PAPER-FIRST MATH PRACTICE FOR GRADES 2–8

AI-personalized lessons. Real mastery data. Zero screen time.

Akros delivers an engaging math worksheet custom-tailored to your child. They complete it using a pencil, the way cognitive science says math is best learned. We grade it from a photo, find their knowledge gaps, and show you what they've mastered. Then we build the next lesson using the exact concepts they need.

20 min
PER LESSON
Grades 2 – 8
FULL COVERAGE
$11.99/mo
PLANS START AT
One household plan. Additional children cost less.
0 min
SCREEN TIME

Here's the Akros loop.

No driving. No grading. No screen time. Three minutes for you, twenty for them, each lesson.

01

A fresh lesson, in your inbox.

Delivered on the rhythm your family chooses, personalized to what your child has mastered and what they are ready to learn next. Print it on any home printer.

02

Twenty minutes with a pencil.

Yesterday's redos with hints. A new concept with worked examples. Eighteen problems, ending with a Trail Guide mascot to discover and collect.

03

Snap a photo. We do the rest.

Our AI grades the work, finds their knowledge gaps, and shows you exactly which concepts they've mastered. You get a concept-by-concept summary. They get a smarter next lesson.

Why Akros works.

Four principles; each is load-bearing.

PILLAR I · Cognitive Science

Engineered around how kids learn — not around what keeps them clicking.

Akros is built on the latest education science from the ground up.

Spaced repetition
Mastery learning
Retrieval practice
Worked examples
Scaffolded hints that guide to the answer

Each lesson revisits what your child got wrong, reinforces what they have mastered before, and introduces the next concept they are ready for — all on paper, where research says learning sticks best. The next lesson arrives automatically on the rhythm your family chooses.

PILLAR II · Real Mastery Data

Finally, you can see what your child actually knows.

Not a letter grade. Not a percentile. A concept-by-concept readout of every grade-level math skill — green for mastered, yellow for in progress, red for struggling. Updated automatically after each completed lesson.

After a week, you'll know more about your child's math foundation than their report card has ever told you. After a month, you'll see exactly where their mastery has advanced and which gaps need attention before they become next year's struggle.

PILLAR III · Kid Engagement

Math your kid actually wants to do.

Every lesson is a step on a mountain climb — earning elevation feet, hitting milestones (Trail Start, Base Camp, Timberline, Summit), and discovering one of 48 collectible Trail Guide mascots at the end of each lesson. No timers. No leaderboards. No streak-pressure notifications. Just a worksheet your kid grabs because they want to know which Trail Guide they'll meet today and how much closer they are to the next ridge.

PILLAR IV · Parent Effort

You're the coach. Akros is the math teacher.

No driving to a tutoring center. No grading worksheets at the kitchen table. No remembering how Common Core wants long division done this week. The lesson teaches your child the concept. The AI grades the work. And when your child gets stuck, Akros gives them just enough to keep going — not the answer, just the nudge — so you don't have to be the one solving the problem either.

Akros lessons are designed to be completed without parent help. The system works on days when you have free time to coach them through the new concept, and it works equally well on days when you are busy. The part of teaching only a parent can do — being there — is the only required piece for you. Three minutes for you and twenty for them is the per-lesson commitment. Not an hour. Not a weekend marathon. Tangible learning progress made efficient.

What your child learns beyond math.

Our brains are naturally designed to conserve energy. That's why most kids run to a parent for the answer when a math problem looks hard. We intentionally structured Akros lessons to build self-sufficient learners and break that habit.

On every problem, your child takes their best shot; if they get it wrong, it comes back in the next lesson as a redo. They see the answer they got wrong, get a carefully calibrated hint that points them in the right direction, and work through to the correct answer themselves. Akros never gives them the answer. They earn it. And at every stage of the process, they are doing it themselves.

"Yesterday this problem beat me. Today I beat it."

That feeling--a hard-won victory that I earned without help--is ideal for learning success and self-confidence. Researchers call it the mastery experience: the dopamine hit of overcoming difficulty under your own power. It's the strongest builder of self-efficacy, the belief that you can do hard things.

Kids who accumulate earned wins in math start to believe they can figure out anything. And that confidence travels with them out of math, into every subject and every challenge they'll face for the rest of their lives.

Math is the subject.
Self-sufficiency is the lesson.

AI is transforming how kids learn. Paper is where they learn best.

Akros is the only product that delivers both.
School wasn't solving my kids' math gaps, so I built Akros to solve them at home.

