Welcome.
This is your coach — a calm corner for the daily rhythm of becoming. Scripture-anchored. Voice-aware. Built around the small Tuesdays. No comparing. No shortcuts. Just the work, well sequenced.
Where you are today
Open the Coach. Open the Word. Open your journal — five minutes is enough. Or pick one of the seven tracks and read it through. The day starts small.
Edit your focused tracks any time from Who I Am.
This week's focus
The hesed of the LORD is new every morning. Show up for one small thing today, and trust the long arc. The Coach will help you name what "one small thing" is when you ask.
Your snapshot
Why we built this
Hesed.love is the coach we built so a family's covenant could travel with them into the small Tuesdays. It's not a chatbot. It's the digital corner of the kitchen table where every member of a family — parent and child — has a calm, scripture-anchored thinking partner.
The shape draws from real parenting decisions in our home plus the research that informs them: grit (Duckworth), growth mindset (Dweck), language acquisition (Krashen), student-athlete time-management, Toastmasters' youth leadership framework, and the witness of generations who walked these tracks before us. The faith default is not bolted on. It is why the app exists.
From our home to yours, with hesed. — Ayodeji & Olawumi Samuels
How to use this tool
- Start in Who I Am — confirm your name, anchor scriptures, daily rhythm, and the 2-3 tracks you're focusing on. The whole tool listens to this.
- Read each of the Seven Tracks once. You don't have to act on every checklist item this week. Just see the map.
- Open the AI Coach and have a first conversation. It knows your profile and the season you're in. Conversations live in this browser; we never read them.
- Set a daily rhythm. Five minutes in the morning. Five in the evening. Show up small, every day, for a year.
- Journal Sunday nights. Five minutes is enough. The arc of your life — and the speeches you'll one day give — is hiding in those entries.
Who I Am
Before tactics, identity. This is your living self-portrait — the foundation the Coach speaks from. Edit anything below at any time.
Your Hesed.love profile
These are the fields you set during onboarding. Save sends them to your account so they sync across devices.
Anchor scriptures
Up to 3. The Coach uses these in Today's Word and daily declarations.
Daily rhythm
Tracks you're focusing on
Pick 2–3 for the Coach to lean into this season. All 7 stay visible in the sidebar.
Voice attribution
Default narrator. Want your own voice? Opt in from Account → Voice library (coming with IVC in a future session).
The basics (legacy)
My sports
List every sport you play, even casually. Note any leadership role, level, or season. Athletic involvement counts toward "citizenship and community participation" in most application contexts, and the time-management discipline an athletic schedule builds carries over into everything else.
My languages
List each language honestly, with your current level. Krashen's research is clear: the most replicated finding in language learning is that big volumes of comprehensible input (books, TV, podcasts you can almost understand) beat flashcards, hour for hour.
My culinary work
Your teachers used the word exemplary about your kitchen professionalism. That's not a casual elective for you — it's a real practice. Capture what you're doing.
My other passions
Things you light up about that aren't sports, languages, or cooking — music, faith, a cause, a craft. Five entries is plenty.
My values
Pick three. Not aspirational — actual. (Examples: faith, loyalty, curiosity, courage, kindness, excellence, justice, family, joy, service.) The speech-off panel can tell within 60 seconds whether your values are real or borrowed.
My quietly-held ambition
Academics — Protect the floor, raise the ceiling
Every school sets a floor (a minimum average, an honor-roll threshold, an eligibility bar for the things you care about). Your job is to know what your floor is, protect it, and then — only then — raise the ceiling. Acceleration without a stable floor is fragile. A stable floor without acceleration is a missed inheritance.
⚠ The honest read of where you are
Open your Tracker and log your actual marks. Until the numbers are in front of you, you're working from feeling instead of fact. Look for two things:
- The course that's pulling your average down. One weak course usually does most of the damage. Name it. Then ask: which teacher comment or recurring exam mistake tells me exactly what to fix? Almost every report card writes the recovery plan in plain language — the work is reading it twice.
- The course that's pulling your average up. Where you're flying tells you something about how you actually learn. The pattern in your strongest course is the operating manual for your weakest one. Carry it across.
Raising the ceiling — what acceleration looks like
"Acceleration" is the school-specific shape of: harder courses, advanced placement, dual enrollment, a heavier sequence. The right question is not "should I take harder things?" — it's "which harder things, and at what intensity?" Sit down with a parent, mentor, or counsellor before each course-selection window with a written answer to that question.
The graduating-year finish
The non-negotiables (research-backed)
- Sleep 8+ hours. Student-athlete sleep studies: athletes sleeping 8+ hours hold GPAs ~0.4 higher than peers sleeping less than 7. The same effect shows up in non-athletes.
- Predictable beats heroic. A fixed 90-minute homework window five evenings a week outperforms three-hour panic sessions, every time.
- Track marks the day they come in — don't wait for report cards. The Tracker is built for this.
- Use the resources page. Curated free tools, useful regardless of your school or curriculum board → Academic Resources.
Speaking & Writing
Read this paragraph twice. Whatever path you walk — the valedictory speech, the wedding toast, the pitch meeting, the funeral homily, the Sunday lesson — your life will contain a small number of rooms where the ability to speak prepared words clearly decides what happens next. This is the highest-leverage track on the page. Most people never train for it. The ones who do are unforgettable.
The shape we recommend
There are two common stacks for building speaking ability — both work, depending on temperament.
- The high-intensity stack: Debate / Model UN / Journalism. Fast, deadline-driven, public, competitive. Best for people who do their best work under pressure and find motivation in scoreboards.
- The low-stakes-reps stack: Toastmasters or an equivalent local speaking club. Mixed-age, structured curriculum (Pathways), no winners, you progress at your pace. Best for people who want depth, consistency, and a habit they can keep for decades.
If you're choosing for the first time, default to Toastmasters and add competitive formats only if your temperament asks for them. Three years of "I've been a Toastmaster since I was 15" is exactly the kind of unusual story a panel — a college essay reader, a hiring manager, a congregation — notices.
The reps principle
Toastmasters research on youth speakers shows the largest gains come from repeated, low-stakes reps — not from a single course or trophy. Set yourself a 24-month target of one speaking rep every two weeks → ~50 reps. Then look up. You will not be the same speaker.
A "rep" is any time you speak prepared words in front of more than two people who aren't your family. It counts whether you win, lose, or fumble.
