I have built a free Engljsh practice site for my kids, looking for beta users

[ashtonenglish]

Hi everyone,

Long-time lurker, first-time poster here (and yes, I know, “another tuition thread” — but this one’s free and I’m not selling anything).

A bit of background: my kid was struggling with English — not badly, but enough that I could see the gaps in vocabulary and comprehension weren’t going to fix themselves. I looked at tuition, looked at the monthly cost, and thought: most of what he needs is regular, short, level-appropriate practice. So instead of paying for that, I built it. For him.

It worked well enough that I’ve now opened it up, free, to other parents: https://ashtonenglish.vip

What it actually does (no fluff):

Vocabulary — level-matched words with cloze practice, optional Chinese help.

Grammar — editing, cloze, transformation drills matched to the school band (P4–6, S1–4).

Comprehension — short passages, guided questions, and AI feedback on open answers.

Spaced repetition — words and grammar resurface at the right intervals, so it’s short daily practice rather than cramming.

A parent dashboard so you can see what they actually did each day, set the band and daily limits, and review the AI-marked answers.

There’s also a virtual pet the kid looks after by finishing their daily practice. I was sceptical, but it turns out a kid will do 10 minutes of grammar to feed a digital penguin. The learning is the point; the pet is the bribe.

On the money side, to be upfront: student accounts are free. The parent dashboard is free for 30 days during this pre-launch period. I’m not pretending this is a charity — eventually the dashboard will be a small monthly fee to keep the servers on (but for now, kiasuparents beta testing will get free extension). But the core practice is free, and I’d rather have honest feedback now than silent users.

What I’m actually asking for:

If you have a P4–S4 kid, try it for a week and tell me what’s confusing or broken.

Tell me what’s missing — e.g. is composition/oral a gap you’d want covered?

If it’s useful, tell one other parent. That’s the whole marketing plan.

I’m a parent, not a company, so please be blunt — I’d rather hear “the AI marking is unreliable” now than after 500 families have signed up.

Happy to answer anything in the thread.

[thebottomsupblog]

@ashtonenglish Hi, I’m from the KiasuParents team. I’ve listed this on our sidebar, so that more parents can try this. Please feel free to share updates and more info on this thread, thanks!