Common Sense Media Review
By Erin Brereton
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Interesting course offerings involve both time, dollar cost.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 3+?
Any Positive Content?
Videos and Photos
Outschool
Parent and Kid Reviews
Based on 99 parent reviews
Parents say that this platform offers a flexible, diverse, and engaging learning experience for children of various ages and abilities, especially benefiting those with special needs or neurodivergent learners. However, many reviews express frustration with the platform's customer service, billing practices, and variable quality of classes, leading to significant dissatisfaction among some families.
- flexible learning
- diverse classes
- great for special needs
- poor customer service
- billing issues
- variable quality
Summarized with AI
Based on 5 kid reviews
What's It About?
OUTSCHOOL describes itself as a marketplace for more than 4,000 live online classes for K-12 learners. But courses are actually listed for kids ages 3 to 18. They cover a wide range of topics -- from coding and tech to art, music, and languages. Users can search by age, subject, course format, and other parameters. Many classes meet for several weeks at a designated time via group video chat, although some are held only once. Although many instructors have teaching credentials, that's not required to teach a course on the site. But Outschool does vet their instructors to make sure they're capable of delivering content correctly.
Is It Any Good?
This wide-ranging online education site offers a many traditional and somewhat creative topics to keep students interested. The wide range of topics -- everything from multiplication to taming your temper and exploring folktales and urban legends -- gives parents an opportunity to sign kids up for classes that can supplement what they're learning in school, help them find out more about a future career field (such as veterinary science), or just encourage them to learn something new for fun, like how to make an animated movie. Some courses are also designed specifically for summer or weekend schedules, which could help keep kids occupied in a positive way during periods when they have free time.
It would be great if educators used a standard format for course descriptions; currently, some have detailed information about what kids will learn each week, while others offer fewer specifics. And as in any educational program with several different teachers, inconsistent course quality could be a possibility. But the site makes a number of efforts to make sure the content is worthwhile -- including interviewing potential instructors to ensure they have the necessary technical skills, providing training, monitoring their review scores and responsiveness to messages, and offering improvement suggestions after watching recordings of their classes. Course costs may be too steep for some families (some are more than $200), but parents can get a refund if they're not satisfied with the content. Despite a few procedural issues, Outschool provides a wealth of learning options for students who are looking for new topics to be interested in -- or more info on subjects they already like.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about constructive ways to share opinions and ideas. Many of Outschool's courses involve online discussions; how can students get their point across while still respecting others' opinions?
How can you stay committed to finishing a project? How can you keep yourself motivated to working on something over the span of multiple weeks?
How can talking about things help you learn, and how can reading help you understand new concepts?
How does taking classes online compare to learning subjects from someone in person? Which works better for you? Why?
Website Details
- Subjects : Language & Reading : discussion , reading , speaking
- Skills : Thinking & Reasoning : applying information , investigation , thinking critically , Self-Direction : academic development , initiative , personal growth , time management , work to achieve goals
- Genre : Educational
- Topics : Numbers and Letters
- Pricing structure : Paid
- Last updated : October 9, 2025
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