Your speaking habitats — pick at least one this term
Toastmasters Recommended
Find a club near you · Many clubs meet evenings and accept Gavel Club / youth members at 15+. Youth Leadership Program is a multi-week intensive offered by many area clubs.
School Speech / Forensics Club
Free, in-school, built for exactly this. Sign up at the start of next term.
Debate Club
Builds rebuttal and composure under pressure. Pairs well with Toastmasters.
Model UN
Most schools and a regional circuit exist. Higher intensity — start with one conference, not five.
Drama / Improv Team
Builds presence and voice. The improv reps make impromptu speaking feel easy.
Spoken Word / Open Mics
Most cities have a real scene. Try a multilingual piece — uncommon and memorable.
Teaching / Demos
Demo a skill at a school event, a church, a community kitchen, a youth group. Teaching IS speaking, just with a reason.
Sport captaincy / Team leadership
Team huddles, post-game speeches, captain meetings. You're already speaking — just needs framing.
The 50-rep plan
Anatomy of a winning speech (valedictory, wedding, pitch, sermon)
From analysis of strong public speeches across genres:
- Open with a hook — often self-deprecating humour. Earns the room's attention in the first 30 seconds.
- Acknowledge — specifically, briefly. Generic thank-yous read as filler.
- Reflect — a shared journey, not your private résumé. Use "we," not "I." Quote moments your audience lived too.
- Land the message — one big idea, two minutes long. Weak speeches carry 3 ideas. Strong ones carry 1.
- Inspire — connect what was to what's next. Send the room somewhere; don't summarise where you've been.
- Length: 5–10 minutes. Practiced aloud at least 12 times.
Citizenship — Two pillars, two years
Every application — for a scholarship, a school, a job, a calling — asks some version of "what have you done for the people around you?" The principle here is simple and almost universally ignored: depth beats breadth. Two real commitments held for two years each will outweigh six short dabbles, every single time.
The two-pillar rule
- One in-school / in-work role — a club executive, team captain, peer tutor, student ambassador, yearbook editor, ministry leader, departmental committee. Held for two years where possible.
- One out-of-school commitment — a local nonprofit, a faith community role, coaching younger athletes, a community language school, a tutoring partnership, a hospital volunteer post. Held for two years where possible.
When a reader of your story (scholarship committee, hiring manager, congregation, future spouse) hears your involvement, two pillars described in detail will outweigh ten pillars listed in bullet points.
Ideas — pick from the zone that's already yours
If you're athletic
- Coach a younger team in your sport (mini-leagues, community programs).
- Volunteer at meets / tournaments as an official's assistant.
- Lead pre-season conditioning for new teammates.
If you speak more than one language
- Tutor newcomer students in your school in English or your shared heritage language — newcomer families value this enormously.
- Volunteer at a heritage-language school on weekends.
- Read aloud / translate at a senior centre or community event.
If you cook
- Volunteer at a food bank, community fridge, or shelter meal prep.
- Teach a free monthly cooking session at your faith community.
- Help organise a community-cooking event for newcomer youth or unhoused neighbours.
In school
- Speech / Debate / Model UN executive.
- Yearbook Club.
- Peer tutoring through Student Services.
- An international or cultural club that fits your background.
- Student Council / leadership.
Document everything
People who write down their service hours, dates, and reflections in real time produce dramatically stronger narratives than those reconstructing from memory two years later. Use the Tracker — log a row after each commitment.
Athletics — Asset, not tax
Most people frame sport (or any physical practice) as a competitor to their other goals. The research disagrees. Athletes — at any age — show lower depression, higher self-esteem, and (when sleep is protected) higher academic and professional outcomes. Sport is not a tax on the rest of your life. It is one of the disciplines that holds the rest of your life together.
What sport actually gives you
- Citizenship credit — most schools, employers, and community contexts count athletic involvement as real participation.
- Time-management reps — practice / competition schedules force the planning muscle that protects everything else.
- A captaincy or leadership track — leadership in a public, watched setting. Worth more than three quiet club memberships.
- Public-speaking habitat — team huddles, post-game speeches, captain meetings. Speaking practice you didn't sign up for.
- Resilience reps — losing and showing up to the next practice is grit training. There is no other way to learn it.
- A story bank — your sport will give you the best stories you tell.
The sleep rule (non-negotiable)
People who sleep 8+ hours hold academic and professional outcomes meaningfully higher than peers sleeping less than 7. The path collapses without sleep. This is your daily rhythm field doing real work.
Becoming the captain (or the steady one in the room)
You don't need to be the best player to become a captain — or to be the person teammates turn to when things go sideways. Coaches and colleagues pick leaders on three things: showing up (attendance, punctuality), lifting others (encouraging publicly, especially after mistakes), and composure (steady under pressure). Practice those, regardless of your stats.
Languages — Your distinguishing signal
Most candidates for anything — scholarships, jobs, callings — differentiate on the same handful of axes: academic strength, athletic ability, leadership. A person genuinely working toward fluency in a second or third language is rare — and gives every story they later tell an unforgettable thread. Whether your second language is heritage (the one your grandmother prayed in), strategic (the one your career will reach for), or chosen for love (the one your future spouse's family speaks), the work is the same.
Krashen's input principle
Stephen Krashen's research on comprehensible input is the most replicated finding in language acquisition: the largest gains come from large volumes of input you can almost understand, not from flashcards or grammar drills. Translation: time spent watching, reading, and listening in the target language beats time spent memorising lists, hour for hour.
The daily input habit (30 min)
The weekly output habit
The pathway
Year one
- Enrol in the next-level course for your primary language (at school, at a community school, or via a structured online program).
- Build the daily 30-min input habit. Keep a log in the Tracker.
Year two
- Aim for the highest level your context offers (advanced course, language certificate, immersion).
- Add public moments: a community language school, a competition, an exchange, a trip.
The line that lands
- One line in the target language in the next speech, wedding toast, or pitch you give. Memorable, distinctive — and authentic only if you've put in the years.
Curated learning resources for several languages are on the Academic Resources page.
Culinary — A real practice, not an elective
The kitchen is one of the few rooms in modern life where you receive immediate feedback on competence, taste, patience, and care for other people — every single time. Whether you want to become a serious cook, a hospitable host, a parent who feeds a household well, or a person who knows what real ingredients taste like, this track is here for you. Cooking is hospitality made visible.
How culinary serves the rest of your life
- Distinctiveness — almost no application narrative includes a serious kitchen practice. It makes you memorable.
