

🏠 Life Skills is now its own full Classroom section (moved out of Electives): 36 weeks × 5 age levels = 180 weeks of real home skills — helping, cleaning, laundry, cooking, kitchen safety, hygiene, manners, money, shopping, time management, first aid, tools, and work readiness
Every Life Skills week is Grace-taught: welcome, learning goal, a narrated step-by-step Watch-me demo, prep, work-safely notes (grown-up required for kitchen, heat, sharp tools, and cleaning products), a real-life Your-turn skill task, Grace's specific feedback, 3-try knowledge checks with struggle flags, faith reflection, exit ticket, and wrap-up
Real age locks on every Life Skills level with the parent-PIN unlock flow; typed and spoken reflections saved to the Student Work Portfolio
New 🏠 Life Skills Pro badge auto-awarded for finishing all 36 weeks of any Life Skills level
New Life Skills Quiz Center subject for middle and high schoolers, plus the Assessment Center life-skills subject now draws from the new 180-week curriculum
Electives is now 5 subjects × 3 levels (Spanish, Music, Health & Wellness, Computer Skills, Speech & Debate); classroom tile, tour, and patch notes updated
Curriculum tour updated (still 7 steps) with the new Life Skills section and its 180 weeks
Life Skills progress now syncs to the server profile when available, with browser fallback offline

September 15, 2026

🗺️ Version 2.82.0: Editable Harrells Map

LEARNING ZONE

🗺️ New **Harrells Map** classroom tile (My Learning, right after Drawing Pad): your child's own editable map of Harrells, North Carolina.
Stylized offline-safe base map drawn in code: Tomahawk Hwy (NC-41) through town, US-421 (Delway Hwy), Harrells at the crossroads, nearby Clinton, Garland, and Roseboro, compass rose, and a clear "a drawing map — not to scale" label.
📍 Pin tools with big touch targets: colored dots plus 🏠 Home, 🏫 School, ⛪ Church, 🌳 Park, 🏪 Store, and ⭐ Favorite — tap the map to place.
✏️ Draw roads and trails by dragging (color + width choices), 🔤 place typed labels, 🧹 eraser removes by tapping — dragging never scrolls the page.
↩️ Undo pops the last entry; 🗑️ Clear asks for confirmation first.
🗝️ **Map Key — what is where**: every pin joins the key automatically, lines and labels can be added with one tap, labels edit inline, items removable.
💾 Name each map (defaults to "My Harrells Map "), keep multiple maps per child, and saving earns 2 stars.
Map saves sync to the family server profile when available (new `aeHarrellsMaps` sync key) and stay on the device offline.
👨‍👩‍👧 Parent Dashboard gains a **🗺️ Harrells Maps** read-only panel: map name, child, saved date, pin/line/label counts, full read-only view with the child's map key, Print, and Delete.
Teacher Grace introduces the map out loud when it opens and teaches the child to place pins, draw roads, and build the key.
Talk-to-Grace mic coverage and all five age-group game lists include the new activity.
Tutorial tour refreshed for the new map — still exactly 7 steps.

September 15, 2026

🖼️ Version 2.81.0: Grace Shows What She's Holding

LEARNING ZONE

🖼️ New: Grace shows what she's holding. When a lesson says Grace holds up a map, a globe, a chart, a flag, or a photo, the picture now actually appears in the lesson — no more imagining it. Works in every Grace-taught lesson, drawn to stay sharp even offline.
🗺️ Geography's picture map, for real. "I hold up my picture map of a neighborhood" now shows a real picture map — the blue-squiggle creek, the green-blob trees, the houses — right where she points to them.
🌍 Country cards and flags show the real place. "I hold up my France card" and "I hold up Japan's flag" now show Grace holding up the real Atlas photo of that place.
📊 Charts and diagrams appear too. When Grace says "I look at my chart," her chart pops up big and clear.
🖼️ Lesson builders can place any visual. New steps can pin an exact picture with one line — Grace holds it up at exactly the right moment.

September 15, 2026

📜 Version 2.80.0: Memory Verse Cards, Recite-Back & Drawing Pad Upgrade

LEARNING ZONE

📜 New: the Memory Verse Cards tile. 56 kid-favorite King James verses in four age-banded decks (4–6, 7–9, 10–12, 13–18) with their own Practice & Fun tile — no more hunting through the Flash Cards picker. Tap to flip, get a first-five-words hint, hear 🔊 Grace read each verse aloud, and mark ✅ I knew it or 📖 Still learning. Tricky verses recycle all year.
🗣️ New: recite it back to Grace. Every verse card has a Recite it back to Grace button — the child types the verse from memory or taps 🎤 and says it out loud, and Grace checks every word. Two tries with a re-listen, then she marks it known or still-learning and moves on.
✍️ New: typed verse-recall quizzes & tests — both directions. The Quiz Center gains a Memory Verses subject and the Assessment Center a Memory Verses test subject: see the scripture and type the verse, or see the verse and type the scripture. Small slips still pass; tests stay honest with one attempt, no hints, no coaching. Grades save to the gradebook and portfolio.
🎨 Drawing Pad: the full upgrade. A 🌈 rainbow brush, shape tools (line, box, circle, triangle) with drag-to-size previews, a 🪣 fill bucket, and 10 tap-to-place Bible stamps (cross, fish, dove, star, rainbow, heart, praying hands, crown, sheep, church) — plus 6 Bible coloring pages drawn in bold outlines (Noah's Ark, Big Fish, The Cross, Dove, Star, Rainbow) with a live-preview gallery. Saving still earns 2 stars and parents still review every drawing.
📖 New: the King James Bible reader. All 31,100 verses across all 66 books, plus an 🌈 illustrated Children's Bible with 18 stories — both Grace-narrated.
👤 Parent info in the admin panel. Each player's Manage section now has a Parent box (name + email), shown as 👤 parent in the player list and auto-filled when a subscriber creates their account. New subscribers get a Create your account step, and admins can delete players (audit-logged).
⏸️ Suspend now covers the Learning Zone. Suspending a player blocks the arcade and the Learning Zone, with a check every five minutes for already-open sessions.
⭐ Per-student star editing. The Parent Dashboard can now adjust an individual child's star balance.

