Let's name the thing right at the top.

How a session actually works

Every session is a video call. The rule that matters most: a parent is in the room or within earshot on both sides — yours and ours. Not watching over a shoulder, not hovering, just nearby. I'm in the next room while Noah is tutoring; we ask the same of you.

On screen, you'll see Noah and whatever they're working on together — a worksheet, a book page, a math problem, a whiteboard. Sessions aren't recorded. When the call ends, it's gone.

There's no chat feature between Noah and your child outside the session. No DMs, no texts, no email. If something needs to be said between sessions — a question, a heads-up, a reschedule — it goes through the parent portal, which means it goes through you and through me. That's not a friction we plan to remove later. It's the design.

How money works

You never send money directly to Noah. Every payment goes through Stripe, the same payment processor used by most of the internet. Your card is on file with Stripe, not with us, and not with a teenager.

The simple version of our cancellation policy:

• 24+ hours notice: free reschedule, no charge.
• Less than 24 hours: one free reschedule per month, after that the session is forfeited.
• No-show: charged.

If a charge ever looks wrong, email me (below) and I'll sort it out. We'd rather refund a confused charge than argue about it.

What we collect, and what we don't

We collect what we need to run the service and nothing extra:

• Your name and email (to book and send reminders)
• Your child's first name, grade, and the subjects they're working on
• A short “learning notes” field if you want to tell us what's helpful to know
• Payment method, held by Stripe — we don't see your card number

We do notcollect your child's last name, school, address, or photo. We don't sell or share your information with anyone. Other parents on the platform can't see your name, your kid's name, your schedule, or your notes. Other tutors (when there are more) can't either — only the tutor actually working with your child sees their learning notes, and only what they need to do the job.

You can ask us to delete your account and your child's data at any time. Email me and it's done.

About future tutors

Right now Noah is the only tutor on StudySidekick. That will change — the whole point of the platform is to host other young tutors over time. Here's how that will work when it does:

• Every tutor will be a kid we (or someone we trust) actually know
• Every tutor needs their own parent's written consent to be on the platform
• Every tutor does a sample session with me before they take a real booking
• I review feedback and sit in on sessions on an ongoing basis
• The same safety rules apply to every tutor — parent on both sides, no recording, no direct messaging, all comms through the portal

We're not going to scale by lowering the bar. If we can't vet a tutor the way we vet Noah, they don't get on the platform.

One honest closing note

We can't promise anything is “100% safe” — nobody honest can. What we can promise is that the rules above are real, that I'm a real person who picks up real emails, and that we've designed StudySidekickthe way we'd want it designed if it were our own kid on the other side of the call.

Because, well — Noah is.