- Speaking material — cooking gives you stories with sensory texture. Speeches and conversations that mention food are remembered.
- Citizenship outlet — food connects directly to community service (food bank, newcomer dinners, community kitchens).
- Practical credits — most school systems offer culinary or food-studies courses that count toward graduation.
- Cross-cultural bridge — cooking is where your heritage, faith, and family table meet visibly. The food you serve tells your guests who you are.
The culinary path — one decision per season
Year one
- Enrol in any culinary or food-studies course your school offers (or a structured community class if not).
- Start a recipe-development practice: one new dish per month, photographed and journaled.
- Research summer programs, short courses, or apprenticeship pathways in your region.
Year two
- Pursue an off-campus work experience or apprenticeship opportunity in a local kitchen.
- Compete or present at any youth culinary event your region runs (Skills competitions, community fairs).
- When you speak — at a graduation, wedding, work event — earn the right to open or close with a food image only you could write.
Build the culinary portfolio
Character & Grit — The track no one teaches
Angela Duckworth's longitudinal research shows grit predicts long-term outcomes independently of IQ. Carol Dweck's growth-mindset work shows the two are mutually reinforcing across a lifetime. How you talk to yourself when something is hard matters as much as how smart you are.
The fixed → growth language shift
| Fixed (avoid) | Growth (practice) |
|---|---|
| "I'm just not a math person." | "I haven't built the math reps yet." |
| "I failed the speech." | "That was rep one of fifty." |
| "She's smarter than me." | "She's been at it longer than me." |
| "I can't write." | "I am writing badly today. Tomorrow's draft will be less bad." |
| "I'm bad at [subject]." | "I'm strong on [part of it]; I need more reps on [the part that's hard]." |
The burnout watch
The single biggest threat to a long arc is not the hard subject or the missed opportunity — it is burnout, when courses, work, relationships, and commitments collide and nothing gets the right amount of you. Use the weekly journal to catch this before it crashes the project.
The covenant contract
If you feel pressure to repeat someone else's path — a sibling's, a parent's, a peer's — have one explicit conversation about it, write down what each of you has agreed to, and revisit it once a year. Template:
Academic Resources
Every resource below is free and works regardless of your school or curriculum board. Pick one or two per subject — don't try to use all of them. Whatever specific comment your teacher wrote on your last report card or assessment is your most accurate diagnostic; these resources are the playbook to act on it.
📐 For Math (algebra, functions, calculus)
If a teacher comment or recurring exam mistake names the topic ("polynomial multiplication," "factoring," "limits") — search that exact phrase. Don't broad-stroke "I need to study math."
Khan Academy — Algebra 1 & 2
Free, world-class. Search the exact concept your last quiz tested. Do the 5-question practice sets — that's usually the closest format to what your teacher's tests will follow.
LearnAlberta.ca
Official Alberta Education resources. The Math 10C, Math 20-1, and Math 20-2 modules align directly with your provincial curriculum.
The Organic Chemistry Tutor (YouTube) & Math Tutor DVD
For when a textbook explanation isn't landing. Search the exact concept — "factoring trinomials," "linear systems substitution."
IXL Math (Grade 10/11)
Free up to 10 problems per day. Adaptive difficulty. Use this for spaced practice between Khan videos.
🧬 For Biology / Chemistry (Bio 20 now, Bio 30 + Chem 20 next)
Your Bio 20 mark (87%) shows you fly on biological systems. Your Science 10 comments showed chemistry/physics application is where you slip. The resources below address both.
Amoeba Sisters (YouTube)
Short, friendly, visual. Perfect for Bio 20 and Bio 30 topics. Highly recommended by Canadian biology teachers.
Khan Academy — Chemistry & Crash Course Chemistry
Crash Course gives you the conceptual story; Khan gives you the practice. Use both.
Bozeman Science
Paul Andersen's videos are gold-standard for high school biology and chemistry. Especially good for Bio 30 diploma prep.
📖 For English Language Arts (ELA 20-1 next year)
Your ELA 10-1 teacher called your peer-collaboration "exemplary" and your writing "proficient." Growth area: identifying recurring themes / symbols across texts.
LitCharts
Free literature guides that explicitly map themes and symbols for nearly every text studied at the high-school level. Use for whichever texts your school assigns; do not read in place of the actual book.
Purdue OWL
The gold standard for essay structure, MLA / APA citation, grammar. Especially useful for Grade 12 diploma writing.
Crash Course Literature (YouTube)
15-minute episodes on canonical texts (Gatsby, Hamlet, Frankenstein, Romeo & Juliet, Beloved). Watch after reading.
Grammarly (free tier)
Install the browser extension. Catches errors and patterns before your teacher does. Good for emails to teachers too (see People Skills).
🌍 For Social Studies (Social 20-1 next year)
Crash Course World History
John Green. Perfect grounding for Social 20-1's globalization curriculum. Watch in order.
CBC Calgary + Front Burner podcast
15-min daily news podcast — listen on the way to school. Builds the example bank for Social essays.
TED-Ed
5-minute animated lessons. Search Social 20 topics: nationalism, globalization, ideology.
🗣 For Languages
TV5Monde + InnerFrench (YouTube)
TV5Monde Apprendre is free comprehensible-input video. InnerFrench is the best B1/B2 podcast in French.
Mandarin Corner + Slow Chinese
Slow-paced, subtitled real-life Mandarin. Better than textbook audio for input.
News in Slow Spanish + Dreaming Spanish
Both built on Krashen's comprehensible-input research. Dreaming Spanish in particular is gold.
⏱ Study skills (cross-cutting)
Forest app · Pomodoro Timer
Forest gamifies focus blocks — plant a tree, it grows while you study, dies if you touch your phone. Cheesy. Effective.
Cornell Note-Taking System
Free template. Used by top students worldwide. Two-column format that forces you to summarise as you go.
The Learning Scientists
Six evidence-based strategies: retrieval practice, spaced practice, elaboration, interleaving, concrete examples, dual coding. The whole science of learning in posters and 5-min podcasts.
🌐 Region- & board-specific resources
Pick the section that matches your child's school system. Each list is short and curated — the kind of resource a teacher in that system would actually point a parent toward.
🇨🇦 Alberta (Alberta Education)
LearnAlberta.ca
Official ministry resources aligned to the Alberta program of studies. Math 10C, Math 20-1, Math 20-2 modules track the provincial curriculum exactly.