September 15, 2026

📖 Version 2.79.0: Bible Curriculum & Classroom Pages

LEARNING ZONE

📖 New: the Bible curriculum. A full year of Grace-taught Bible — 36 weeks × 5 age levels (Bible Beginners 4–6, Bible Explorers 7–9, Bible Voyagers 10–12, Bible Champions 13–15, Bible Scholars 16–18) — covering Old Testament stories, New Testament stories, key Bible people, parables & miracles, Scripture memory, and Christian character & living. That is 180 weeks of Scripture learning, every week with a real Bible reference in Book Chapter:Verse form.
🎤 Grace teaches every Bible week. Each week gets a ▶ Start lesson with Teacher Grace button: she welcomes your child, teaches the core idea, demonstrates step-by-step in Watch me, then your child tries the Your-turn activity while Grace checks every answer — spoken or typed, saved to the Student Work portfolio. Three tries with hints, faith reflection, an exit ticket, and a wrap-up finish every lesson.
🧠 Scripture memory built in. A whole strand hides God's Word in young hearts: John 3:16, Psalm 23:1, Philippians 4:13, Proverbs 3:5, Genesis 1:1, and Romans 3:23 — memorized word-perfectly with hand motions, context study, and weekly practice plans.
⭐ New: the Bible Scholar badge. Finish all 36 weeks of any Bible course and Grace awards the 📖 Bible Scholar badge herself — free, with a celebration. Find it in the Star Shop.
🔒 Real age locks on every level. Locked course levels show the parent-PIN unlock panel instead of content, exactly like the other curricula.
🧭 New: per-activity Classroom pages. Tapping a Classroom tile now opens that activity on its own page (for example /kids/bibleCurricula) — each activity loads on demand with a clean back-to-Classroom path, and the guided tutorial walks you through the new layout.

September 15, 2026

📚 Version 2.78.0: English, Geography, Electives & Catch Up with Grace

LEARNING ZONE

📚 New: the English Language Arts curriculum. A full year of Grace-taught ELA — 36 weeks × 5 age levels — from letter sounds and rhyming to essays, literary analysis, and rhetoric, with Bible threads every week. It works alongside the Vocabulary and Reading & Writing courses, cross-linking them instead of repeating them.
🗺️ New: the Geography curriculum. A full year of Grace-taught geography — 36 weeks × 5 age levels — map skills, globes and grids, continents and oceans, countries and capitals, U.S. geography, and Bible lands. Real places only, with links into the Atlas.
🎭 New: the Electives program. Six subjects — Spanish 🇪🇸, Music 🎵, Life Skills 🏠, Health & Wellness 💚, Computer Skills 💻, Speech & Debate 🎤 — each with three age levels and 36 weeks, for 648 weeks total. Health weeks carry trusted-adult framing (wellness info only, never medical advice); computer weeks teach online safety; kitchen weeks require a grown-up.
🎤 Grace teaches every new week. Each week gets a ▶ Start lesson with Teacher Grace button: she teaches the idea, demonstrates it step-by-step, then your child tries while Grace checks every answer. Spoken or typed answers, saved to the Student Work portfolio.
🧠 All three join the Assessment Center. English Language Arts, Geography, and Electives each have their own graded subject pool built from the real weekly lessons, and the guided tutorial covers all three.
🔒 Real age locks everywhere. Every course level carries the lock: locked levels show the parent-PIN unlock panel instead of content, exactly like the other curricula.
🧭 New: Catch Up with Grace. Grace finds your child’s real level and teaches them up step by step — warm, zero shame. Subjects not started by age 7+ get a gentle flag and a personal plan: easier lessons first, then a bridge into their own level. A 🎤 Check my level with Grace skills check places them; lessons Grace assigns open right from her queue with no parent PIN, while free browsing of other levels still needs it. The Parent Dashboard shows every subject’s catch-up status. As Grace says: “There’s no such thing as behind in my classroom — there’s just where we start, and we start together.”
🃏 Parent Dashboard flash-card progress. Every flash-card practice session now records cards seen, mastered, and still learning, plus sessions, last-practiced date, and accuracy — per deck — with the exact flagged cards listed (front, answer, and Grace’s tip). Export the whole thing as CSV or print it from the dashboard.
➕ New age-banded math flash cards. Thirteen new decks built from real math facts: adding and subtracting to 10, 20, and with two digits; ×2/×5/×10 starters, full 0–12 times tables, mixed multiplication and division drills; and champion decks for multi-digit × and ÷ plus fractions, decimals, and percents. Every card shows the answer and a Grace-style trick tip, and the age locks match the rest of the Learning Zone.
🧮 New: floating calculator. A 🧮 button floats at the bottom-right of the Learning Zone — tap it for a full calculator with standard and scientific modes (trig, logs, powers, π, parentheses, DEG/RAD, factorials), big finger-friendly buttons, and memory keys. During quizzes and tests it hides itself — knowledge checks inside Grace lessons are practice, so it stays available there.
⭐ New Star Shop badges. Ten more badges to earn or buy: 📚 ELA Scholar, 🗺️ Geography Explorer, 🏃 PE Champion, 🌟 Elective Star, 🧭 Catch-Up Graduate, 📖 Bookworm, 🏆 Quiz Whiz, and 🔥 3-day, 🚀 7-day, 👑 30-day streak badges. Finish all 36 weeks of a curriculum course, complete a catch-up plan, or keep a learning streak and Grace awards the badge herself — free, with a celebration.
🎨 Notebook themes unlockable with stars. My Notebook gets a 🎨 Themes picker: 🌊 Ocean, 🚀 Space, 🌴 Jungle, 🍬 Candy, ⚽ Sports, 🌅 Sunset (25–40 stars each) plus the free Default Paper. The child’s theme shows in the parent read-only notebook view too.

September 15, 2026

🏃 Version 2.77.0: Physical Education

LEARNING ZONE

🏃 New: the Physical Education curriculum. A full year of Grace-taught PE — 36 weeks × 5 age levels — covering warm-ups, movement skills, balance, bodyweight strength, cardio, flexibility, sport skills, dance, outdoor adventure, fitness knowledge, and sportsmanship. Every week brings Bible threads, knowledge checks, and safety notes. Bodyweight exercises only — no gym needed.
🎤 Grace teaches every PE week. Each week gets a ▶ Start lesson with Teacher Grace button: she teaches the movement skill, demonstrates it step-by-step, then your child does the workout while Grace checks in on how their body feels. Spoken or typed answers, saved to the Student Work portfolio.
🧠 PE joins the Assessment Center. Physical Education now has its own graded subject pool built from the real weekly workouts, plus the guided tutorial covers the new curriculum.
🎬 New: Watch-me demonstration videos. Every 👀 Watch me step now plays an animated demonstration: Grace appears on screen and works the example step-by-step on her board, narrating in her own voice. Tap ▶ Play demonstration — with pause, replay, and a progress bar. If the voice is muted, the demo still plays as a silent animated walkthrough.
📱 Fixed: lesson screen scrolling on iPhones. The Teacher Grace lesson window used a layout that left iPhones unable to move the screen. It now scrolls as one smooth page, and if a lesson ever fails to draw, the window closes itself instead of trapping the screen with audio playing.
🗺️ Fixed: Atlas “Tour with Teacher Grace” showed nothing. The lesson window was accidentally tucked inside the Homeschool section, so starting a tour from the Atlas left it invisible while the screen stayed locked. It now opens on top of every section.
🏠 Fixed: Hometown tab stuck on “loading…”. If the hometown map script has not finished loading, the tab now says so plainly with a reload button instead of spinning forever.