My daughters are smart kids. Engaged. Curious. They go to a fantastic school. And every time they had a math test, the same thing happened: a scramble at 9 PM after soccer practice, struggling through worksheets when everyone was already tired — the kind of cramming that doesn't actually teach anything. We were chasing good grades, not optimizing for actual learning. Even in what seemed like an ideal environment (expensive school, great teachers, smart kids), my kids weren't getting the math education they needed.

I began to see knowledge gaps forming that would hold them back and make them frustrated when they got to higher concepts. I knew that would impact their self confidence in the classroom and the long term trajectory of their education. The struggles we were seeing in grades 3-5 would only get worse as they moved to higher grades and more complex topics like algebra.

So I started homeschooling them in math during the summer. I spent more than $100 per kid on textbooks, and we followed the same routine for three years. Every day, I'd rip out the pages they needed, circle the right problems, X out the rest, hand-grade with a calculator, work through the misses, try to remember which concepts to revisit tomorrow, and hand-write additional questions for topics that needed extra practice but weren't in the next textbook lesson.

It was exhausting and painful, but it worked. By doing that extra practice during the summer, we were able to put math completely on auto-pilot during the busy school year: I never have to worry about it or touch it. The girls went from cramming to confident. Straight A's, math olympics, no more 9 PM scrambles. But it took hours of my time every day.

Last year, I realized AI could finally do the parts that took me hours, and let any parent get the same results without the time cost. AI can do the grunt work, and the parent gets to be the coach who sees the light bulb go on as their kid closes a knowledge gap or masters a new concept. With those parts automated, the system I'd built for my own kids could work for any family willing to print a few pages a day.

That's Akros.

— Phil Stiefel, Founder
The Akros lesson generation, AI grading, and mastery tracking system is patent pending.

Why nothing else worked.

Why not a drop-off tutoring center?
Cost, schedule lock, and commute time. Involving a human teacher is always expensive. I don't have the time or schedule flexibility for yet another drop-off and pickup, even once a week. And if my kid is only getting one or two days per week of extra practice, is that even helping? Akros gives your children consistent, personalized practice on your schedule, and you never need to leave the house.
Why not an app?
When I give my kids our family iPad to do an education app, I have no way to know if they are actually doing math or playing games. With paper, the work is tangible. I can see it, I can hold it, I know when they're done and exactly what they did. I know they weren't just playing Fruit Ninja for thirty of the forty minutes. Kids need less screentime, not more.
Why not just a textbook?
I tried that. It works; I did it for three summers. But the textbook isn't tailored to my kid. Textbooks also provide zero data on how they have done, what they know, or how they improved. Doing this right (picking the problems, grading them, tracking what to revisit) took literal hours every day. And without the next lesson arriving automatically, it was easy to forget.

A summer Tuesday with Akros.

Overnight
Akros emails you today's lesson.

Four pages: a few redos from yesterday's misses, with hints that give them the ability to solve it themselves. A new concept (dividing fractions) with two worked examples. Eighteen practice problems. A Trail Guide Card on the last page; your kid doesn't know which mascot yet.

Before your kid is up
You print the lesson.

You clip it to the clipboard you keep on the kitchen counter. You set a pencil next to it. You make coffee. You go on with your morning.

When they wander in for breakfast
The lesson is right there, ready to go. They sit down with it.

They do the redos first; that's the routine. They work through it. Then the new concept, the worked examples, the practice problems. The first practice problem is a stumbler. They sit with it for a minute. They try something. It doesn't work. They try something else. It works. They keep going. The next four problems they do in two minutes flat.

Meanwhile, you've finished your coffee, gotten the laundry started, and answered three emails. You haven't said a word about the math.

About twenty minutes later
They finish. The Trail Guide Card on page four shows a new mascot: the mountain goat.

They cut it out and add it to the binder where they keep the other 12 they've collected so far.

340 feet of elevation today. 700 feet to the next milestone.

A few seconds after they finish
You take a photo of the lesson with your phone. That's it.

By mid-morning, the dashboard is populated with the result: 17 of 18 correct. The one they missed was a dividing-fractions question; that'll show up in their next lesson's redos. Their concept-mastery grid now has dividing fractions: in progress in yellow. Long division: mastered turned green last week.

Later in the day
They show you the mountain goat card without prompting.

They want to know what mascot is next.

That was a summer Tuesday with Akros.
Twenty minutes for them. Three minutes for you. Every day.
MONTHLY PLANS

One learning system. Three levels of support.

Every plan includes the complete Akros learning loop: personalized paper lessons, phone-photo grading, mastery tracking, redos, spaced review, and gap repair.