Alberta.ca — Diploma Exams
Released exams + key information for Grade 12 diploma subjects (Eng 30-1, Math 30-1, Bio/Chem/Phys 30, Social 30-1). Past papers are the single best study resource.
Calgary Public Library — Brainfuse HelpNow
Free 1-on-1 online tutoring with a library card. Math, science, writing. Underused by Calgary families.
🇨🇦 Ontario (OSSD)
TVO Learn
TVO's free K-12 video lessons mapped to Ontario curriculum expectations. Especially strong for Grade 9–10 math and science.
OAME (Ontario Association for Math Educators)
Curriculum-aligned practice + teacher-built question banks for MTH1W, MPM2D, MCR3U, MHF4U, MCV4U. Where Ontario math teachers go.
EQAO
Past papers + practice for the Grade 9 Math assessment and the OSSLT (Ontario literacy graduation requirement). Free.
🇨🇦 British Columbia
BC Curriculum — Ministry of Education
Learning standards by grade and area. Useful for parents to see what their kid is supposed to know by year-end.
BC Open Textbook Collection
Free, openly licensed BC-curriculum-aligned textbooks across math, science, business. PDF + ePub downloads.
BC Graduation Assessments
Sample questions for the Grade 10 Numeracy + Literacy assessments and the Grade 12 Literacy assessment — graduation requirements separate from subject grades.
🇺🇸 United States (Common Core / state curricula)
CK-12 Foundation
Free, Common-Core-aligned FlexBooks across math, science, English. Includes interactive practice + adaptive quizzes. A teacher favourite in US public schools.
Official SAT Practice (Khan Academy + College Board)
Official partnership with College Board. Personalised practice from PSAT/SAT score reports. Free — replaces the expensive prep books for most students.
AP Classroom (College Board)
Official course-by-course resources and practice questions for every AP subject. Includes past free-response questions with scoring guidelines.
🇬🇧 UK GCSE / A-Level
BBC Bitesize
The UK's de-facto standard study resource. Curriculum-mapped to GCSE and A-Level for every exam board (AQA, Edexcel, OCR, WJEC). Free, no account needed.
Seneca Learning
Free spaced-repetition courses you can filter by exam board. Especially strong for GCSE Combined and Triple Science.
🌍 International Baccalaureate (IB Diploma)
IB Documents
Past papers + mark schemes shared by the IB community. Goldmine for DP2 students preparing for mocks and final exams.
Lanterna Education
Free IB study guides by subject + revision videos. Especially good for Maths AA/AI and the Internal Assessments (IAs).
IBO — Official Curriculum
Subject briefs + assessment criteria from the IBO itself. The actual rubrics that examiners use — read them before writing TOK or the EE.
🇳🇬 Nigeria / West Africa (WAEC)
WAEC e-Learning Portal
Official WAEC past questions and detailed solutions by subject. Free. Practice in the exact format of the SSCE.
Passnownow
SS1–SS3 lessons mapped to the Nigerian secondary curriculum. Strong on English, Math, Civic Ed, Bio/Chem/Phys.
Pass.ng
Past questions for JAMB UTME, post-UTME, and WAEC + NECO. CBT-style practice that mirrors the actual exam interface.
🇿🇦 South Africa (CAPS / NSC / Matric)
Siyavula
Free CAPS-aligned textbooks + practice for Mathematics, Mathematical Literacy, and Physical Sciences (Grade 8–12). Used by schools across South Africa.
Mindset Learn
Video lessons + study guides for Grade 10–12 across every CAPS subject. Especially strong for Matric exam prep.
Department of Basic Education — NSC Papers
Official past Matric exam papers and memos, every subject. Free download.
Have a region we haven't covered yet (Australia, India, Kenya, Ghana, Singapore, etc.)? Email us at [email protected] and we'll add it.
People Skills — with teachers, with peers, with you
Most of the people who decide what doors open for you — teachers, managers, neighbours, congregations, future references — are people you see every week. The relationships you build now are the recommendations, introductions, and quiet votes of confidence you'll need later. Skill, not luck.
The one thing to know about teachers (or managers, or mentors)
When someone writes you a specific, actionable comment — "I strongly recommend attending tutorials", "work on tightening your conclusions", "come find me before the next deadline" — that is not a routine sentence. It is an invitation. People who write that have already decided they want to help you. Take it. Show up.
Multiply this across every course, every project, every season. People who feel seen by you become advocates. People who feel invisible to you become neutral scorers.
With teachers (and managers) — the four habits
1. The "What would it take" conversation (once per term)
In week 3 of every term — or in the first 30 days of a new role — book a 10-minute meeting with each person you report to. Ask one question: "What would I need to do, specifically, to move from where I am now to the next level in your class / on this team?"
Why this works: it shows ambition, signals coachability, and gives the person a chance to invest. They remember the ones who ask.
2. Show up early to one class per week
Pick the class. Arrive five minutes before the bell. Make small talk with the teacher. That's it. Across three years, those 5-minute conversations build something a transcript cannot.
3. The thank-you note ritual
At the end of every semester (or every quarter, every project), write one handwritten note to one person who taught you something that mattered. Two paragraphs. Specific. Hand-delivered or mailed. That note is in their drawer for years. You will need references later — these notes are deposits in advance.
4. Email like an adult
Your email tone is part of your reputation — at school, at work, in church, anywhere a paper trail matters. The pattern that works:
| Don't | Do |
|---|---|
| "hey when is this due" | "Good morning Ms. Falkenberg, I'd like to confirm the due date for the symbolism essay — is it Friday May 22? Thank you, [your name]." |
| "i dont get question 3" | "Hi Dr. Hwang, I'm working through the practice set and I'm stuck on question 3 of the polynomial-multiplication section — would it be okay if I came by your office hours on Thursday to ask about it? Thanks, [your name]." |
Greeting, your name, specific question, time-bounded ask, sign-off. Every time.
With peers — the four moves
1. Name memorisation in week 1
Every September, take the first two weeks to learn every name in every class. Use a sticky note in your binder for each class. Greet people by name in the hallway. Sounds small. It is decisive.
2. Listen twice as much as you talk
The Dale Carnegie principle ("become genuinely interested in other people") still holds — and any audience can tell within seconds whether a speaker represents a community they actually know, or one they stand above. Quote the people around you in your speeches and in casual conversation.
3. Compliment specifically, not generically
"Good job" lands flat. "I loved how you handled that question in Social — you reframed it instead of fighting it" lands hard. Specificity is the difference between flattery and witness.
