A privacy checklist for homeschool AI tools

Start with the child, not the feature list

Before opening an account, name the learning job the tool needs to do and the minimum information it needs to do that job. A spelling helper should not need a child’s full name, home address, daily schedule, or a large archive of family photos.

For a child under 13, pay special attention to who operates the service and what it collects. The federal COPPA Rule covers child-directed online services and general-audience services that have actual knowledge they are collecting personal information from a child under 13. Whether a particular service is covered depends on the facts, so treat this as a screening question rather than an individualized legal conclusion.

Ask these eight questions before the first upload

Read the privacy policy and the sign-up screen together. If the answer to a question is missing, vague, or difficult to act on, pause before giving the tool a child’s information.

• Who operates the tool, and is there a clear way to contact them?
• What information is collected directly, automatically, and through uploads?
• Why is each category of information needed?
• Are prompts, documents, photos, voice recordings, or outputs used to train models or improve the service?
• Is information disclosed to advertising, analytics, model, or other third-party providers?
• How long is information kept, and can a parent delete both the account and its data?
• Can a parent review, correct, download, or withdraw consent for a child’s information?
• What security, breach-notice, and support practices does the provider describe?

Know what counts as personal information

The FTC’s current parent guidance says COPPA personal information can include a child’s name and contact details, location, photos, videos, audio recordings, government identifiers, biometric identifiers, and persistent identifiers used to track activity over time. That makes voice chats, face photos, scanned work with a name, and account telemetry worth reviewing—not just a registration form.

For services covered by COPPA, parents should receive a direct notice and be asked for approval before covered collection, use, or disclosure. The FTC also describes parental rights to review information, withdraw consent, and request deletion. Those protections are a floor for covered services, not a guarantee that every tool is a good fit for your family.

Use a parent-controlled setup when you can

Prefer a parent-owned account with the smallest workable profile. Use a nickname or non-identifying learner label when the service allows it. Turn off optional sharing, public profiles, targeted personalization, and unnecessary integrations.

Teach one simple upload rule: stop before sharing anything that identifies the child, another person, a location, a medical or disability detail, a login, or a private family event. A parent can then decide whether the information is necessary and whether the tool’s policy supports that use.

Treat terms as a decision tool, not a checkbox

The U.S. Department of Education’s model terms checklist was written for evaluating online educational services. Although it is school-oriented and was last updated in March 2016, its core questions about collection, use, transmission, security, and warning signs remain useful prompts for parents.

Do not assume a school privacy label, a COPPA statement, or an app-store age rating answers every question. Recheck the policy when a tool adds voice, image, agent, memory, advertising, or model-training features, because those changes can alter what is collected and how it is used.

A two-minute family decision rule

Use the tool only when you can explain what it collects, why the learning benefit justifies that collection, who else receives the information, and how you would remove the data later. If one of those answers is unclear, use the tool without the child’s information, choose a lower-data mode, ask the provider, or pick another tool.

This checklist is general educational information, not legal advice. It was reviewed against current federal sources on August 31, 2026. State privacy laws and a family’s circumstances may add requirements or change the analysis.