September 15, 2026

🏫 Version 2.75.1: Classroom fix

LEARNING ZONE

🏫 Fixed: empty Classroom sections. Arts & Crafts, History, Math, Vocabulary, Atlas, My Notebook, and the Presidential Library were opening with no content. A duplicate function name in the classroom script crashed it during load; the Math curriculum renderer is renamed and a new automated test guards against any repeat.

September 15, 2026

👤 Version 2.75.0: About the Creator

ARCADE

👤 New: About the Creator page. A new /creator page tells the story behind AE Arcade — Austin Mott, founder of Mott Enterprises, the flagship Austin’s Electronics shop in Harrells, NC (repairs and rural internet service since 2016), and how the arcade fits the same philosophy: real people, honest work, fair prices.
🔗 Linked from the footer. Every page’s footer now carries an About the Creator link next to the Recent Updates link, so visitors can always find it.

September 15, 2026

🎓 Version 2.74.0: Tests, grades & graduation

LEARNING ZONE

🎓 New: the Assessment Center. In-depth unit tests for every subject — Bible tracks, math, science, reading & writing, vocabulary, history, arts & crafts, and all six homeschool subjects — built from the real question pools (knowledge checks, quizzes, word lists), never invented questions.
✅ Honest test mode. One attempt per question, no hints, no coaching, no 3-try rule — Grace encourages (“You've got this!”) but never teaches during a test.
📊 Scores that count. Every test saves % + letter grade to the gradebook and the Student Work Portfolio; missed questions feed Grace's struggle-flag reteach funnel all year.
📝 End-of-year exams per subject per age band, sampled proportionally across the year's 36 weeks.
🏁 End-of-grade exams. Finish every subject in an age band to unlock the cross-subject exam — pass (≥70%) and the next band unlocks with a Grace celebration; miss it and weak areas route to reteach with exactly one retake.
🎓 Graduation. Complete every subject in the final band (ages 16–18) and pass the final exam for a graduation ceremony — Grace congratulates your graduate by name — plus printable Certificates of Completion and a formal Graduation Diploma.
🏫 Academy name. Set your academy's name in the Parent Dashboard (for example, “Mott Homeschool Academy”) — it appears on every certificate and diploma. Defaults to “AE Learning Academy”.

September 15, 2026

🗺️ Version 2.73.0: sharper maps, hometown mode, field-trip hunts

LEARNING ZONE

🗺️ Sharper atlas maps. More accurate state shapes across the USA map — tap any state!
🏠 New: Hometown mode. A new Atlas tab where your child types their hometown (with a parent) and sees it pinned on a stylized map, with 📍 Landmarks near you and 📜 History nearby summaries from Wikipedia. Works offline after the first lookup.
🔒 Private by design. The town name is only sent to the map lookup — it is never shared anywhere else — and it is stored only in your browser and on your family’s own server.
🔍 New: Field-trip hunts. Every atlas card now has a Make a field-trip hunt button — Teacher Grace builds a printable scavenger hunt for any continent, country, state, Bible land, or hometown.
🎉 Hunts earn stars and save work. Checking off every hunt challenge earns 5 stars and saves a Field Trip entry to the Student Work Portfolio.
📚 Richer atlas entries. Every continent, country, state, and Bible land now carries population, landmarks, historical events, and fun facts — all feeding the new hunt lists.

September 15, 2026

Version 2.72.0

CURRICULUM

📜 New: History curriculum. A full year — 36 weeks × 5 age levels (ages 4–18): Creation & the ancient world, Greece and Rome, the Middle Ages, the American founding, the Civil War, the World Wars, and modern civics — with Bible history woven through every era.
🔢 New: Math curriculum. A full year — 36 weeks × 5 age levels: counting and addition, multiplication and fractions, decimals and pre-algebra, algebra and geometry, all the way to trigonometry and calculus concepts.
Grace teaches every lesson. Each week: 📖 Teach (the story or the concept), 👀 Watch me (a walkthrough or a fully worked problem showing every step), ✏️ Your turn (activities, timelines, and practice problems).
Fresh math problems every replay. Each math week ships 3 rotating problem sets with computed answers and worked solutions — replays deal new numbers, so practice never goes stale. Hints escalate: a strategy reminder first, then the first step worked.
History that connects. Weeks point to the Map & Atlas, the Presidential Library, Founding Documents, and Learning Theater by name instead of repeating them — one connected curriculum.
Patient checking, all year. Knowledge checks use the 3-try rule, tricky topics get ⚠️ struggle flags in the Parent Dashboard, and Grace weaves review warmups into lessons all year. Everything saves to the Student Work portfolio.

September 15, 2026

Version 2.71.0

CURRICULUM

🎨 New: Arts & Crafts curriculum. A full year of hands-on art — 36 weeks × 5 age levels (ages 4–18): Little Artists (4–6), Young Artists (7–9), Art Explorers (10–12), Art Studio (13–15), and Art Masters (16–18).
Grace-led every step. Every lesson follows the same flow: 🎓 Grace Teach explains the technique, 👀 Watch me shows how it’s done, then ✏️ Your turn puts the brush, scissors, or clay in your child’s hands.
Made with what’s already at home. Every project is built from household and recycled materials — cardboard, paper plates, bottle caps, fabric scraps, yarn — so art never waits on a supply run.
Finished projects go to the portfolio. Kids describe their finished project by voice 🎤 or text, and the description is saved to the Student Work portfolio in the Parent Dashboard, alongside photos of the work.
Grace’s specific feedback. Teacher Grace responds to each project with concrete observations — what worked, what to try next time — not a generic “good job.”
Knowledge checks that teach. Each week ends with a short knowledge check using the patient 3-try rule, Grace’s struggle support when answers miss, and year-long reinforcement so techniques come back stronger.
Sharp tools stay locked. Weeks that use scissors, craft knives, or other sharp tools sit behind a parent-PIN lock — kids can’t open them until a parent unlocks them.
Tutorial refreshed. The first-time tour now covers the Arts & Crafts studio, still in 7 steps.

September 15, 2026

Version 2.70.0

LEARNING ZONE

🏫 Meet Principal Tech. A warm, professional principal now lives in the Parent Dashboard. Tell him your name once — title and last name — and he addresses you properly in every greeting (“Good afternoon, Mr. Mott”).
Feature requests & bug reports by chat. Tap ✨ Request a feature, 🐞 Report a bug, or 💬 Something else, and Principal Tech walks you through it conversationally, shows a summary, and sends it only after you confirm. Every message goes straight to support@aeinternet.us.
No message is ever lost. Every message is saved on the server too, and Austin can review them in the /admin panel with their email-delivery status. If email sending is not set up yet, Principal Tech tells you honestly and offers a one-tap email-app button instead.
Tutorial refreshed. The first-time tour’s parents step now introduces Principal Tech, still in 7 steps.

