How to Use AI + Khan Academy to Build Your Kid's Summer Prep Plan

Summer Smart Parent Guide #1

The scenario

Picture this: your kid is heading into a new grade and wants to get a head start on a tougher subject — Algebra 2, Chemistry, AP World History, whatever's on the horizon. You have a few weeks of summer left, 20 minutes a day to work with, and the calendar is already half-full with trips and camps.

What you need is a plan — but not a generic one. A plan that fits your kid's summer, not a stock textbook outline.

Here's a workflow that does exactly that, using two free tools (and Google Calendar, which you probably already use).

What you'll have when you're done

A week-by-week study plan, dropped straight into Google Calendar, that:

  • Covers the specific Khan Academy topics for your kid's preview subject
  • Fits around your real summer (vacation days, camp weeks, busy weekends)
  • Matches your kid's available time (15 or 20 minutes a day, or whatever works)
  • Stops when summer stops

Free. Takes about 10 minutes to set up.

Before you start

Have these three things ready (open in browser tabs is easiest):

  1. A free Claude account at claude.ai — sign-up takes one email and one password. No credit card. Claude is a free AI assistant — think of it like ChatGPT, made by a different company. We'll use Claude to do the planning thinking for you.
  2. Khan Academy (khanacademy.org) — free, no account needed for what we'll do today. This is where the actual lessons live.
  3. Google Calendar (calendar.google.com) — whichever one your family uses. This is where the plan will live so it actually gets followed.

Optional: a coffee. 10 minutes.

The 5-step workflow

Step 1 — Pick the goal

Be specific. Vague goals give you vague plans.

Good examples:

  • "Preview Algebra 2 before 10th grade"
  • "Get comfortable with fractions before 5th grade math gets harder"

What to avoid:

  • "Get smarter this summer" — too vague to plan around

You can pick two or three goals at once — just list them.

Step 2 — Open Claude

Go to claude.ai and sign in. You'll see a big text box in the middle of the page — that's where you type to Claude, like an email composer or a search bar.

You don't need to do anything fancy. The message you'll paste in (Step 5) does the heavy lifting.

Step 3 — Find your Khan Academy course

In a new browser tab, go to khanacademy.org. Search for the course your kid wants to preview (try "Algebra 2" or pick a grade level). Copy the web address (URL) from the top of your browser — you'll paste this into Claude in a minute.

If you have multiple subjects to preview, grab a URL for each one.

Step 4 — Jot down your kid's real summer

Before you write to Claude, take 2 minutes to note a few things:

  • How many minutes a day, realistically? (15 or 20 minutes beats an aspirational hour)
  • Which days of the week? (Most families: Monday through Friday, skip weekends)
  • Trips, camps, or busy weeks to skip? (Note the specific dates)
  • Goal type: familiarity (recognize the material in August) or mastery (actually learn it before fall)?

Bullet points work fine. No paragraphs needed.

Step 5 — Paste the message into Claude

Copy the message below, replace the bracketed parts with your kid's real situation, and paste the whole thing into Claude's text box. Hit enter. About 30 seconds later, you'll have a personalized plan.

The message to paste into Claude

My child is going into [GRADE] and wants to preview [SUBJECT 1] and [SUBJECT 2] using Khan Academy this summer.

Khan Academy course links:

  • [SUBJECT 1]: [PASTE URL]
  • [SUBJECT 2]: [PASTE URL]

Available time: 20 minutes per day, Monday through Friday, from [START DATE] through [END DATE].

Days off: [LIST DATES].

Goal: familiarity, not mastery — they should walk into August recognizing the major topics, not testing out of class.

Please build me:

  1. A week-by-week schedule with the specific Khan Academy topic for each day
  2. A short note at the end of each week summarizing what they should now recognize
  3. The schedule formatted as a list I can paste into Google Calendar, with columns: Date · Time · Title · Description

Hit enter, and Claude will write the plan.

Adding the plan to Google Calendar

Once Claude finishes:

  1. Copy the schedule table from Claude
  2. Paste it into a new Google Sheet (sheets.google.com → blank spreadsheet)
  3. Save as CSV (File → Download → Comma Separated Values)
  4. In Google Calendar: click the gear icon (top right) → Settings → Import & Export (in the left sidebar) → Import
  5. Choose your CSV file and pick which calendar to add it to

That's it. Every Khan Academy session is now on your kid's calendar with the topic name and date.

If the spreadsheet step feels like too much, you can also ask Claude: "Can you give me each day as a one-line item I can type into my calendar by hand?" Slower, but no spreadsheet.

A few things to watch for

This workflow is good, not perfect. Two reminders:

  • Treat the first plan as a draft. After your kid does week one, ask them what's working. If it's too easy or too hard, tell Claude: "Adjust the plan — Week 1 was too easy; please move faster through review and spend more time on new material." Claude will regenerate the whole schedule.
  • Don't frame it as homework. This is a preview, not summer school. Call it a head start, a sneak peek, a "you'll thank yourself in August" — anything except homework.

Why this matters

There's a quiet bonus to this workflow beyond the math practice.

Your kid sees you use AI to plan and organize — not to do the work for them. That's the difference between AI as a tool and AI as a shortcut. The first one builds a useful adult skill. The second one builds nothing.

That second skill — knowing how to use AI well — is going to matter more for their career than any single subject they preview this summer.

Curious if your kid would like learning to code with us?

Come see what an actual session looks like. We offer a FREE 30-minute trial at our West Katy dojo — your ninja codes their first project alongside a real Code Sensei®, and you get to see if it's the right fit for your family. No pressure, no commitment.

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