Hello everyone, Sal here from Khan Academy.

Welcome to the daily homeroom

for those of y'all that this is the first time

that you're joining.

This is really a way to connect and realize

that we're all part of a global community here,

especially in this time of school closures.

Obviously Khan Academy we're a not-for-profit

mission free-world class education

for anyone anywhere.

And well before this crisis

we're going through was happening

obviously our vision was how could we support teachers,

how do we support students,

how do we support parents

so that any child, and any teacher can support that child,

to go through the core subjects from pre-K,

elementary school, middle school, high school,

and the core of college across subjects and grades.

I will remind folks that we are not-for-profit

and so we're able to do all of this

with philanthropic support from folks like yourself.

And so we've always had those resources,

but then when we saw the school closures happening

we realized that it's our duty,

as a not-for-profit in this space,

that it's free, that it's accessible

to do whatever else we can to make sure

that you feel supported.

So above and beyond the many subjects and grades

that we offer in math, English, language, arts,

science, and the humanities on Khan Academy,

we've been trying to do these live streams

which is just a way to connect and make announcements

and focus on specific topics

that are front-of-mind for folks

during the school closures,

and also things like teacher webinars, parent webinars.

We've also been experimenting even with live class rooms

at a very large scale with students

so that we can answer their questions

on topics like algebra.

I do wanna give a special thanks.

You know Khan Academy was already running

at a little bit of a deficit before all of this hit

for us to be able to do our mission

and now that our server costs are going up two X,

and maybe approaching three X,

we need as much support as possible.

I wanna thank folks like Bank of America

who was the first to step-up

followed closely by AT&T, google.org, and Nevartis.

But we need more help from corporations, from everyone,

whatever you can donate is great.

So I am very excited today about today's topic

because it's actually a topic that many of you

have been asking about,

it's a topic that I desperately wanna learn

about as a father of a 5-year-old

who in this time of social distancing is, you know,

not to pick on him maybe the most disruptive member

of our household right now (laughing).

And so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna bring on

Caroline who is actually the founder

of Khan Academy Kids and maybe a good place to start

Caroline is, actually how did this start,

what is Khan Academy Kids

even before the school closures happened

and then we can talk a little bit about

what we're trying to do together

to support folks even more.

- Sure, so Khan Academy Kids,

for those of you who don't know,

is an educational program for kids

ages two through seven and it includes

thousands of activities across a variety of subjects

math, reading, language,

as well as social and emotional development

and executive-function skills.

So it's a comprehensive program for early learning

for preschool through grade one

and it has a personalized learning pack

where we adapt the lessons for each child's skill level

on specific topics.

It also includes a library that has hundreds of books

many of which are original books around our characters

and then we also have some partnerships

with National Geographic, Super Simple, and Bellwether

to deliver some of the other books and content.

- And as a reminder this is all free,

all non-commercial and I wanna give Caroline,

and her husband, Michael, credit

'cause they're the cool founders

of what became Khan Academy Kids.

And I think it's important for folks to realize

that, you know, similar to how Khan Academy started

as a not-for-profit is really a family project

a way for me to help my cousin

and word got around that free tutoring was going on

and it started being many, everyone's cousins maybe.

You started also as a family project.

You and Michael actually created

some of the very first apps back in

2008, 2009, 2010,

on devices that showed the world

that these can actually be things that young children

can interact with.

And then y'all essentially donated,

your team donated your org to this mission.

So I don't think I'm overstating it

that, you know, this isn't like some corporate effort,

we're not trying to sell people,

with you and Michael it's a family project,

you have other incredible team members,

it's really an act of love that you're trying to do,

that you started for your family

and then you're trying to do for many others.

- That's right, we've been working in early childhood

for 10 years on this and so, yep.

- And your background shows that you have

a much better background than I do

and I need to get some

fingerprinting done-- - I don't know about that.

- That might-- - Oh yes.

- So let me,

(laughing) let me start with a couple of questions.