September 15, 2026

Version 2.69.0

LEARNING ZONE

🃏 New: Flash Cards. A brand-new Classroom activity that turns the 900 curriculum vocabulary words — plus key science, Bible, history, and presidents terms — into a self-check game. Grace says the word aloud, your child tries it (type, tap 🎤, or just flip), then marks Got it ✓ or Still learning ↻. Tricky cards recycle until they stick, and words marked “Still learning” twice join Grace’s year-long review funnel. Sessions earn stars and save to the Parent Dashboard portfolio.
Teacher Grace teaches everything now. All 31 Classroom activities are fully Grace-led: tap ▶ Learn with Teacher Grace on any quiz, game, or weekly assignment and she teaches the concept in her own words, works an example step-by-step, then guides your child through each task with the patient 3-try rule. Reference spots (Atlas, Word Reference, Notebook, Star Shop…) get a ▶ Tour with Teacher Grace that shows how to use them. No child ever faces a bare worksheet.
Word highlighting now matches Grace’s voice exactly. A new hybrid synchronizer follows Grace’s narration word-by-word: it uses the browser’s speech signals when they work, estimates timing from the text when they don’t (common on iPhones), recalibrates at every sentence, and gracefully falls back to sentence highlighting if sync confidence is low. It also learns Grace’s real speaking pace as the session goes, getting more accurate over time.
Tutorial refreshed. The first-time tour now covers Flash Cards and Grace-taught activities, still in 7 steps.

September 15, 2026

Version 2.68.0

LEARNING ZONE

💾 Your child’s work now saves to your server. When the arcade runs on your server with a persistent disk (Render), learning data — the Student Work portfolio, grades, struggle flags, child profiles, stars and badges, and all curriculum progress — saves to the server automatically. Nothing to set up, no accounts or logins for the kids.
Always know where it’s saved. The Parent Dashboard shows a “💾 Saved on server” badge when server saving is active, or “💾 Saved on this device” when it isn’t. If the server can’t save (offline, static hosting, no disk), the app silently keeps everything on the device — nothing ever breaks.
Device-to-device pickup. When server saving is on, a browser picks up the newest saved work on startup, so progress follows the child. If both copies changed, the newest version of each section wins — and nothing saved locally is ever thrown away.
Private by design. Only learning data syncs. The parent PIN, voice choice, tutorial progress, and device settings never leave the device. The /admin panel lists synced learning profiles read-only so you can confirm it’s working.
Tutorial refreshed. The first-time tour’s parents step now notes that work saves automatically — to your server when available, otherwise on the device.

September 15, 2026

Version 2.67.0

LEARNING ZONE

📷 The Atlas comes alive with realistic photos. Every one of the 91 Atlas places now shows a realistic, true-to-life photograph: 6 continents, 27 countries, all 50 states, and 8 Bible Lands. Open any place to see its photo with a caption naming the scene — the Grand Canyon, the Eiffel Tower, Mount Rushmore, the Sea of Galilee, and 87 more.
Photos, not maps. The pictures are representative photographs of each place's most iconic scenery — never AI-drawn maps — so borders and shapes stay exactly as your child already learned them.
Works offline, loads fast. All 91 photos ship inside the Learning Zone; nothing is fetched from the internet, and photos load lazily only when a place is opened.
Tutorial refreshed. The first-time tour's recap now mentions the Atlas photos, still in 7 steps.

September 15, 2026

Version 2.66.0

CURRICULUM

📚 Complete books, all 27 reading-list titles. Every book on the reading list now ships in full as part of the Learning Zone — Treasure Island, Little Women, Jane Eyre, Aesop’s Fables, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Mother Goose, and more — including the complete King James Bible (all 66 books), the full text of Moby Dick, and all 85 Federalist Papers. Books load only when your child opens them, so the Learning Zone stays fast.
🔊 Whole-book read-aloud. Tap 📚 Read the whole book next to any reading-list title: Teacher Grace reads each chapter aloud in her own voice with word-by-word highlighting, chapter navigation, pause and resume, and optional repeat-after-me checkpoints. Everything is read with Grace’s voice — no other voice is ever used.
🎤 Say it: type-or-mic answers everywhere. Every reading and writing answer box now has a Say it button. What your child says goes straight into the editable answer box — they can fix it up, then submit — and Grace checks, praises, grades, and saves it exactly like a typed answer. The microphone never turns on by itself, and if no mic is available the lesson works fully by typing.
Read-along answers, three tries. Read-along discussion questions now have real answer boxes: type or say the answer, then submit. Grace encourages a retry on empty answers (three tries), praises every real answer, and saves it to the Student Work portfolio for the Parent Dashboard.
Tutorial refreshed. The first-time tour now covers Say-it answers and the whole-book reader, still in 7 steps.

September 15, 2026

Version 2.65.0

CURRICULUM

🎤 3 tries for spoken answers. Talk to Teacher Grace now uses the same 3-try rule as the rest of the classroom: the first miss gets warm encouragement and a hint, the second gets a bigger hint (first letter, word count) — and the answer is never given away early. On the third miss Grace patiently teaches the answer, tells your child she will let their grown-up know the topic was tricky, and saves a ⚠️ Needs a little help flag in the Parent Dashboard.
Reviews follow the same patient rule. Spoken answers during year-long review warmups use the 3-try rule too, feeding the same struggling → improving → mastered funnel. No shaming anywhere — learning takes practice.
Tutorial refreshed. The first-time tour’s lesson-loop step now notes that the 3-try rule also covers answering out loud with the 🎤 Talk to Teacher Grace mic.

September 15, 2026

Version 2.64.0

CURRICULUM

3 tries, then Grace teaches it. When your child misses a question, Grace responds in three steps: warm encouragement plus a general hint on the first miss, a bigger hint on the second, and a patient step-by-step re-teach on the third before moving on. Never any shaming — learning takes practice. This applies in Grace-led lessons, vocabulary, and Talk to Teacher Grace.
⚠️ Needs a little help flags. On the third miss, Grace saves a private flag in the Parent Dashboard (inside your existing PIN lock): subject, concept, lesson, date, and status. Saved schoolwork tied to a struggle is visibly marked in the Student Work portfolio. Everything stays in this browser — nothing is uploaded anywhere.
Year-long reinforcement. Grace weaves quick review warmups into later lessons — next lesson, about 3 days later, about a week later, then monthly — until the concept is mastered. At most two reviews per lesson, always skippable, and never during assessments. Two correct reviews in a row move a flag to improving; a third correct review, or a perfectly clean quiz, marks it mastered — and Grace celebrates with your child.
Lesson reliability fix. If a device’s speech engine stalls or fails (seen on some iPhones), the lesson no longer freezes: narration advances on a watchdog timer and the Next button always works, with or without voice. Covered by a new automated regression test.