4. Stand up for someone publicly once a week
When someone gets ragged on — quiet people especially — say the thing on their behalf. Out loud. In front of others. The room will remember this for years, in ways you won't see immediately.
With yourself — three quiet practices
- The Sunday reset. Five minutes. Use the Journal. Catch yourself before the week catches you.
- The "what do I owe an apology for" weekly check. If something — usually small — needs a repair, do it within 48 hours. Small repairs prevent big rifts.
- The grace cycle. When you mess up, repair fast and small. Don't grovel; don't avoid. A specific apology + a specific change is the strongest move in your toolkit.
Portfolio — the receipts of who you became
A portfolio is not a résumé. It is a small archive of things you actually made. Over time, this is what you'll draw on for applications, essays, scholarship submissions, speeches, sermons, and the day someone asks "tell me about you" and means it.
Ten artifacts to build over the next 22 months
- Speech archive — every speech you give, recorded (phone is fine). Goal: 30+ by Grade 12. Source material for the valedictory speech.
- Culinary portfolio — photo + 50-word reflection for each session. Could become a small private blog. Already exemplary; document it.
- Language journal — short monthly entries in your target language. By Grade 12: 24 entries showing visible growth.
- Service stories — one written story per commitment (not just a log). Stories beat tallies on the application.
- Written-work portfolio — your best ELA essays, op-eds, journalism pieces. PDF compilation in Grade 12.
- Athletic captain's playbook — pre-game speeches you've given, team rituals you created, what you said in hard moments.
- Passion project — ONE thing you chose yourself and built for 12+ months. The valedictory speech almost always references this.
- Photo / video documentary — one cause or community you cared about, captured visually.
- Recipe development — original recipes you've created, properly written and tested. By Grade 12: 12+.
- A blog or newsletter — even private, written consistently. Becomes the prose engine for your speech.
Log a portfolio piece
My portfolio
No pieces yet. Add your first one above.
Grade 11 Course Planner
Course selection for Grade 11 happens this month. The choice you make in May/June shapes the academic rigour signal you send EMHS, the science doors you keep open, and your sustainable workload. This page gives you the framework. Talk it through with your parents and your EMHS counsellor, not just this tool.
What we know about you (from your Grade 10 marks)
- You're already accelerating — Biology 20 in Grade 10 (87%) is uncommon. Biology 30 in Grade 11 is the natural sequence.
- You're strong on biological systems (87% Bio 20) and weaker on chemistry application (76% Science 10). This is meaningful for choosing Chem 20 vs not.
- You're solid but not dominant in math (Math 10C 77% in progress). Math 20-1 vs Math 20-2 is the most consequential single decision on this page.
- You have real culinary commitment — Kitchen Orientation 90%, Vegetables & Fruits 87%, multi-level Culinary praised as exemplary. The CTS pathway is open to you.
- You have excellent attendance (1.34% absence). Workload sustainability is partly about whether you keep that — which means saying no to the wrong course.
The Grade 11 chassis — what every student takes
| Required area | Options | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| English | ELA 20-1 (academic) or 20-2 (applied) | Take 20-1 — you got 83% in 10-1 and your teacher called you exemplary at collaboration. Don't downstream. |
| Math | Math 20-1, 20-2, or 20-3 | The single most important call. See below. |
| Social Studies | Social 20-1 or 20-2 | Take 20-1. You earned 84% in 10-1; staying in the academic stream keeps every university option open. |
| Science | Science 20 / Bio 20 / Chem 20 / Physics 20 | You've done Bio 20 → take Bio 30. The Chem 20 question is the second decision below. |
| PE | PE 20 / Sports Performance | Optional, but you got 88% in PE 10. Strong fit. |
The two decisions only you can make
Decision 1 — Math 20-1 vs Math 20-2
Math 20-1 is the academic stream that leads to Math 30-1 → Calculus → STEM university programs (engineering, sciences, business at competitive schools). Math 20-2 is still university-eligible (arts, humanities, education, nursing, some sciences) and is significantly more sustainable.
Pick Math 20-1 if…
- You see yourself doing a science, engineering, business, or computer-related degree.
- You're willing to commit to weekly tutorials for the first 6 weeks.
- You're aiming for the most competitive university programs.
⚠ Honest signal: your Math 10C is at 77%. 20-1 is doable but you'll need to lift in Grade 11.
Pick Math 20-2 if…
- Your university trajectory is humanities, social sciences, education, nursing, culinary management, or arts.
- You want to free up cognitive load for languages, culinary, sport, and citizenship pillars.
- You'd rather hold an 85+ in 20-2 than a 75 in 20-1.
A high mark in 20-2 reads better to most universities than a struggling mark in 20-1.
Decision 2 — Add Chem 20, or skip?
If you take Bio 30 + Chem 20 in Grade 11, you'll do Chem 30 in Grade 12 and have a full science profile (good for many programs). Skipping Chem 20 frees you to take a language at 20-level or a CTS culinary course at greater depth.
Take Chem 20 if…
- Your university aim involves life sciences, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, food science, nutrition.
- You're willing to invest extra time on chemistry application — your Science 10 comments said this is your growth edge.
Skip Chem 20 if…
- You want depth in languages + culinary, not breadth in sciences.
- Bio 30 is enough science for the universities you're considering.
- Sustainability matters more than maxing the science profile.
Two proposed plans
Plan A — "Aim Higher"
Maximises university-program options. Heavier; needs strong support and ruthless time management.
- ELA 20-1
- Math 20-1
- Social 20-1
- Biology 30
- Chemistry 20
- French 20 (or Mandarin/Spanish 20)
- CTS Culinary continuation
- PE 20 / Sports Performance
Risk: 8 courses + speaking habitat + citizenship = high. Need to defend sleep and one rest practice per week or it cracks.
Plan B — "Sustainable Excellence" Recommended starting point
Holds high marks across fewer courses. Leaves more room for the speaking habitat, languages, culinary, and athletics — the differentiation tracks.
- ELA 20-1
- Math 20-2 (or 20-1 if you commit to weekly tutorials)
- Social 20-1
- Biology 30
- French 20 (or Mandarin/Spanish 20)
- CTS Culinary continuation
- PE 20
Why I'd start here: protects the 80% floor, leaves cognitive room for the speech and citizenship pillars, doesn't close any meaningful university door, and your differentiation comes from depth in languages/culinary/sport — not breadth in sciences.
