Privacy, in plain language.

The short version

• Most of the free tools need no account. What you enter in them stays in your browser and is not sent to us.
• We never sell personal information, and we never share it for advertising. The site runs no ad trackers.
• We collect what we need to run the classes and Tallykin, to answer you, and to send the emails you ask for.
• We do not save conversations in Ask the research.
• You can ask us to show you, correct, or delete what we hold about you at any time.

Who we are

From Little Onward is an educational website for parents and caregivers of young children, run by Matthew McArthur. In this policy, “we” and “us” mean From Little Onward. You can reach us through the contact page.

What stays on your device

Several tools save things in your browser’s local storage so they are there when you come back. These stay on your device. We cannot see them, and they are not sent to our servers:

• an optional child profile (a first name or nickname you choose, and a birthdate or age band), used to show age-matched content;
• items you save, milestones you mark as noticed, and notes you write in tools such as the Communication Snapshot;
• your light or dark theme, sound settings, and Arcade high scores.

Clearing your browser’s site data removes all of it. Printed or saved PDFs from these tools are made in your browser, not on our servers.

What we collect, and why

When you join the email list or a waitlist

Your email address, and your first name if you give it. We use them to send what you signed up for. Every email has an unsubscribe link.

When you write to us

Your name, email address, and message, so we can reply.

When you buy something

Payments are handled by Stripe. We receive your name, email address, what you bought, and the amount. We never see or store your full card number. After a purchase we add your email address to our customer list so we can send you class updates; you can unsubscribe from those at any time.

When you have a class or Tallykin account

Your email address and sign-in details, what you have bought, and your progress through lessons. In Tallykin we also keep what you enter about your child (a nickname, birth month, the languages spoken at home, and how many weeks early your child was born, if you add it) and the results of the counting check-in and games, so we can suggest the right games and show progress over time. The account belongs to the parent or caregiver, not the child.

When you watch a lesson

Lesson videos are streamed by Mux, which records playback information (such as device type, playback errors, and how much of a video was watched) so that video works reliably.

When you use Ask the research

To write each answer, your question and the recent part of the conversation are sent through our server to Anthropic, the company that makes the Claude AI model. We do not save the conversation: it stays in your browser tab and clears when you start over or leave the page. Anthropic processes it under its commercial terms, which do not allow it to train its models on what you send. Please leave out details that could identify your child.

When you visit any page

We use Vercel Web Analytics to count page visits. It does not use cookies and does not follow you to other sites. It is not used on the Arcade. To protect the site from abuse and to count free AI questions, our servers use your IP address. The address itself is not saved: each day’s question count is stored under a scrambled code made from it, which cannot be turned back into your address and changes every day, and old counts are routinely deleted.

Children’s privacy

This site is for adults. Tallykin and the Arcade are made for a child to play with a parent or caregiver nearby. Tallykin accounts are held by the adult, and the Arcade stores nothing beyond the high scores kept on your own device. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you think a child has given us personal information, tell us and we will delete it.

Who we share it with

We share personal information only with the companies that help us run the site, only for that purpose:

• Vercel hosts the website and provides the page-visit counts.
• Supabase stores class and Tallykin accounts.
• Stripe processes payments.
• Mux stores and streams lesson videos.
• Anthropic writes the answers in Ask the research.
• Kit (formerly ConvertKit) runs the email list.
• Resend sends Tallykin emails.
• Web3Forms delivers contact and waitlist messages to Matthew.

We do not sell personal information or share it for targeted advertising. We would disclose information only if the law required it.

How long we keep it

We keep account information while you have an account, and email list information until you unsubscribe. We keep purchase records for as long as tax and accounting rules require. When you ask us to delete your information, we delete it, except records we are legally required to keep.

Your choices

• Emails: use the unsubscribe link in any email.
• Your information: through the contact page, ask us what we hold about you, or ask us to correct or delete it. We will answer within 30 days.
• On your device: clear your browser’s site data to remove everything the tools saved.

We do not track visitors across other websites, so there is nothing for a Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signal to switch off; we treat every visitor the same way.

Security

The site uses encrypted connections, card details are handled only by Stripe, and access to stored information is limited to what is needed to run the site. No system is perfectly secure, so we collect as little as we can.

Changes

If we change this policy, we will update the date at the top. If a change affects how we use information we already hold, we will email account holders first.

Questions

Ask through the contact page.