Diary of an Alpha Mom
Week 2 / January 12-16 2026
Alpha’s first promise is that children will love school. As bold as that claim sounds, both my son and daughter continue to wake up happy and genuinely excited for the day. They seem especially motivated by the gamification of getting their work done, and what’s expected of them during the school day feels clear, achievable, and fair. And if you’re wondering, the answer is yes - two weeks in they both say that they love school.
Alpha doesn’t grade students. Instead, kids have a daily goal of earning 120 XP (experience points) to be considered on track. Once the AI tutor—TimeBack—assesses each child and places them at the appropriate working level for every subject, the expectation becomes refreshingly simple: show up, focus, and put in the effort to move yourself forward. TimeBack doesn’t just place a child at a grade level and move on. When a gap in knowledge is detected—something foundational that hasn’t fully landed—the system backfills that missing information before allowing the child to progress. In other words, learning isn’t built on top of shaky ground, and that just makes sense. A student can be working in 3rd grade math and 6th grade reading at the same time.
Having grown up in a traditional school system, this approach feels like a huge relief. It also reminds me of two things I personally love: my Tonal and Atomic Habits by James Clear. Tonal removes the mental load of planning a workout—I don’t have to decide how much to lift or what I should be doing. I just show up, and the system meets me where I am. As long as I stay consistent, progress happens. In Atomic Habits, James Clear talks about how small, 1% improvements compound over time. TimeBack feels aligned with that same philosophy.
During the first week, each child was assessed to determine exactly where their knowledge stood. Now, all they need to do is show up in the app and earn their 120 XP to know they’ve done enough for the day—an unexpectedly freeing feeling. My daughter even told me yesterday that she didn’t feel guilty relaxing and having fun after school because she knew her work was done. Imagine feeling guilty relaxing as a ten-year-old. It’s something I still struggle with in my forties and I’m relieved we’re addressing this early 😅. Just last month, she also identified as “not a math person”—and suddenly, that narrative is gone. Pretty cool to watch.
Another big source of motivation for both kids has been the prize emporium—because yes, children love prizes. As XP is earned, it converts into Alpha Bucks that can be spent in a store where real rewards are on display. My daughter had her heart set on a soccer jersey, and after consistently meeting her goals, she was thrilled to earn it. My son was equally motivated and proudly came home with a plushy shark costume.
While I’m reserving judgment on how this model feels long term in the short term, the excitement is real, and it’s clearly working.
And if you’re wondering about intrinsic motivation, there seems to be plenty of that too. Yesterday, Daughter got into the car and told me she chose to skip some of her free time so she could “really lock in and get the work done” because she didn’t want to let her team down during a group challenge. Until now, I’d only seen that level of commitment from her on the baseball field—so watching it transfer into her schoolwork is genuinely exciting.
Guides Not Teachers
The Guides bring a wonderful, optimistic, almost Tony Robbins–style energy, and it’s easy to see how much they care about the work they’re doing. I attended two zoom meetings this week to hear from the Guides on the workshops they have designed for this session and its clear they are paying close attention to what motivates kids and how to make learning feel engaging and alive.
This session, my seven-year-old is participating in the Spelling Superhero Training Academy, where he will learn the 25 most commonly misspelled words using AI-generated songs - sounds fun! The program includes checkpoints to assess understanding and aims for students to master at least 20 words by the end of week five, culminating in a final showcase where they demonstrate their skills in competition against the parents - is it fair to say that I am nervous?!
Son also learned how to identify all 50 U.S. states just eight days into his time at Alpha. Sharing a quick video snippet of him showing off his skills—because not going to lie, I’m very impressed!
For her “learning to learn” snowboarding workshop, my daughter is practicing specific skills in order to qualify for a mountain trip, where she’ll need to demonstrate that she can stop, reset, and complete a course without falling. All trips are included in tuition, but participation isn’t guaranteed—it’s earned. Students must meet expectations across academics, behavior, life skills, and effort. No entitlement vibes here.
After two weeks, what I’m noticing most is how clear the system feels to them. They know exactly what’s expected, what effort looks like, and when they’ve done enough. For now, that clarity seems to be doing a lot of quiet, powerful work—and giving both kids a growing sense of confidence that I haven’t seen in them before.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to drop them below and I’d love to answer them in next week’s update!
Eagerly awaiting week 3 :D