Privacy, in plain words

• No accounts. There is nothing to sign up for, no password and no email list. A name you give a learner stays in this browser.
• Progress stays on your device. Games, Lesson Checks, problems marked wrong (a try-again list), placement checks, year plans and learner names are saved in your own browser, not on our servers.
• Visit counts. Most pages use Google Analytics to see which pages are helpful. You can opt out (see below).
• Videos play in YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode (youtube-nocookie.com).
• Affiliate book links to Amazon and Bookshop.org appear on the parent reading lists, with the same disclosure above the books.
• If you write to us, the contact and listing forms are meant for adults, and form messages are used only to reply.
• We don't sell your family's information. We use Google Analytics to see which pages are helpful, and some book links on parent pages earn us a small commission. There are no banner or pop-up ads.

Many pages remember things for you: stars and coins in the games, Lesson Check results and review dates, problems a learner missed (kept as a try-again list), placement-check answers, the Math Skill Check, the year plan builder and gradebook, the family planner, Family Conference notes, parent-guide checklists and weekly word-game puzzles. All of it is kept in your browser’s own storage (called local storage) on that one device. It is not sent to School Launch, and we cannot see it.

On My Progress, progress, the try-again list and profile names are saved only in this browser on this device. They are not sent to us. You can mark a missed problem as mastered, delete one problem, or clear the try-again list there. You can also clear a learner’s progress from that page. When more than one learner is saved, you can delete a learner and their name there too. Clearing this browser’s data for the site removes the progress and the names.

Because it lives in your browser, clearing your browser’s site data for schoollaunch.org erases it, and another browser or device will not have it. Where a page offers a backup file, a save code or a share link, that is how you move progress yourself: the file or code goes only where you put it. The family planner’s share link carries the plan inside the link itself, and leaves out children’s names unless you tick the box to include them.

School Launch’s own pages set no cookies. (Google Analytics, below, sets its own.)

Most School Launch pages load Google Analytics (measurement ID G-MKGGDPS6R2), a service from Google that tells us how many people visit and which pages they use. It helps us see which courses families rely on and which pages need work. We don't sell your family's information. We use Google Analytics to see which pages are helpful, and some book links on parent pages earn us a small commission. There are no banner or pop-up ads.

Google Analytics typically collects:

• the pages you view, how you arrived (for example from a search engine or a link) and roughly how long you stay;
• your browser, device type, operating system, screen size and language;
• an approximate location (country, region or city), which Google works out from your internet (IP) address;
• a random identifier stored in a Google Analytics cookie (named _ga, and one beginning _ga_), so that repeat visits can be counted without knowing who you are.

Google Analytics enhanced measurement is on. It records things like page scrolls, outbound link clicks, file downloads and site searches. It does not receive your progress, your learners’ names, or anything you type into a lesson, game or planner.

Most explainer pages do not. The small interactive explainers inside the courses do not load Google Analytics. A few interactive sims do: Energy Lab (including its answer key), Newton’s Mountain, Sun, Moon and Seasons, and Archimedes’ Tank.

To opt out, install Google’s Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, or use your browser’s settings or a content blocker to block Google Analytics. Every page still works without it.

Google explains how it handles this information in its Privacy Policy, in How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services and on its page about what Google Analytics collects.

Lesson videos belong to their creators and are hosted by YouTube. Inside our courses they play through YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode (youtube-nocookie.com). The player still comes from YouTube, so YouTube receives the usual information a browser sends when the player loads and when you press play, under Google’s Privacy Policy.

A few channels do not allow their videos to play on other sites. For those, the course page shows a preview picture loaded from YouTube’s image server (img.youtube.com) and a link marked “Opens on YouTube”. On YouTube itself, YouTube’s normal settings, recommendations and ads apply.

The site’s typefaces are served from schoollaunch.org itself. The Mandarin course pages and the Geology course page also load fonts from Google Fonts (fonts.googleapis.com and fonts.gstatic.com), which means your browser asks Google for those font files when you open one of those pages.

The parent book lists on the reading lists link to Amazon and Bookshop.org. Some book links on that page are affiliate links. We may earn a small commission from Amazon and Bookshop.org purchases, at no extra cost to you. We only list books we would recommend anyway. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. The same note sits above the books.

Once you follow a link, you are on the store’s site and its own privacy policy and cookies apply. We do not receive your name, address or payment details from these stores. Lessons, games and interactives have no affiliate links.

Some forms send a message to School Launch when you press send: the Connect form, the List your resource form, and the feedback boxes on lessons and videos. We receive only what you type or choose in the form (for example your name, your email address if you give it, and your message), plus, for lesson and video feedback, which lesson or video the note is about. Messages reach us by email through an email delivery service (Resend). The contact and listing forms are meant for adults, and form messages are used only to reply.

The email address is optional in the lesson and video feedback boxes; leave it out if you do not need a reply. A lesson markup note you have started but not sent is kept on your device until you send or clear it.

Children do not need to give any information to use School Launch.

School Launch is hosted by Netlify, which delivers the pages and runs the small programs that send form messages. Like any web host, it handles the requests your browser makes, including your IP address, in order to deliver the site. See Netlify’s privacy policy.

Questions about privacy, or a request about a message you sent us? Use the Connect form. If this page changes, the date below will change with it.

Last updated: October 31, 2026. See also our Terms of use and questions families ask.