Your next moves
HOSA Canada — Your Healthcare Path
You\'ve told your dad you want to join HOSA. Smart choice. HOSA Canada is the country\'s largest health-science student organisation — and it sits at the intersection of nearly every strength your report card flagged: biology, ELA collaboration, PE mastery, culinary professionalism, your developing public-speaking habit. This page is your strategic playbook.
What HOSA is, in one paragraph
HOSA Canada — Future Health Professionals — is a non-political, student-led organisation that runs Canada\'s largest health-science competition for secondary and post-secondary students. Members compete in 30+ events across Health Science, Teamwork, Health Professions, Emergency Preparedness, and Leadership categories. There are two annual conferences (the Fall Leadership Conference and the Spring Leadership Conference), plus the International Leadership Conference in the United States in June. It\'s a $150/year membership through your school chapter. hosacanada.org
Recommended events — based on YOUR profile
These are matched to what your Grade 10 report card showed. Tackle two events your first year (one individual, one team), three in your second year (after you have a feel for the format).
⭐ Top match — Sports Medicine (Health Professions)
Why this fits you: your PE 10 mark was 88% with \"mastery-level\" teacher comments on lifelong physical activity. Sports Medicine combines your athletic strength with health-science knowledge — anatomy, injury assessment, taping/wrapping, return-to-play decisions. You already think like an athlete; you\'ll think like an athletic trainer easily. Individual event. Event guidelines (PDF)
⭐ Strong match — Biomedical Debate (Teamwork)
Why this fits you: your ELA 10-1 teacher called your peer collaboration \"exemplary\". Biomedical Debate is a 3–4 person team event where you research the pros and cons of a current biomedical ethics issue (e.g., gene editing, vaccine mandates) and debate it in front of judges. Combines research + public speaking + teamwork. Event guidelines (PDF)
⭐ Strong match — Researched Persuasive Speaking (Leadership)
Why this fits you: you\'re already building a speaking practice through the Speech Studio in this app. RPS is a solo event where you write and deliver a persuasive speech on a health-related issue. This is your "speech-off training ground" — every RPS rep doubles as preparation for the Valedictorian speech-off in 2028. Event guidelines (PDF)
Match — Nutrition (Health Science)
Why this fits you: your Culinary teachers called your professionalism \"exemplary". Nutrition is an individual test event covering nutrition science, food groups, dietary guidelines. Your culinary practice gives you the practical foundation; the test gives you the formal vocabulary. Great cross-application of skills. Event guidelines (PDF)
Match — Mental Health Promotion (Emergency Preparedness)
Why this fits you: a family of faith often has natural empathy and the language to speak about mental wellness. This event is a team-based service event where you build a campaign or program addressing mental health in your community. Lines up beautifully with the citizenship track in this app. Event guidelines (PDF)
Solid foundation — Medical Terminology (Health Science)
Why consider this: it\'s the gateway event for any health career path. A solo test event you can prepare for with apps and flashcards. Builds the vocabulary every future health professional needs. Lower stakes than the bigger events; great for your first conference. Event guidelines (PDF)
How to actually join
Step 1 — Find out if EMHS has a chapter. Ask your science teacher or guidance counsellor: "Does EMHS have an active HOSA Canada chapter?" If yes, get the teacher-advisor\'s name and the membership process. If no, you have two options:
- Join as an independent member — register directly through HOSA Canada\'s student registration. You\'d compete individually rather than under a school banner.
- Start a chapter at EMHS — bold move. You\'d need a teacher-advisor (a biology or health-sciences teacher is the natural fit) and a small founding team. HOSA Canada has a "Starting a Chapter" page that walks through it.
Step 2 — Register. The 2025-2026 fee was $150/student. Covers conferences (FLC + SLC), workshops, study materials. Student registration page
Step 3 — Choose your event(s) early. Each event has guidelines, sample tests, and rubrics. Read them well before competition season starts in winter.
Your timeline — 24 months to graduation
Grade 11 — Year of exploration
- September: Sign up. Identify chapter advisor. Pick 2 events — one individual (Medical Terminology or RPS), one team (Biomedical Debate).
- October–November: Fall Leadership Conference (FLC). Attend even if you\'re not competing. Watch the formats. Meet older members.
- Winter: Study + prep your events. Use the official guidelines + past papers.
- March–April: Spring Leadership Conference (SLC) in Toronto. Compete in your two events. Goal: experience the format, not necessarily win.
- Summer: Reflect on what you loved, what you didn\'t. Decide which 3 events to target in Grade 12. Apply for a chapter officer position.
Grade 12 — Year of impact
- September: Take a chapter officer role (Vice-President or President if possible). Now you\'re leading, not just participating.
- Fall: Sports Medicine + RPS + one stretch event (Mental Health Promotion?).
- March–April: SLC 2028. Target top-three placement in at least one event.
- If you place top-three at SLC: qualify for the International Leadership Conference in the US (typically Dallas / Houston / Orlando), June 2028. The Valedictorian speech-off is February 2028 — you\'d be coming off a peak speaking season.
How HOSA strengthens your Valedictorian application
Read this carefully — HOSA participation isn\'t just an extracurricular. It directly serves the EMHS Valedictorian application narrative:
- Citizenship credit. A chapter officer role is exactly the kind of in-school leadership the rubric weights heavily.
- Speech-off preparation. Researched Persuasive Speaking gives you literal speech reps in front of judges. By February 2028 you\'ll have given a dozen public-facing speeches in HOSA alone.
- Differentiation. Most Valedictorian candidates have generic extracurriculars. A 24-month HOSA arc with a chapter officer role and conference placements is rare and memorable.
- University application leverage. If you\'re considering health sciences, medicine, nursing, biomedical engineering, or public health, HOSA is one of the highest-signal high-school extracurriculars Canadian universities recognise.
- Cross-application. Your Biology 20 grade (87%), your culinary practice, your athletics — all of them become HOSA assets, not separate stories. The narrative thread is "she\'s building toward a healthcare-aligned future."
Beyond the trophies — what you\'ll actually get
- A peer group with shared ambition. HOSA members tend to be high-achieving teens who care about service. Your closest school friendships may form here.
- Workshops with practising health professionals. Suturing, reading X-rays, taking vitals, panels with medical students.
- Scholarships. The Keva Garg Memorial Scholarship and others are HOSA-specific.
- A clearer sense of whether health is for you. Some HOSA members discover they love this and pursue medicine; others discover they don\'t want to be doctors but want to be researchers, or public-health workers, or teachers. Either answer is valuable in Grade 11–12.
