Questions parents ask.
Short answers, in the order parents usually ask them. If yours is not here, write to us.
What we teach
- What is Genius Learning?
- An after-school learning centre that teaches money, business, real estate and law to students in Grades 1 to 12, in person, in small classes taught by certified teachers. It is not tutoring and it is not school: nothing we teach is on the report card, and most of it is not taught anywhere else.
- What does a child actually learn?
- One line per grade is on the Programs page. A Grade 5 student learns what a tax is and what it pays for, renting versus owning, debit versus credit, rules versus laws. A Grade 9 student learns to read a paystub (CPP, EI, deductions), how credit and loan repayment work, and what property rights are. Every program page shows the year month by month.
- How are the programs organised?
- Three programs: Little Genius for Grades 1 to 4, Big Genius for Grades 5 to 8 and Senior Scholars for Grades 9 to 12. Two grades share a classroom, and each grade has a base level and an advanced level, so a student who stays a second year in the same room meets the same strands at the next depth rather than repeating them.
- Is this tutoring?
- No. Tutoring centres teach the school curriculum. We teach what the school curriculum leaves out: personal finance, credit and mortgages, taxes, contracts and the law, real estate, running a business and finding a job. The curriculum was shaped by an advisory board of lawyers, accountants, a physician, a former deputy minister of finance, executives and parents.
- Do you use AI?
- AI is part of your child's future and we treat it that way: in proportion. Where a lesson calls for it, students learn to use it well, get more from it and stay safe with it, without handing over their own thinking. It does not run the class. Classes are paper and pencil, with a teacher at the front.
The classes
- How is a class structured?
- Every class is one hour: twenty minutes of teaching with slides on the wall, twenty minutes of paper worksheet, twenty minutes of review together. Two classes a week, all year. The same shape every time, so a child always knows what comes next.
- Why paper and pencil, and not tablets or laptops?
- Children already spend most of their day on screens. For the one hour they are with us, we want their full attention on the page, the teacher and each other. Writing by hand also helps ideas stick: a 2024 Norwegian study found that handwriting produces far more elaborate brain connectivity than typing, in the networks tied to memory and learning. Slides are on the wall; nothing is in their hands but a pencil. A device is used only where a learning need requires it.
- Source: Van der Weel, F. R., and Van der Meer, A. L. H. (2024). Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1219945. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1219945.
- Is there homework?
- No. Everything happens in the hour: the worksheet is done in class and reviewed in class. Nothing comes home to mark, and nothing competes with school homework, sport or dinner.
- Who teaches the classes?
- Every class is taught by an Ontario Certified Teacher or a Registered Early Childhood Educator. The slides, the worksheet and the answer key are prepared for every lesson, so the teacher's hour goes to the students.
- How big are the classes?
- Most classes have 10 or fewer students. Ten seats per class in Oakville.
- Where are classes held?
- In private classrooms. The Oakville classroom opens in January 2027; the address and schedule go to waitlist families first.
- Who is responsible for my child before and after class?
- Our supervision runs from sign-in at the start of class to the end of class. Parents are responsible for their child before sign-in and after class ends, including bringing the student to the classroom door and collecting them promptly. You are welcome to stay on the premises during class.
Enrolment and pricing
- How much does it cost?
- Launch pricing for Founding Families is $549 per child per month plus HST, about $69 per class. The $499 initiation fee is $0 for a limited time. Ten per cent off every child for each additional child in the same family, up to thirty per cent. Pay for eleven months and the twelfth is free. The rate card after the first cohort is $599 per month.
- How do I hold a place for 2027?
- With a refundable $200 deposit per child, paid on Stripe's secure page when you enrol. The deposit is credited to your first month's tuition. It is refunded in full on request at any time before the first class. It is refunded automatically if we have not opened a class for your child's grade band at the Oakville location by 31 December 2027. HST is charged on tuition, not on the deposit.
- Tuition starts only when your first class is booked, and we write to you before anything is charged.
- Is there a guarantee?
- Four classes. If your child does not want to come back, we refund the month.
- Can my child join at any time?
- Yes, at the start of any month. A student joining mid-year picks up the current theme. The December completion exam and certificate are for students who attend the full year.
- Can we pause or cancel?
- Yes. Before the first class, the deposit is refunded in full on request, from your family portal or by email. Once classes are running, pause or cancel at the start of any month with notice through the family portal before the previous month ends. There is also a 10-day cooling-off period after you receive your written agreement, with a full refund. The refund and cancellation policy has the details.
- What if my child misses a class?
- They will not fall behind: the next class picks up where the group is, and there is no homework backlog. Where space allows, a missed class can be made up in another session of the same program in the same month. Missed classes are not refunded.
- How do I enrol?
- Online: three short steps, then the refundable deposit on Stripe's secure page. Waitlist families get 48 hours of first access before public enrolment opens, and launch pricing is for them first. Join the Oakville waitlist on the locations page.
Parents
- How do I know what my child is learning?
- Every month you receive the Parent Guide: one page on what we taught and three questions to ask at dinner. The family portal shows attendance as the teacher marks it, class announcements and your billing.
- How do you measure progress?
- Through the worksheet and the review in every class, and at the end of the year through the December completion exam, with an 80 per cent pass mark. Students who pass receive a certificate and move to the next level.
- Can parents shape the curriculum?
- Yes. Every family can suggest topics from their portal, and we publish what we add each term.
- Do you photograph students?
- No. We do not photograph or film students, and no real photographs appear on this site.
Adults and employers
- Is there something for adults?
- Pro+: twelve modules and 57 video lessons on paycheques, budgets, credit, taxes, saving, housing and insurance, built for Canada, self-paced, with a certificate. $697 plus HST, once.
- Can an employer buy seats?
- Yes. Ten or more seats are invoiced as a fixed course fee at $399, $349 or $299 per seat by block size, with a completion report for the employer.
Something else?
Write to us and a person replies, usually within a business day. Contact