Choose the weekly rhythm—and how deeply Akros should personalize the teaching when your child gets stuck.

INCLUDED IN EVERY PLAN

Skills check and placement

Akros starts from what your child actually knows.

Personalized paper lessons

Each child receives their own work.

AI grading from a phone photo

You never grade a worksheet.

Redos and spaced review

Misses return until they are repaired and retained.

Mastery dashboard and parent results

See what is learned, what is open, and what is holding.

Switchback recovery

A failed concept gets fresh questions and a check of its building blocks.

How many children will use Akros?

One plan covers the whole household. Each child receives their own lessons, grading, and mastery history.

3 lessons each week
Akros Core
Steady, personalized practice.

A lighter weekly rhythm with the complete Akros learning loop.

Your monthly total
$11.99/ month
1 child · $11.99 first child
  • Up to 3 completed lessons each week
  • Personalized sequencing, redos, and spaced review
  • Switchback recovery with fresh practice and prerequisite checks
Best for families who want consistent support without a daily schedule.
Up to daily
Akros Daily
Build the daily habit—and fluent math facts.

Complete one lesson, get the next—up to daily.

Your monthly total
$19.99/ month
1 child · $19.99 first child
  • Everything in Core
  • Lessons available up to daily
  • Summit Sprint fact fluency included
Best for families who want a consistent daily rhythm and built-in fact fluency.
THE FULL AKROS EXPERIENCE
Up to daily
Akros Premium
The deepest help when math gets hard.

Everything in Daily, plus teaching that changes around your child's exact mistake.

Your monthly total
$29.99/ month
1 child · $29.99 first child
  • Personalized Coaching Rows after a missed redo
  • Mistake-specific Switchback explanations
  • Weekly Akros AI Learning Advisor
Best for families who want Akros to take the lead when their child gets stuck.
Pay with Apple Pay, Google Pay, or any major card

The Premium difference shows up on the day your child gets stuck.

Every Akros plan personalizes what your child practices. Premium also personalizes how Akros teaches when your child gets stuck.

Picture the moment: your child has tried a new concept, missed it, and missed the redo. More of the same is not the answer. Premium studies the work they actually wrote, identifies the exact wrong turn, and gives them a better route through the concept.

1Stage one

They try

Which is larger? 1 8 > 1 4 because 8 > 4

Your child works the problem on paper. Akros sees both the answer and the work that led to it.

2Stage two

Akros finds the mix-up

1 8 1 4 > Compared the bottom numbers Wrong turn

Not simply "wrong again." Akros identifies the step or idea that sent the solution off course.

3Stage three

The teaching changes

A different route 1 4 1 8 1/4 > 1/8

The next lesson can coach that exact mistake, show a different route through the concept, and explain the larger pattern to you.

Personalized Coaching Rows

When a redo still does not click, the next lesson names the wrong turn, works through it, and bridges into a fresh attempt.

Mistake-specific Switchbacks

When the first teaching approach fails, Akros explains the same concept through a genuinely different route built around your child's work.

Weekly Akros AI Learning Advisor

When your child has completed new work, the Advisor looks across recent lessons and tells you what is improving, what Akros is watching, and what comes next.

Premium is $10 more per child each month—about 33¢ a day for Akros's deepest teaching.
Choose Premium

Exactly what changes between plans.

Feature comparison of the Core, Daily, and Premium plans.
What your child receives Core Daily PremiumFull Akros experience
Core learning loop
Personalized paper lessons 3 each week Every day Every day
Skills check and placement Included Included Included
Phone-photo AI grading Included Included Included
Mastery tracking and parent results Included Included Included
Redos and error-targeted hints Included Included Included
Spaced review and gap repair Included Included Included
Switchback recovery with fresh practice Included Included Included
Cadence and fluency
Summit Sprint fact fluency Included Included
Help when stuck
Personalized Coaching Rows after a missed redo Included
Switchback explanation built around the child's mistake Included
Parent insight
Weekly Akros AI Learning Advisor Included
Lessons and cadence
Personalized paper lessons
Core3 each week
DailyEvery day
PremiumEvery day
Skills check and placement
CoreIncluded
DailyIncluded
PremiumIncluded
Phone-photo AI grading
CoreIncluded
DailyIncluded
PremiumIncluded
Mastery tracking and parent results
CoreIncluded
DailyIncluded
PremiumIncluded
Redos and error-targeted hints
CoreIncluded
DailyIncluded
PremiumIncluded
Spaced review and gap repair
CoreIncluded
DailyIncluded
PremiumIncluded
Switchback recovery with fresh practice
CoreIncluded
DailyIncluded
PremiumIncluded
Fact fluency
Summit Sprint fact fluency
CoreNot included
DailyIncluded
PremiumIncluded
Help when stuck
Personalized Coaching Rows after a missed redo
CoreNot included
DailyNot included
PremiumIncluded
Switchback explanation built around the child's mistake
CoreNot included
DailyNot included
PremiumIncluded
Parent insight
Weekly Akros AI Learning Advisor
CoreNot included
DailyNot included
PremiumIncluded

The Learning Advisor runs when at least one new lesson has been completed since the previous report.