September 15, 2026

Version 2.63.0

CURRICULUM

🎤 Talk to Teacher Grace. A new microphone button in every lesson and in the Learning Zone lets your child talk to Teacher Grace like a real teacher: ask what a word means, ask her to explain the concept again, have her repeat herself, or read an answer aloud and she will check it. She answers by voice and in captions, using only the actual lesson and vocabulary material — she never makes facts up. The mic only listens when your child taps the button, and everything still works fully without it.
📖 Read with Teacher Grace. Every book on the reading-list now has a guided session: Grace introduces the story, characters, themes, and key vocabulary, then narrates a classic passage with word-by-word highlighting as she reads. She pauses to ask comprehension questions and does “repeat after me” reading practice. Books whose full text is still under copyright get the full guided treatment — summary, themes, and discussion — without reproducing the text.
Reading & writing, fully parent-free. The reading and writing tracks were re-audited end to end: Teacher Grace does all the teaching — explaining, demonstrating, and checking — with zero dependence on a parent to teach. Parents stay in the review seat: grades and the Student Work portfolio in the Parent Dashboard.

September 15, 2026

Version 2.62.0

CURRICULUM

First-time curriculum tutorial. The first time your family opens the Learning Zone, Teacher Grace offers a quick 2-minute guided tour: 7 friendly steps covering the Bible-based curriculum, setting up your child in the Parent Dashboard, the Teach → Show → Do lesson loop, stars and the Star Shop, and parent review tools. Steps can be read aloud, and you can skip anytime.
Try a real sample lesson. Step 4 of the tour starts a genuine mini-lesson with Teacher Grace — she teaches, shows a worked example, and lets your child try — then brings you right back to the tour. The full tour replays anytime with the ❓ Tutorial button at the top of the Learning Zone.
Vocabulary freeze fix. If a device’s speech engine fails while a vocabulary lesson starts, the lesson no longer stalls: Grace’s captions, choices, and Next button keep working and the lesson advances normally. Covered by a new automated regression test.

September 15, 2026

Version 2.61.1

POLISH

Faces centered in every medallion. All 45 presidential portraits were re-cropped from the original paintings so each president’s face sits centered in the circular medallion — on the library shelf and on every detail card. Still fully offline, still the same classical oil-painting style.

September 15, 2026

Version 2.61.0

CURRICULUM

Teach → Show → Do in every lesson. Teacher Grace now follows one strict loop for every concept in homeschool, electives, vocabulary, science, and writing: she teaches the idea, shows a worked example step-by-step (“👀 Watch me”), then your child does 2+ practice items (“✏️ Your turn”) while Grace checks each try. Two misses and she teaches the answer and moves on — never a dead end.
No parent teaching needed. Every one of the 6,800+ lesson concepts was audited: nothing asks a parent to explain, read aloud, or help with the learning itself — Teacher Grace does it all with your child. The only grown-up notes left are physical-safety ones on science experiments (“👩‍🔬 Safety: do this part with a grown-up nearby”).
See where you are. The lesson progress bar now shows the loop — 📖 Teach → 👀 Watch me → ✏️ Your turn — with the current phase highlighted, so your child always knows what is happening.
Vocabulary rebuilt per word. Each of the 900 words gets its own Teach → Show → Do: Grace teaches the word, shows how she uses it step-by-step, then quizzes with the same 2-miss rule.
Classroom rename. The Games button in the Learning Zone is now the Classroom — same Bible games and activities, clearer name.
All practice answers still save to the Student Work portfolio and grades exactly as before, for parent review.

September 15, 2026

Version 2.60.0

HISTORY

Every president now has a painted portrait on their medallion — a classical oil-painting bust in the spirit of the White House portraits, saved right in the app so the Library still works fully offline.
Facts expanded to 7–9 in-depth facts for each of the 47 presidencies — 376 facts in all: major policies, the challenges each president faced, how their decisions shaped the country, and memorable personal details. Teacher Grace’s “Hear his story” narration now has much more to tell.
Content packs bumped to version 2, so a hosted update feed refreshes the Library with the new portraits and facts automatically — no redeploy needed.
The Presidents quiz in the Quiz Center still asks all 56 questions, and each president’s detail card now shows their portrait large.

September 15, 2026

Version 2.59.0

GRACE

Teacher Grace is now a real face: her realistic portrait appears in every lesson, greeting, the Atlas, the Presidential Library, and the Word Reference — with a gentle glow while she speaks and a happy smile when she praises a correct answer.
Automatic content updates: the Presidential Library and Map & Atlas now read from versioned content packs. Host an updated manifest + JSON files anywhere, set CONTENT_UPDATE_URL on the server, and facts refresh on devices with no redeploy. Full details in CONTENT_UPDATES.md.
The app always works fully offline from its baked-in content — the update feed is optional, and anything malformed is silently ignored.

September 15, 2026

Version 2.58.0

HISTORY

New 🏛 Presidential Library: all 47 presidencies (George Washington through today — including Grover Cleveland as both #22 and #24, and Donald Trump as #45 and #47), each with kid-friendly facts, home state, party, years in office, and a “why he mattered” one-liner.
Browse the shelf of presidential-seal medallions with search by name or number, era filters (Founding, 1800s, 1900s, Modern), and a 🎲 Surprise me button — fully offline, no images to download.
Every president’s detail card shows real, well-attested quotes (or a “Did you know?” box where no famous quote fits) plus a 🔊 Hear his story button so Teacher Grace narrates it with captions.
Teacher Grace welcomes first-time visitors to the Library and introduces the presidents together with the child.
New Presidents subject in the Quiz Center: 56 questions — “Who was the 16th president?” plus fact questions like “Honest Abe” and the first president to live in the White House — with grades and portfolio recording as usual.

September 15, 2026

Version 2.57.0

TEACHER GRACE & TOOLS

Teacher Grace now shows a 📌 Example box on every teaching step — homeschool lessons, science and writing weeks, and all 900 vocabulary words — and speaks the example aloud (“Here is an example”).
New 📖 Word Reference: look up any of the 900 vocabulary words to see its part of speech, meaning, example sentence, similar and opposite words, and Bible connection — with a “🔊 Hear it” button in Grace’s voice. Unknown words get an “Ask Teacher Grace” answer instead of a dead end.
Known words are now tap-to-define: dotted-underlined words in Teacher Grace’s captions and in homeschool, science, writing, and vocabulary lesson text open a meaning popup when tapped.
New 📓 My Notebook: the child writes and saves personal notes by subject (Math, Reading, Science, Bible, Writing, My Thoughts) — up to 500 entries, all saved on this browser. The Parent Dashboard shows every note in a read-only view with printing.
New 🗺 Map & Atlas: fully offline maps — a world map with 27 countries (name, capital, one fun fact each), a USA map with all 50 states, and a Bible Lands map (Israel/Judah, Egypt, Sinai, Jordan River, Sea of Galilee, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Nazareth) with Scripture references. Teacher Grace introduces the Atlas on first visit.

