Your kid has the ideas. We teach them to build with AI.
SchoolMVP teaches homeschool kids to take an idea of their own and build it into a real, working app. AI writes the code. Your kid decides what to build, checks every result and explains how it works.
- Live online classes with a real teacher
- No coding background needed
- Working on charter vendor approval
A falconer!
age 10Most parents feel unsure about AI and their kids' futures
In April 2026, the Harris Poll asked 921 parents of kids in kindergarten through 11th grade how AI is changing their plans.
say AI has changed how they think about their child's future career.
say parents need a different playbook to prepare their kids.
believe AI will open careers for their kids that don't exist yet.
Source: Intuit Credit Karma and The Harris Poll, April 2026.
Nobody knows which jobs will be safe, so choosing a path feels like placing a bet.
A homeschool parent whose college kids switched majors over AII want my kid to learn to use it without letting it do their thinking.
A parent of a 9th grader, still holding offSome days I can't stand it. The errors, the fake art, the hype.
Several parents, in one form or anotherWhat homeschool parents wrote in forums this year, paraphrased.
We built SchoolMVP for parents who feel all of that at once: worried, cautious and a little fed up.
Nobody can promise which jobs will exist. Some skills go with your kid into any of them.
In that same poll, parents ranked critical thinking first among the skills that will matter. Building with AI depends on it at every step, because a vague request gets a broken app. So every class practices:
- Turning a fuzzy idea into a small, clear goal
- Telling AI exactly what they want, in plain words
- Catching what AI got wrong, and fixing it
- Working with a team and finishing what they start
A kid who can do those four things can do useful work whether they end up a nurse, an electrician, a falconer or a founder.
What your kid does
Every project follows the same path, and it starts with something your kid cares about.
Pick a problem
Something real in their life, their hobby or the career they dream about.
Shrink it
Cut the big dream down to one small thing the first version has to do.
Build it with AI
Describe it in plain words while AI writes the code, then correct what it gets wrong.
Test and fix
Try to break it. Find what AI got wrong. Explain the fix.
Ship it
Put it in front of real people and listen to what they say.
Our goal for every student who goes all the way: take an idea from a sketch to an app good enough to pass Apple's App Store review, on their own or with a team. Apple checks privacy, data security and whether the app works, so students learn why those matter too.
"Will AI end up doing their thinking for them?"
It's the question parents ask us most. Our teacher, James, has spent years in classrooms watching what happens when kids hand off their thinking, and he designed our classes to make that hard to do.
Using AI well takes more thought than people expect. Kids who learn this way practice more thinking, because the AI builds only what they can explain clearly.
- They plan before AI touches anythingEvery build starts with the kid saying, in their own words, what it should do and how they'll know it works.
- They check the workAI makes mistakes all the time. Finding them is part of every lesson.
- They explain it out loudIf a kid can't explain why their app works, it isn't finished yet.
- They build with peopleLive classes, a community of other young builders, and a teacher who knows their name.
We tested the idea with homeschool families in July
Peter's wife shared one post in a few homeschool Facebook groups offering a free one-hour Zoom demo.
families asked to join within 24 hours of one post
kids and parents came to two live sessions
from an empty folder to a live multiplayer drawing game, which everyone then played together
kids said "software engineer" when asked what they want to be
What they said they want to be
- Pilot 11
- General contractor 11
- Falconer 10
- Writer 13
- 911 dispatcher 13
- Pro soccer player, musician or music teacher 13
- Zookeeper or taxi driver 9
- Aerospace engineer, marine biologist, social scientist or performer 16
What they already use AI for
- A website to sell the crochet work she sells at a local market
- A science fair project that took first place at two fairs
- A chemistry tutor
- Pictures and videos to share with friends
What they asked
- Can you tell the AI to change the app after it's built?
- Is there a free way to do this?
- Could I make an online game anyone in the world can join?
- Can AI make Minecraft mods? (Yes.)
We asked what they'd want next. Parents who answered rated each of these 8 or higher out of 10:
Several parents wrote afterward asking when the next class would be. SchoolMVP is the class they asked for.
What we're starting with
The first classes are built from what those July families asked for.
Live classes
A structured course on Zoom, taught live. Kids build their own projects step by step with a teacher watching and helping.
A builder community
A place to show what they made, see what other kids are building and get ideas from each other.
Office hours
Open time each week to work on their own projects, with a teacher there to help when they get stuck.
With Golden Valley, Blue Ridge or another charter that gives families funds? We're applying to become an approved vendor so you can pay with your school funds. Charters add a vendor when an enrolled family asks, so tell us your charter on the form below.
Tell us your charterWe'll set the first group's ages from the families who sign up, and add an in-person maker space once classes are running.
Why we're called SchoolMVP
Minimum viable product
In software, the first version of an idea that real people can use. It's what our students build.
Most valuable player
The one the team counts on. A kid who can take an idea all the way to something that works is that person on any team they join.
James chose the name because it means both.
For adults: learn to direct AI at your own work
Maybe you've watched AI handle parts of your job and wondered what's left for you. The answer is the same one we teach kids: decide what's worth building, tell AI exactly what you want, and check its work.
Our 4-week live course is for marketers, salespeople, real estate agents, office managers and parents, and for people who have lost work to AI or are older and don't have time to go back to school. You don't need any coding background.
The 4-week AI course
- Four live sessions on Zoom, recorded if you miss one
- A group capped at 20, so you can unmute and ask
- You leave with a working app you built, for your own life or business
$199
Get the next start dateWho teaches
James Rice
Chief executive and education officerA credentialed science teacher (chemistry, physics and middle school science) with a master's in education. He studies how kids learn, and how to tell when they've learned something. He leads the curriculum and does most of the teaching.
Peter James
Technical advisorThe first hire and head of technology at a software company with hundreds of users. He never learned to code, yet he has built all 12 of the company's apps with AI, and their software passed Google's security review. He makes sure what we teach matches how real software gets made.
Questions parents ask
Will my kid learn to code?
They won't write code line by line. They learn to build software the way more and more professionals now do: plan it, describe it to AI, read enough of the result to check it, and fix what's wrong. If they later want to learn programming languages, they'll start with a working sense of how software fits together.
My kid isn't "into computers." Is this for them?
In our pilot, not one kid wanted to be a software engineer. They wanted to be pilots, writers, a general contractor, a 911 dispatcher and a falconer. Every project starts from the kid's own interests, and the app is a tool for that interest.
Isn't this just more screen time?
It's screen time where your kid is the one making decisions. They plan, build, test and explain, usually while talking with a teacher and other kids. Afterward they can show you what they made.
What ages is it for?
The kids in our July pilot were 9 to 16, and most were 10 to 13. We'll set the first class's ages from the families who sign up, so tell us your kids' grades on the form.
How much will it cost?
We'll share pricing with the families on our list first. If you're with Golden Valley, Blue Ridge or a similar charter, we're working on vendor approval so your school funds can cover it.
Is it online or in person?
Live online on Zoom to start, so you can join from anywhere. We plan to add an in-person maker space once classes are running.
What about my kid's privacy?
We collect only what we need to run class and stay in touch with you, and we never sell it. Anything we ever learn from how classes go is studied only as group totals, never tied to a child's name.
Save a seat in the first class
Join the list and you'll hear first about class dates, ages and pricing. You pay nothing to join the list.
Tell us what your kid wants to build or become. It helps us plan the first projects, and we read every answer.