Even Akros Premium is $29.99/month for the first child.
  • No enrollment fee
  • No commute
  • No parent grading
Compare Akros with tutoring

Plans from $11.99/month; even Premium is $29.99 for the first child.

AkrosDrop-off tutoring center
Monthly cost, first child$11.99–$29.99$140–$200 per subject
Each additional childFrom $9.99/monthFull price per child
Upfront cost$0$600–$700
DrivingNone1–2× per week to a center
Worksheet personalizationPer childStatic — same for every kid
GradingAI grades from a phone photoParent grades at home (~15–20 min/day)
ScheduleYour scheduleTheir schedule

Cancel anytime from your account.

No phone call and no retention gauntlet.

A pause up to 2 weeks.

Take a break for travel, illness, or a reset, then pick up where your child left off.

See a real sample lesson before choosing. No signup required.

See exactly what a lesson looks like first.

Questions parents ask.

Q.01 Will my kid actually do this? +

Akros is built to be engaging on its own — the lesson length is manageable (twenty minutes), the physical paper contains no distractions to sidetrack attention (kids associate tablets with games), and we've built in several features to make it fun (like the "Mind-blowing Math" box). Unlike an app, you get to see physical evidence of completion when they finish the sheet. But the most successful Akros families don't rely on the product alone. They build the habit and reinforce it with their own incentives.

A few patterns that work:

  • Set a habit of getting it done early in the day. Akros is the first thing your kid does after breakfast. Before screens. Before activities. Before the day gets away from you. Once it's the routine, it stops being a negotiation.
  • Remove every barrier to starting the lesson. Print the lesson first thing. Clip it to a clipboard somewhere they'll see it the moment they wake up. Set a pencil next to it. Clear a quiet space for them to work. No log-in, no setup, no hunt for supplies.
  • You know better than anyone else what motivates your kid. Completing a lesson can earn privileges — extra reading time, a favorite breakfast, picking the music for the car ride, or even cold hard cash. Milestone moments on the mountain (Trail Start, Base Camp, Timberline, Summit) can unlock bigger rewards: a dinner out with dad, a movie night, a special trip. Akros gives you the structure; you bring the parental knowledge of what your specific kid will work for.

We send first-time families a short video walking through how to set up the practice routine, choose effective incentives, and adjust if your kid resists. Most parents find that the routine takes about a week to settle, and once it's in, it's in.

Q.02 What if my kid hates math, or is already struggling? +

Akros is built specifically for this case. Most adaptive math programs assume the kid is at grade level and just nudge them along. Akros's diagnostic system finds your child's actual mastery level — which might be a year different from where their school grades place them — and starts there. The first week's lessons are calibrated to where the gaps actually are, not where the curriculum assumes they should be. As your child closes those gaps, the lessons advance.

For a kid who's working below grade level, this means starting at a level where they can succeed and building up. For a kid who hates math, this means most of the lesson lands inside their capability rather than triggering frustration. The mastery dashboard makes the progress visible — to you and to them — which often shifts the relationship with math more than any single lesson does.

Q.03 What's my role when my kid gets stuck? +

Akros is built to teach kids self-sufficient learning, and that starts with how you respond when they're stuck. The parental instinct to jump in and help is exactly what we want to retrain. The simple rule, in three steps:

  • On the first attempt, don't help. Wrong answers are fine. They're data Akros uses to figure out what to teach next. Resist the impulse to step in.
  • On the first redo attempt, don't help either. The redo comes with a hint that's been calibrated to give your kid just enough to keep going, but not the answer. Productive struggle is where the learning happens. Let them work through it.
  • If they miss the redo, Akros flags it for you. On Core and Daily, that's a good moment to sit with them and walk through the concept. On Premium, Akros can take the lead: Coaching Rows and mistake-specific Switchbacks reteach the exact wrong turn, so you're less likely to become the math teacher.