September 15, 2026

Version 2.56.0

READABILITY

Learning Zone body text is now bigger (about 18–20px) with generous 1.6 line spacing and better letter spacing, scaling smoothly on phones.
Text/background contrast audited across lessons, quizzes, tabs, and tables — every key pair now meets WCAG AA 4.5:1.
Parent lesson scripts switch to a warm-paper, dark-ink treatment with distinct step cards and high-contrast numbered badges — closing the September 14 readability request.
Teacher Grace captions are larger and sit in solid high-contrast caption boxes that are easy to follow, with or without voice.
Parent Dashboard grade tables get zebra striping and roomier cells; the Student Work portfolio moves to clean light cards with clear row separation.
Visible keyboard focus outlines on all buttons, inputs, and links; links are underlined so they stand apart from body text.

September 15, 2026

Version 2.55.0

TEACHER GRACE

Teacher Grace now teaches every lesson herself — homeschool daily lessons in all six subjects, vocabulary, Reading & Writing, and science — so the child learns independently and the parent only reviews afterward.
New Grace-led lesson player: Grace greets the learner by name, explains each concept, demonstrates examples, pauses for answers, and gives spoken feedback with praise for effort — never shaming a wrong answer.
Choice questions are auto-graded on the spot; after two misses Grace teaches the answer and moves on, so there are no dead ends.
Big kid-friendly controls: progress bar with step counts, “🔄 Hear it again”, and a mute toggle that keeps captions going silently.
Parent teaching scripts are now tucked behind a collapsed “📋 Parent notes” toggle — the child’s path is 100% Grace. The Parent Dashboard gains a “What Teacher Grace taught” summary, and grades plus the Student Work portfolio remain for review.
Every lesson opens with a clear “▶ Start lesson with Teacher Grace” button.

September 15, 2026

Version 2.54.0

STUDENT WORK

New Student Work portfolio in the Parent Dashboard keeps completed work private to this browser and device.
Teacher Grace questions, independent work, mastery checks, Quiz Center answers, vocabulary quizzes, Reading & Writing responses, homeschool blocks, and electives can now save work for later review.
Parents can filter work by area, subject, student, date, or week and expand each entry to see its prompt, response, and correct / incorrect status.
Quiz and vocabulary history includes direct “View work” links when detailed answers are available.
Print the portfolio or download a CSV containing prompts and student responses. The store keeps the newest 500 entries and handles device storage limits without interrupting lessons.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.53.0

AGE LOCKS

Age locks are now enforced on every age-gated surface: vocabulary bands, Reading & Writing courses, science courses, 52-week learning tracks, Secondary Academy levels and modules, Quiz Center levels, homeschool course selectors, and the homeschool age-track selector.
Every out-of-band level shows a visible lock (🔒) with locked styling, and clicking or selecting it opens a friendly locked panel with the parent-PIN unlock option — no lesson content can leak through.
Parent-unlocked bands render normally, and the home band always stays open.
When no learner age is set, everything stays open with a subtle hint pointing parents to set the learner’s age in the Parent Dashboard.
Lock state refreshes immediately whenever the learner profile or unlocks change.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.52.0

ADMIN PANEL

New password-protected Admin panel at /admin (not linked from any public page). Set the ADMIN_PASSWORD environment variable to enable it — see ADMIN_SETUP.md.
Player list shows every server-side profile with coins, owned items, access status (active / paying / free-slot / suspended), and last seen; set a free-text label per player (e.g. “Emma’s iPad”) to tell browsers apart.
Grant any premium item without payment, revoke items, add or remove coins, and suspend or unsuspend access — suspended players are blocked from rooms and games even with a valid pass.
Every admin action is written to an append-only audit log, viewable in the panel.
Admin logins are rate-limited and sessions expire after 12 hours.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.51.0

TEACHER GRACE

Teacher Grace now addresses each learner by name — “Hello, Emma!” — in lesson intros and vocabulary lessons, spoken aloud and in the on-screen captions.
The name comes from the learner profile in the Parent Dashboard and updates immediately when a parent changes it.
When no name is set, she greets with a warm “Hello, friend!” instead of the generic “student.”

September 14, 2026

Version 2.50.0

PARENT CONTROLS

Child age & birthdate are now managed only in the Parent Dashboard.
The “Who is learning?” cards in Vocabulary, Reading & Writing, science courses, and Homeschool are now read-only: they show the learner’s name, age, birthdate, and level locks, with a button that takes a parent to the Parent Dashboard to make changes.
The Parent Dashboard editor is the single place to add or edit a learner; age and birthdate changes stay parent-PIN protected, and name-only edits still do not need a PIN.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.49.0

PARENT DASHBOARD

Added an optional birthdate picker to the learner profile while keeping manual age as a fallback.
When a birthdate is saved, age and curriculum level update automatically on birthdays.
The Parent Dashboard now shows the learner’s formatted birthdate, current age, age source, home level, and level-lock status.
Age and birthdate changes remain parent-PIN protected; name-only edits do not require the PIN.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.48.1

HOTFIX

Fixed: curriculum sections failed to load due to a script initialization-order bug.
Homeschool, Vocabulary, Reading & Writing, science courses, and the Parent Dashboard all render again.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.48.0

PARENT CONTROLS

Added a "Who is learning?" card in every curriculum section: enter the student's age once and it is saved on this browser.
Levels outside the student's age band now show a friendly locked card across Vocabulary, Reading & Writing, science courses, and the homeschool age track.
Locked levels open automatically when the student's age reaches them, or a parent can unlock any level early with the parent PIN — and lock it again later.
Changing the saved age requires the parent PIN. The Parent Dashboard shows the student's age and which levels are locked, open, or parent-unlocked.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.47.0

CURRICULUM

Added a full Vocabulary curriculum across five age bands (Word Explorers 4–6 through Word Masters 16–18), each with 36 weekly word units.
Teacher Grace teaches every lesson aloud, pronounces each word, runs interactive practice, and auto-grades a short quiz with encouraging feedback.
Every completed lesson is saved on this browser with its score and grade, shown as done/not done in the Parent Dashboard with print and CSV export.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.46.0

READABILITY

Restyled parent lesson scripts with a dark slate panel, lighter charcoal step cards, off-white text, and warm amber numbered badges for clear on-screen reading.
The dark reader applies everywhere the shared parent-script view appears: Reading & Writing courses, homeschool daily plans, and electives.
Print views automatically switch to white backgrounds and dark text to remain clear without using excessive ink.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.45.0

READABILITY

Changed the parent lesson-script reading panel to a soft light gray, while keeping the individual step cards white and the text dark for high readability.
The updated background applies everywhere the shared parent-script reader appears, including Reading & Writing courses, homeschool daily plans, and electives.
Repaired production dictionary lookups by moving definitions to Wiktionary while preserving the same kid-friendly results and error handling.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.44.0

