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Scholastic Home Base
By Scholastic Inc.. Visit Scholastic Home Base
Warning: read this before you buy or sign up. Checked 2026-10-24.
Scholastic's free online world for young readers, where kids made an avatar, read excerpts from series such as Dog Man, Wings of Fire and I Survived, played book-based minigames and multiplayer games, joined live author events, and posted stories, comics and comments on a filtered newsfeed and chat. Scholastic shut it down on November 4, 2025. The app and website no longer work, and the company said all user data would be permanently deleted, so kids had to screenshot their work.
Our take: No longer available; a reminder that kids' creations on free platforms can disappear, so save what matters.
| Ages it suits | kids under 13 and up (Scholastic's middle-grade readers) |
|---|---|
| What its terms say about age | Scholastic's kids' privacy policy treats users under 13 as children, asks a birth date for age screening, and filtered or moderated all chat and posts. The service is now closed. (terms) |
| Price | Free. Was free; closed November 4, 2025. |
| Works on | Web, iPhone and iPad, Android |
| Account | The child's own account |
| Ads | Not stated |
| In-app purchases | None |
| The AI in it | No AI. |
What's good
- Was free with round-the-clock moderation
- Promised to delete all data at closing
Watch for
- Shut down on November 4, 2025
- Kids lost their saved stories and comics
- Had filtered chat with other children
- Free kids' communities can close with little warning
Data and privacy
Scholastic says it collected only what kids needed to use its kids' sites, filtered posts to remove personal details before publishing, and did not keep birth dates after age screening. At closing it said all Home Base user data would be permanently deleted. Read the privacy policy.
Does it work?
No study found; the record is kept as a closed service.
Alternatives to Scholastic Home Base
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ABCmouse
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A full preschool program for families who want one paid app; cancel carefully and watch the reward loop.
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ABCya
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Adventure Academy
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Amazon Kids+ and Parent Dashboard
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A good-value bundle for families already on Amazon devices with kids 3-12; skip it if your child mostly uses an iPad or a phone.
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AmblesideOnline
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A strong free plan for homeschool families drawn to Charlotte Mason and literature-rich learning; secular families or those wanting an interactive program should look elsewhere.
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Amira Learning
Amira Learning · ages about 5-14 (school product; listed studies run from kindergarten to middle school)
Worth asking about if your child's school uses it; parents cannot buy it, so home users should look at family apps instead.
Where these facts come from
- https://kids.scholastic.com/kid/homebase/
- https://kids.scholastic.com/content/kids64/en/privacy-kids.html
- https://www.scholastic.com/terms.htm
Prices, terms and features change. Nobody paid to be listed, nothing here is an affiliate link, and Peabody never rates itself. Where we and the maker disagree, the maker's own pages are the ones to trust.