I think, as I mentioned,

the early learning crowd is,

especially with parents working from home,

preschools have been closed,

kindergartens have been closed,

they are some of the most difficult I think

to, you know, say, hey why don't you just work on this

for a little bit.

What advice to you have for parents generally speaking

and potentially leveraging Khan Academy Kids as well

in this time of closures.

- Yeah, I mean, I'd say as a parent myself,

and Sal's a parent of young children as well,

all I can say is, you know, give yourself a break

and be kind to yourself to start with

because all of us have been unexpectedly

thrown into this situation.

Already, as parents of young children,

we were very busy being parents

and juggling (mumbles) and other things

and now we've been catapulted into many other roles,

of teacher, carer, magician, among other things,

and there's just so much going on.

I'd say be kind to yourself first and foremost

and also we're in this, you know, for the long haul

and so I think this is a new normal

that we're all adjusting to.

We are working hard on some things

that we think might help,

but I think the biggest advice would be

to think of this as a balance.

You're gonna be balancing some learning time with your kids

as well as play time and academic time

and outside time, so it's really just about the balance

and it's not a sprint we're just going to have

to adjust to this new normal.

And so a few things that we're doing

that we think may help in addition

to the core Khan Academy Kids program

is just like Sal is doing these daily homerooms

we're launching today, daily Circle Time,

which is like Circle Time in preschools,

and kindergartens and first grades,

where the teachers have a chance

to connect with the students.

So Sophie from my team and I

will be leading these Circle Times

and they are a time for us to connect, read books,

do learning activities, get the kids up to stretch

and do some imaginary play too.

We're trying to keep some semblance of what's,

of normal during these changing times.

And I think we're just really acknowledging that,

you know, these are difficult difficult times

for many families and children.

So the children may not know

the specifics of what COVID-19 is,

but they are going through change.

Maybe their school is closed,

maybe their parents are working at home,

or their parents are just much busier

and more concerned about different things.

So we're trying to address those head-on

and our first episode is a special episode

about how to talk to kids through these changing times.

And what we're doing is instead of just explaining

the specifics of the virus which they might not,

you know, it may not be age appropriate,

we are giving them three super powers

that they already have that they can use tools

in times of change.

So things like, being thankful, belly breathing,

and being a helper.

So in addition to

Circle Time-- - Those are useful for all

of us (laughing). - I think yeah, for kids

of all age as well as parents.

And so I think-- - Belly breathing.

- As parents watching with their kids

they can do it together.

You wanna do it together (laughing)?

- I love that we're doing it. - Sal has already.

(voice covers voice) I know.

- Yeah I have the belly you was talking about

is why you said to breathe.

(laughing)

So let me ask, there's a lot of great questions

that are already pouring in

and I want to get to as many of them,

but I'm gonna start with a selfish question

that I think is a lot of folks are asking.

Especially with younger ages

we're always sensitive to screen time,

and by definition Khan Academy,

Khan Academy Kids is on a screen.

But now we're in this new normal, as you mentioned,

where screens are in some ways our only lifeline

to the outside world, or socialization.

How are you thinking about it,

I know you all are consulting a lot of experts,

child psychologists, researchers,

what are they telling you, what do you know about

appropriate use of screen time generally

and screen time in the context of Khan Academy Kids?

- Yeah, I think, as I was alluding to earlier,

it's all about balance.

So, we definitely don't want the young kids

just on a screen.

So we need to balance a few minutes in the morning,

up to 10 to 20 to 30 minutes,

on something like, on Academy Kids,

that's rich and educational and enriching

where you can see the kids interacting with the technology

and singing and even getting up sometimes

to sing along and stomp around.

But we need to balance that with outdoor time

and play time, family time, free time,

as well as reading, reading real books.

Or parents can also read books in our app in the library

and when they do it together

it's a very different experience

than a child just looking at technology.

So again, it's just about balance.

- And just out of curiosity,

I mean we've been seeing the traffic on our side

on kinda the core Khan Academy, or non-Academy kids,