TOUCH CONTROLS

Made the Dictionary and Encyclopedia lookup controls large, chunky, and easy to tap, with clear 📖 and 🌍 icons and 68-pixel touch targets.
Every press now has an instant squish-and-bounce response—even when a lookup is already loading—plus optional pop sounds and a playful rapid-tap surprise.
Rapid taps are safely guarded so they never start duplicate lookups, and the controls prevent text selection and long-press callouts on phones.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.43.0

READABILITY

Rewrote all 900 Reading & Writing parent lesson scripts in an easy-read format: numbered steps, Say: / Do: / Ask: cues, one idea per line, and key terms highlighted — same teaching, easier to follow while teaching.
New reader-mode lesson view in the Learning Zone and homeschool daily plan: larger type, generous line spacing, clear step cards, and print-friendly layout.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.42.0

READING & WRITING

Added a full-year Reading & Writing curriculum with five levels: Foundations (ages 4–6), Sentences & Paragraphs (7–9), Paragraphs & Multi-Paragraph Writing (10–12), Essay Writing & Research Skills (13–15), and Advanced Composition (16–18).
Every level has 36 weeks and 180 scripted daily lessons: Learn, Practice, Apply, Create, and Assess days with parent teaching scripts, modeled examples, guided practice, assignments, editing checklists, rubrics, and mastery checks.
Systematic grammar progression from letters and first sentences through thesis statements, research papers, MLA/APA citation, and a senior capstone — all original lessons in a short scripted style.
Guided reading strand with public-domain classics and Bible reading, discussion questions, and comprehension checks for every week.
Any level can replace the Language Arts block in the 180-day homeschool plan; completions flow into attendance, print views, CSV exports, and the Parent Dashboard. Progress is saved on this browser.
Parent-led and non-accredited, like the rest of the homeschool curriculum; families remain responsible for state requirements.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.41.0

SEASONAL THEMES

Added ten readable, family-friendly visual themes: Default, New Year, Valentine’s, St. Patrick’s, Spring & Easter, Summer, Fall & Harvest, Playful Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
Automatic mode selects a theme from the visitor’s local calendar date, including a playful pumpkin look without horror or gore and gentle resurrection and nativity-star accents for Easter and Christmas.
Added an accessible theme picker to both the Arcade and Learning Zone. Manual choices persist in this browser, and Automatic can be restored at any time.
Seasonal styling changes colors and decorative accents without shrinking game controls or touch targets.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.40.0

MUSIC LEGENDS

Added six coin-unlocked, original synthesized tracks exploring 1950s rock ’n’ roll, 1970s funk, electric blues, 1960s soul, 1980s synth-pop, and big-band swing.
Every new track includes a kid-friendly music-history note and a visible background source. The arrangements are original and do not copy recordings, melodies, lyrics, or artist branding.
Added a full music player with play/pause, previous/next, track selection, volume, and large touch controls that prevent page swiping while in use.
Preserved all Learning Zone, curriculum, experiment, reference-library, multiplayer, shop, and admission features from v2.39.0.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.39.0

REFERENCE & CHEMISTRY

Added a student Dictionary and Encyclopedia with safe, rate-limited server lookups.
Added a 36-week, 180-session General Chemistry curriculum for ages 14–18.
Added 24 chemistry experiments: six included activities and 18 premium experiments across three packs.
Added mobile-friendly chemistry course, experiment, shop, and reference-library interfaces.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.37.0

BRANDING

Standardized all user-facing education-area branding as Learning Zone.
Added a custom AE Arcade favicon and Apple touch icon featuring a joystick and open book.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.36.0

READABILITY

Darkened the American Documents Library menu tile for clearer white text.
Added a dark, high-contrast background to the Secondary Academy menu tile.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.35.0

SCIENCE INTEGRATION

Improved contrast across Biology and Human Anatomy course pages, including lesson cards, details, controls, safety guidance, and links.
Added a science-course chooser to the Homeschool Curriculum for ages 13–18.
General Biology or Human Anatomy & Physiology can now replace the standard daily Science block and count toward attendance.
Homeschool CSV records now identify the selected science pathway.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.34.0

BIOLOGY & ANATOMY

Added separate 36-week General Biology and Human Anatomy & Physiology courses for ages 13–18.
Each course provides five sessions per week, investigations, evidence tasks, mastery checks, grading guidance, progress tracking, printing, and a capstone.
General Biology includes optional earthworm, crayfish, perch, frog, and fetal-pig studies; Anatomy includes optional cow-eye and sheep-heart studies.
Every specimen lesson has a complete virtual/model alternative and clear safety, supervision, and humane 3Rs guidance.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.33.0

PRIMARY SOURCES

Expanded the Learning Zone’s library from three documents to six collections.
Added the complete Emancipation Proclamation transcript.
Added a complete official PDF of all 13 Articles of Confederation.
Added all 85 Federalist Papers in a searchable on-screen reader, plus the Library of Congress guide.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.32.0

FOUNDING DOCUMENTS

Added a Founding Documents Library to the Learning Zone.
Includes complete official National Archives transcriptions of the Declaration of Independence, the original Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.
Each document opens in an on-screen reader with a direct official-source link as a fallback.
The reader retains the documents’ historical wording, spelling, and punctuation.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.31.0

AMERICAN HISTORY VIDEOS

Added ten American-history videos from PBS, the U.S. National Archives, the National Constitution Center, and Crash Course.
New lessons cover the Revolution, founding documents, early U.S. politics, slavery and the Constitution, civil rights, the 1960s, and westward movement.
Expanded the Learning Theater to the high-school age track while keeping age filters for younger students.
Videos stream from their original YouTube publishers and may become unavailable if a publisher changes access.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.30.0

SOLO & COMPUTER PLAY

Every arcade game now opens a play-mode chooser with Solo, Computer Players, and Online Room options.
Solo and computer matches start immediately without waiting for another person or sharing a room code.
Computer opponents can play Blocks, Neon Maze, poker variants, pool, Color Clash, Solitaire Race, Radar Fleet, and River Hop.
Daily star costs and parent-PIN overrides continue to apply equally to every play mode.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.29.0

DAILY STAR GAME ACCESS

Arcade game cards now show the stars required to unlock each game for the current day.
Students can spend earned Learning Zone stars once per game, and each unlock resets at local midnight.
A verified Parent Dashboard PIN can unlock every arcade game for the rest of the day without spending stars.
Room-code joins are checked too, so a locked game cannot be entered by bypassing its game card.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.28.0

LEARNING ZONE NAVIGATION

Moved Homeschool Curriculum to the first position in the Learning Zone menu.
Placed Parent Dashboard and Star Shop directly after the curriculum for quicker parent access.
Kept every existing learning game and resource available below the priority sections.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.27.0