A note from your dad
Charis — this is exactly the kind of arc I hoped you\'d find on your own. HOSA combines almost everything you\'re already strong at — biology, ELA collaboration, athletics, culinary professionalism — into one organised pathway with conferences, awards, and a leadership ladder. Even if you decide in Year 2 that healthcare isn\'t your direction, the skills you\'ll build — researching a topic, debating it under pressure, leading a chapter, networking with adults — are universal.
One thing: don\'t join HOSA only for the application. Join it because the work is interesting. The application benefit follows naturally from genuine engagement, not from box-ticking. Trust me on this.
Ask the AI Coach
The Coach knows about your HOSA interest now. Try one of these prompts:
Sources
All information on this page is drawn from:
Your AI Coach
A private space to talk through anything — a speech draft, a hard week, a course-choice question, a community service idea, a concept you can't crack. Your coach knows your profile, the work you've logged, and the season you're in.
Speech Studio
A small room with three tools: a timer, a prompt bank, and a drafting space. Use the timer for impromptu reps (1 to 3 minutes). Use the prompt bank when you don't know what to say. Use the drafting space when you have a real speech to write.
Toastmasters-style timer with traffic lights
Set your target length. Green for the first slice, yellow when you should be wrapping up, red when you're at the limit. Standard Toastmasters signaling.
Filler-word coach
Click Start, then deliver your speech aloud. The app listens (via your mic), transcribes silently, and counts your filler words in real time. Best on Chrome. Stop when done — see your count, your words-per-minute, and your filler rate.
Live transcript
A healthy filler rate for a polished speaker is under 2%. New speakers usually start at 5–8% — totally normal. Watch it drop across your 50 reps.
Impromptu prompts
Click for a new prompt. Set the timer for 60 seconds. Speak — don't read.
Draft a real speech
Saved drafts
No drafts saved yet.
Journal
A weekly reflection. Five minutes. Three small questions. This is how the burnout watch works — and where your Grade 12 valedictory speech comes from.
This week's reflection
Past entries
No entries yet.
Tracker
Your real Grade 10 marks are pre-loaded. Update them after every report card. Log every service session within 24 hours of doing it — memory fades.
Course grades
Track the average for each course or subject area. Whatever your school's honor-roll or scholarship floor is — protect it on purpose.
Service / leadership hours
Each row is one session. Log within 24 hours.
Milestones
The roadmap — check each off when it happens.
Today's Word
A verse, a declaration, and a quote — refreshed each day. Anchor your morning here, or come back any time you need to remember who you are and Whose you are.
My declaration for today
Read it aloud, twice. It's a confession of who you are in Christ — not a request, but a remembering.
A word from the world
A small ritual
- Morning — open this page. Read the verse aloud. Speak the declaration over yourself.
- Midday — when stress climbs, return here for ninety seconds. Read the verse again. Breathe.
- Evening — note in your Journal one moment today when the verse landed.
A note for you
A short, scripture-anchored note for today — read it slow, read it twice. The notes rotate each day; the voice is the brand voice until you (or, on Family plans, the parent in your home) record your own. On the days no one is sitting next to you to say it, it sits here, waiting.
Today's verse + today's note
The verse rotates separately. Sometimes the verse and the note line up powerfully; sometimes the connection is quieter. Both are speaking the same thing in different voices.
A practice for the family
- Open this page each morning together for a week. Read the note aloud — Dad's voice, even when Dad isn't in the room (one day, literally — see Settings).
- If the note lands hard one day, screenshot it and save it.
- Once a month, your dad will add new notes here. Tell him when a note hit home — that helps him write the next one.
Bible & My Verses
A small Bible reader and your personal saved-verse collection. Search any passage, open it in BibleGateway, or save verses from elsewhere in the app to your own collection here.
Read any passage
Type a reference like John 3:16, Romans 8, or Psalm 139:14. Choose a translation. Open in BibleGateway in a new tab.
Quick links — books of the Bible
Tap any book to jump straight to chapter 1 in your chosen translation.
My saved verses
Verses you\'ve saved from anywhere in the app (the ⭐ button on Today\'s Word and the Promises page). Tap any one to re-open in BibleGateway for full context.
Add a verse manually
Promises
Verses curated by the moment you're in. Bookmark the ones that land — read them aloud when the moment returns. Translation shown: ESV (English Standard Version). Tell me if you'd prefer NIV, KJV, NLT, or a Yoruba version and I'll swap.
For confidence — when fear shows up before a test or a speech
- "I can do all things through him who strengthens me." — Philippians 4:13
- "Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." — Joshua 1:9
- "For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." — 2 Timothy 1:7
- "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" — Psalm 27:1
- "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?" — Hebrews 13:6
For identity — when you're tempted to compare or shrink
- "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." — Ephesians 2:10
- "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." — 2 Corinthians 5:17
- "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." — 1 Peter 2:9
- "I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well." — Psalm 139:14
- "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are." — 1 John 3:1
For hope — when the future feels uncertain
- "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." — Jeremiah 29:11
- "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." — Romans 8:28
- "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." — Lamentations 3:22–23
- "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." — Romans 15:13
For peace — when anxiety presses in
- "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." — John 14:27
- "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." — Philippians 4:6–7
- "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you." — Isaiah 26:3
- "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." — Matthew 11:28
For wisdom — when a hard choice is in front of you
- "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him." — James 1:5
- "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." — Proverbs 3:5–6
- "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction." — Proverbs 1:7
For strength — when you're running on empty
- "But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." — Isaiah 40:31
- "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." — Psalm 73:26
- "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might." — Ephesians 6:10
For favor — when you need a door opened
- "For you bless the righteous, O Lord; you cover him with favor as with a shield." — Psalm 5:12
- "And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man." — Luke 2:52
- "For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly." — Psalm 84:11
For God's unfailing love — always
- "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." — Romans 8:38–39
- "The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing." — Zephaniah 3:17
- "I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you." — Jeremiah 31:3
Declarations
Speak these aloud — preferably standing, before the mirror. These aren't wishes; they are remembrances. Each one is rooted in Scripture, claiming what is already true of you in Christ.
Today's declarations
Tick the ones you've spoken aloud today. The list refreshes when you mark all of them.
A practice
Pick one declaration in the morning. Speak it aloud three times. Carry it with you through the day. When something contradicts it — a hard grade, a hard comment, a hard hour — say it out loud again. This is how the renewing of the mind happens (Romans 12:2).
