What Hearth is and how to get it (families and groups)

Gatherings is free for families and groups: your groups, the planner, records, transcripts, Student mode, chores and meals, and bringing your things in from other apps. Hearth is an optional plan for your household that adds:

• Catch up in one tap: push unfinished lessons forward, or have it done each morning (how).
• Calendar sync: your events, lessons and chores in Google, Apple or Outlook Calendar, or on a Skylight (how).
• Wall display: your family's day or week on a tablet or screen at home (how).
• ESA tracking: deposits, purchases, receipts and reimbursements for each student (how).
• Relatives: grandparents get their own free sign-in to follow the kids' schedule, and you can ask them for rides (how).
• Text messages: announcements, reminders and rides by text (how).

Programs that charge tuition can choose Campus instead of Group Hearth: it adds tuition billing, autopay and ESA-ready receipts (how).

Founding families

Families who were using Gatherings before Hearth launched have it free, for good. Account shows "Founding family" under Plan.

Get Hearth (parents)

1. Open Hearth (or tap See Hearth wherever you see it).
2. Choose yearly ($49, about two months free) or monthly ($5).
3. Enter your card on Stripe's secure page. The first 14 days are free, and you won't be charged if you cancel before they're up.

It's for the whole household: the other parent and your students get it too.

Change, cancel or see receipts

On Account, under Plan, tap Change or cancel, update your card, or see receipts. That opens Stripe's billing page, where you can update your card, download receipts or cancel. To switch between monthly and yearly, cancel and start again with the other one when the current period ends, or ask us and we'll switch it for you. When you cancel, Hearth lasts until the end of the time you've paid for.

Hearth through your group

If your co-op or group has Group Hearth, your family has Hearth too, at no cost to you. Account shows "Through" and the group's name under Plan. If you leave the group, or the group's plan ends, you keep Hearth for 30 more days, then you can start your own.

Already paying for your own Hearth when your group starts Group Hearth? On Account, tap End my own plan and refund the rest. Your plan ends, and we refund the unused part of what you paid to your card.

Group Hearth (for Admins)

Group Hearth is $2 per family a month, billed yearly. It turns on the leader tools (duty rotas, co-op classes and attendance) and gives every family in the group Hearth. Many groups cover it in their dues.

1. Open your group's Settings and find Group Hearth. It shows the yearly price for your number of families.
2. Tap Start Group Hearth and pay on Stripe's secure page.
3. Billing follows your active families: families who join during the year are added to the next bill for the rest of the year, and families who leave become a credit.

To update the card, see receipts or cancel, tap Update the card, see receipts or cancel in the same place. Groups that were on Gatherings before Hearth launched keep the leader tools free, for good.

If Hearth ends

Nothing is lost. Your plans, records and ESA history all stay, and you can still see and download them. Only the Hearth features pause: catch-up, the calendar link and wall display (they pick up again if you come back), and adding new ESA records.