PREMIUM SCIENCE EXPANSION

Added Earth & Weather, Space & Astronomy, and Life Science premium experiment packs.
Each pack unlocks six guided activities with materials, steps, science explanations, Scripture reflections, and safety guidance.
Added visible background-source links from NASA, NOAA, and University of Minnesota educational resources.
All new packs can be purchased with configured game coins or a one-time Stripe Price.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.26.0

NC HOMESCHOOL REQUIREMENTS

Added a detailed North Carolina compliance guide inside the Homeschool Curriculum.
The guide covers establishing a home school, instructor qualifications, compulsory-attendance ages, the nine-month schedule, attendance and immunization records, annual nationally standardized testing, inspections, and school closure.
Clearly identifies which records AE Arcade supports and which legal steps remain the parent’s responsibility.
Links directly to official NC DNPE guidance, testing information, the Home School Guidebook, and the controlling statutes.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.25.0

DEFAULT TEACHER VOICE

Teacher Grace now uses Google US English by default when the voice is installed on the device.
A family’s manually selected voice remains saved and takes priority over the default.
If Google US English is unavailable, Teacher Grace automatically uses the best available English voice.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.24.0

NATURAL TEACHER VOICE

Teacher Grace now chooses the best available English voice on the device, prioritizing enhanced and natural voices when installed.
Added a voice picker, natural pacing, gentler pitch, and short sentence pauses for smoother narration.
Rewrote generated lesson narration as complete, student-friendly sentences and cleaned punctuation before speech and captions.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.23.0

DIGITAL TEACHER

Added Teacher Grace, an animated on-screen teacher for every core and elective homeschool lesson.
Teacher Grace reads lessons aloud using the device’s built-in voice while always showing captions, with adjustable speed, pause, repeat, back, and next controls.
Students are guided through the objective, concept, modeled example, guided practice, discussion questions, independent assignment, mastery check, and reteaching step.
Families can run a full guided school day or open the teacher from one lesson card. No microphone is used, and open-ended answers remain for parent review.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.22.0

HOMESCHOOL ELECTIVES

Added five selectable electives for every age track: Spanish Foundations, French Foundations, Art & Crafts Studio, Physical Education, and Health & Wellness.
Each elective follows a sustainable weekly schedule and includes age-adjusted lesson time, parent scripts, modeled and guided practice, assignments, mastery checks, reteaching, materials, and safety notes.
Electives remain optional, do not control core attendance, and now appear in daily plans, printable views, Parent Dashboard totals, and CSV records.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.21.0

PARENT-LED TEACHING

Expanded every homeschool subject block into a complete lesson with an objective, concept explanation, parent script, modeled example, guided practice, independent assignment, mastery standard, and reteaching steps.
Added a detailed parent administration guide covering yearly setup, the daily teaching routine, weekly rhythm, grading, attendance, record keeping, pacing, accommodations, and a suggested schedule.
Kept the 36-week, 180-day structure, six daily subjects, five age tracks, printing, CSV records, and PIN-protected Parent Dashboard.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.20.0

HOMESCHOOL CURRICULUM

Added a 36-week, 180-day parent-led homeschool curriculum for ages 4–18.
Each day includes Bible, math, language arts, science, social studies, and life-skills/arts blocks with lesson focus, teaching assignment, materials, and mastery check.
Added browser-local attendance, lesson completion, printable daily plans, CSV record export, and a homeschool summary in the PIN-protected Parent Dashboard.
Added clear guidance that families remain responsible for state requirements, books, supervision, assessment, and any needed accredited records.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.19.0

SCRIPTURE & ORIGINS

Added ten Scripture & Origins study cards covering creation days, Adam and Eve, the image of God, genealogies, created kinds, Noah’s Flood, and responsible evidence evaluation.
Added a ten-question challenge and a graded Origins & Scripture Quiz Center subject for parent review.
Clearly labels young-earth conclusions as a faith interpretation and accurately notes that mainstream geology and biology reach different conclusions.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.18.0

LEARNING & ROADMAP

Renamed the education area to Learning Zone throughout the arcade.
Added an Upcoming Features panel for public roadmap announcements.
Made roadmap cards editable in config/arcade.config.js; until announcements are added, the panel shows an honest empty state.
Kept six Creation Lab experiments free while the other eighteen remain unlockable.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.17.0

LEARNING ZONE

Renamed the education area to Learning Zone across the arcade.
Updated page titles, navigation, support labels, terms, documentation, and accessibility text.
Kept six Creation Lab experiments free while the other eighteen remain unlockable through the three experiment packs.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.16.1

CREATION LAB ACCESS

Kept six starter experiments free and visible to every Learning Zone learner.
Locked the remaining eighteen experiments behind the three existing experiment packs.
Each pack remains unlockable with game coins or its configured Stripe price.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.16.0

CREATION LAB EXPANSION

Added twelve guided experiments, bringing Creation Lab to 24 activities.
Expanded topics to surface tension, plant transport, freezing point, non-Newtonian fluids, density, flight, sound, chromatography, magnetism, the water cycle, pressure, and pendulum motion.
Every new activity includes materials, steps, a plain-language science explanation, a Bible reflection with Scripture reference, and a specific safety note.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.15.0

THROUGH GRADUATION

Added age groups for ages 13–15 and 16–18.
Extended the annual learning tracks through high-school graduation.
Added secondary modules, advanced quizzes, career readiness, personal finance, and senior capstone planning.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.14.0

YEAR OF LEARNING

Added three complete 52-week learning tracks for ages 4–6, 7–9, and 10–12, with five guided activities per week.
Added four Schoolhouse Rock! Learning Theater classics covering math, grammar, civics, and the U.S. Constitution.
Added a graded Quiz Center covering Bible, math, language arts, science, geography, world history, and American history.
Added a PIN-gated Parent Dashboard with averages, quiz history, CSV download, print view, and progress stored on the family browser.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.13.0

KIDS + MEMBERSHIPS

Added Learning Theater with eight curated educational videos spanning Bible, math, science, animals, world history, and American history.
Added a Star Shop where kids can spend earned stars on badges and Learning Zone themes.
Added monthly and discounted yearly Stripe subscription choices for arcade admission.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.12.0

FEATURES + LEGAL

Added a public Terms of Service page, linked from the arcade, Learning Zone, and Quick Play footers.
Added this Recent Updates page and a versioned patch preview at the bottom of the arcade.
Kept legal and update pages available even before arcade access is unlocked.

September 14, 2026

Version 2.11.0

CREATION LAB

Added Kitchen Chemistry, Light & Color, and Forces & Motion premium experiment packs.
Added six new Creation Lab experiments with materials, instructions, safety notes, science explanations, Bible reflections, and Scripture references.
Enabled each experiment pack to be purchased with game coins or USD through verified Stripe Checkout.
Added individual shop artwork and locked-experiment previews.