All declarations in this app
Read through the full set occasionally. Add your own at the bottom — declarations that come from your own time in the Word.
My own declarations
Prayer & Meditation
Short prayers for specific moments, and a guided meditation timer for sitting with Scripture. Use these before tests, before speeches, after hard days, or any time you need to come home.
Prayer prompts
These aren't a script — they're a starting line. Pray them in your own words and then say what's actually on your heart.
Scripture meditation timer
Pick a verse (or click "Random verse" to get one). Set a duration. Click Start. Read the verse aloud. Then sit in silence with it — let the Spirit speak through it. A soft chime ends the session.
After the chime, write in your Journal what you noticed.
The Lord's Prayer (as you'd pray it)
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.
Matthew 6:9–13
Quiet Tools
When the day pulls hard. Three small practices to find your footing again — none of them require believing anything beyond "I need a minute." Most of them combine well with prayer.
Breathing
Slow, deliberate breathing brings the parasympathetic nervous system online — the same system that calms you after a fright. Two protocols below; pick one.
Pair this with Psalm 46:10 — "Be still, and know that I am God." Inhale on "Be still." Exhale on "and know that I am God."
Focus timer (Pomodoro)
25 minutes of focused work, 5-minute break, repeat. The technique most well-researched for sustaining cognitive effort. Use during homework or test prep.
Ready to focus
Stress reset (3 minutes)
A combined breathing + scripture session for when you're spiraling and need to come back. Click start; the app will lead you.
Family
Hesed.love is built family-shaped. Add a child here and they get their own coaching surface — tuned to their age, school, and the tracks you both pick. Their conversations stay private to them.
Your plan
Loading your plan…
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Add a child
Names stay private — only you and your child see them. Birth year is used to pick an age band (8–12 or 13–17) so we apply the right safety wrap to their coach.
Used to send a 6-digit sign-in code to your teen's email. We'll only activate this when parental consent ships (Phase 3). Until then, the address is stored on their profile — no email is sent.
Coming next (Session 6.5): report-card upload with Claude-vision auto-grading, kid-side Coach with parental-consent safety wrap, Family Chat, and the covenant memory layer.
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On this page
School & curriculum
Pick the right board + grade and we'll pre-load the standard subject list. You can rename or expand the list later.
Tracker
Set the school and grade above to load the subject list.
Add a subject not in the list
For an elective, an extra class, or a subject your school offers that isn't part of the board's core curriculum. Custom subjects join the Tracker right away and you can grade them like the others.
Account
Signed in
You're signed in to Hesed.love. Your coach runs on our covenant-aware proxy at api.hesed.love — your sign-in (a 30-day JWT in this browser) authenticates each request. No Anthropic key to manage; we handle that.
Signed in as your account.
Daily rhythm
When does your day open and close? The Coach uses these to time morning declarations and evening reflections. Changes save to your account.
Voice library
Clone your voice once and the app can read your declarations and daily notes in your real cadence. Your slots are derived from your plan; voices cloned during a trial stay yours afterward.
Loading your voice slots…
Parent mode
When on, the A note for you page reveals a panel for drafting your own daily notes — leave it off most of the time and flip it on when you sit down to write a few. (When Family-tier ships in Phase 2, this is where parents will author notes for their kids.)
Voice input
You'll see a small 🎤 button next to the AI Coach input, in the Journal, and on the Speech Studio draft. Click it and start talking — your words appear as text. Click it again to stop. (Voice is handled by the browser itself, runs locally, costs nothing.)
First time you use it, your operating system asks for microphone permission for your browser. Allow it. If it ever stops working, check your system's Privacy & Security → Microphone settings.
Annual review
Every September, this tool will gently nudge you to update your stage, refresh your profile, refresh your tracker, and update your goals. The tool is meant to grow with you across all three years.
Backup & restore
Your data lives in this browser only. If you clear browser data or switch devices, you lose it. Download a JSON backup whenever you want a safety copy, and restore it later (on this or another device).
Coach usage this month
No Coach calls yet this month.
Parent Mode PIN
Parent Mode is protected by a 4-digit PIN — set the first time you turn it on. The PIN is stored as a SHA-256 hash; the plain digits never live in this browser.
Privacy & data handling
One-page plain-English explanation of where your data lives and what touches the network.
Reset
Everything you write in this tool is stored in this browser only. If you want a fresh start, you can wipe it.
The why behind Hesed.love
Hesed (KHEH-sed, /ˈχɛsɛd/) is the Hebrew word for covenant love — the love that doesn't quit. Hesed.love is the coach we built so a family's covenant could go with them into the small Tuesdays — every track, every season, year after year.
The Coach is anchored in Lamentations 3:22-23 — "The hesed of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."
From our home to yours, with hesed. — Ayodeji & Olawumi Samuels
Built with hesed · Hesed.love
Privacy & data handling
Where your data lives
Everything you write in Hesed.love — your profile, journal entries, declarations, chat with the Coach — is stored in this browser's localStorage on this device. Nothing is uploaded to a database we control. Use Account → Backup & restore to download a JSON copy you can keep safe.
Your sign-in (a 30-day JWT) is the only thing tied to your account on our server, plus the metadata required to bill: timestamps, hashed user IDs, model names, token counts.
Who sees your conversations
Nobody at Hesed.love does — by architecture. When you chat, your browser sends the message to api.hesed.love/coach with your sign-in token. Our proxy forwards the message to Anthropic and pipes the response straight back to you. The only thing logged is metadata: a timestamp, a hashed user ID, the model name, and the token count. Never the message body, never the response body.
The proxy source will be published at github.com/hesed-love/hesed-api after Phase 1, so you can verify the claim yourself.
We never see your chat, your journal, your child's name, or anything else inside the app.
How to delete everything
Two ways:
- Inside the app: Account → Reset → "Wipe all my data". This clears the localStorage entry for Hesed.love and signs you out.
- From the browser: In your browser's site settings, choose "Clear site data" or "Cookies and storage" for this site. This removes everything, including any cached files.
If you cancel your subscription from Manage plan, you keep access through the end of the period you've paid for. Your account is paused for 90 days, then permanently deleted unless you re-subscribe.
In short
- Your data stays in your browser. We don't see it.
- Your Coach calls go through our proxy, which logs only metadata — never the message body.
- You can export a JSON backup any time, and you can wipe everything any time.