We send first-time families a short video walking through this in practice. Most parents find that the hardest adjustment is doing less, not more — and the kid grows fastest when the parent learns to step back.

Q.04 What grades does Akros cover? +

Akros covers all of 2-8: from early concepts through 8th grade pre-algebra, including all the core concepts in between (operations, fractions, decimals, geometry, ratios, percentages, and the early algebra foundations). Support for grades K and 1 will be coming later this summer.

We diagnose your child's actual level on signup so the first lessons start where they are, not where their grade level says they should be.

Q.05 What if my child is ahead of grade level? Or working below it? +

Akros works for both. The diagnostic at signup finds your child's actual mastery level (not the textbook assumption), and the lesson generator builds from there. A 5th grader who's two grade levels ahead gets lessons that match their level, not the 5th-grade curriculum. A 5th grader who's still building multiplication fluency gets lessons that fill that gap before pushing forward.

The mastery dashboard shows the actual concepts your child has mastered, regardless of what grade level the school says they're in.

Q.06 Is Akros aligned to Common Core or state standards? +

Akros covers the same mathematical concepts as Common Core and most state standards: the topics, sequences, and skill-building progressions are the same. Your plan's cadence and the personalization are different — your child works on the concepts they specifically need, in the order their mastery progression calls for, not the order a 25-kid classroom moves at.

Where Akros also differs from Common Core: every problem in an Akros lesson is concrete and clearly stated. Common Core has a tendency toward open-ended, abstract questions that ask students to "explain their reasoning" or "describe a strategy" in ways that confuse more kids than they help. Akros stays focused on the math: clear questions, definite answers, fluent skill-building. Your child learns to do the math, not to write essays about the math.

If your child is in school, Akros builds the foundation that lets them succeed at whatever standards their teacher is following. If you're homeschooling, Akros covers the math curriculum, and you get a paper artifact from each lesson for portfolio review.

Q.07 Why "Akros"? +

Akros (ἄκρος) is Greek for "summit" or "the highest point." That fits our mission: enabling every child to climb to their highest intellectual potential. Our goal is to build self-starting, independent learners who are equipped to excel in life and the classroom.

PLANS & PRICING
P.01 Which plan should I choose? +

Core gives your child the complete Akros learning loop three times each week. Daily removes that three-lesson limit and adds Summit Sprint fact fluency. Premium adds Akros's deepest help when a child gets stuck: personalized Coaching Rows, mistake-specific Switchbacks, and the weekly Akros AI Learning Advisor.

P.02 What happens when my child gets stuck? +

Every plan responds to mistakes with redos, targeted hints, spaced review, and Switchback recovery.

Premium goes further when a redo still does not click. Akros studies your child's actual work, coaches the exact wrong turn, and can teach the concept through a different explanation built around the mistake. You still see what happened, but you are less likely to become the math teacher.

P.03 How does pricing work for multiple children? +

Your household chooses one plan. The first child is $11.99 on Core, $19.99 on Daily, or $29.99 on Premium. Each additional child is $9.99, $14.99, or $24.99, respectively.

Use the child selector above to see your household's exact monthly total.

P.04 Can children in the same household use different plans? +

Not at launch. The household chooses one plan for every child. Each child still receives their own placement, lessons, grading, and mastery history.

P.05 Do Daily and Premium automatically generate a new worksheet every day? +

No. Akros is completion-gated. Your child completes and submits the current lesson, and Akros prepares the next one—up to daily. An unfinished lesson waits for your family; new worksheets do not pile up.

P.06 Will Premium still matter when my child is doing well? +

Premium's Coaching Rows and mistake-specific Switchbacks appear when they are needed. The weekly Learning Advisor still reviews the larger pattern whenever your child has completed new work. Families who mainly want daily cadence and fact fluency can choose Daily.

P.07 Can I change plans later? +

Yes. Choose the support level that fits your family now and move to another plan when your needs change.

P.08 Do we have to use Akros every day? +

No. Core is designed for up to 3 completed lessons each week. Daily and Premium make a lesson available up to daily, but Akros does not require a perfect streak. An unfinished lesson waits, and nothing piles up.

P.09 What if we miss a day, go on vacation, or take a break? +

A missed day does not break Akros. The unfinished lesson waits until your family is ready.

For a longer break, take a pause up to 2 weeks. When you return, Akros picks up where your child left off.

CHOOSE YOUR PLAN

Choose the Akros plan that fits your family.

Start with three lessons a week, build a daily habit, or give Akros the tools to change its teaching when your child gets stuck.