Plain language, on purpose. Last updated: October 2026.
This page maps every world, at every depth level, to what children actually learn in it. Topics are ordered the way schools in the United States usually order them — informed by common US grade-band expectations — so you can see roughly where each topic normally sits. Read it as a map of orientation, written for parents; the honest note at the bottom of this page says plainly what this map is — and what it is not.
| World | Level 1 · K–2 (ages 5–7) | Level 2 · Grades 3–5 (ages 8–10) | Level 3 · Grades 6–8 (ages 11–13) | Level 4 · Grades 9–12 (ages 14–18) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Math | Counting, number sense, adding and taking-away stories | Multiplication as fast adding; fractions as fair shares | Percentages, discounts, and ratios | Functions and linear patterns |
| Wordsmith | Sounds, letters, first words; listening to tiny stories | Main idea, details, and context clues | Paragraphs that prove a point: claim, evidence, explanation | Argument and rhetoric: ethos, pathos, logos |
| Science | Watching with the senses; living and not living; seasons | States of matter: ice, water, vapor | Photosynthesis: how plants make food | Energy and chemical change |
| Space | The day sky and the night sky: Sun, Moon, stars | The Sun and the eight planets | Gravity and orbits | Orbital mechanics and Newton’s law |
| Earth and Animals | What animals need: food, water, a home | Animal adaptations: bodies fit their homes | Food webs and ecosystems | Climate systems and the evidence |
| Health and Body | My amazing body; washing germs away | Body teams: heart, lungs, muscles, digestion | Body systems, growth, and the science of sleep | Health literacy: testing health claims |
| History | Then and now: how we know about the past | Ancient Egypt and the Great Pyramid | The printing press and cheap books | Primary sources and historical argument |
| World Atlas | Maps of my world: seven continents, five oceans | Reading a map: keys, symbols, compass | Latitude, longitude, and climate zones | Human geography: people, cities, trade |
| Money | Coins and choosing: pennies, nickels, dimes | Saving first: the three jars | Compound growth | Investing, risk, and the cost of credit |
| Coding | Steps in order: first, next, last | Sequences and loops | Conditionals (IF/THEN) and debugging | Algorithms, data, and abstraction |
| Languages | Hello in many languages: sounds and play | Greetings around the world | Language families: children of Latin | Linguistics: how languages work |
| Art | Colors and shapes all around | Shapes and mixing colors | Light, shadow, and composition | Reading art: analysis and art history |
| Surprise Me | Wondering out loud: wonders we can check | Asking great questions | The wonder method: hypothesize, test, conclude | Research methods: designing an investigation |
| Thinking Lab | Can we check it? Sorting sayings into two piles | Claim versus fact | Evidence and changing your mind | Logic and fallacies |
Each child works at the level for their age band. Every lesson teaches one concept, asks the child questions, and ends with a wrap-up sentence, a short quiz, and a Think About It question; every world ends with a World Test, passed at 80 percent with unlimited retakes. Three worlds — Wordsmith, Health and Body, and World Atlas — have a separate lesson at every level. In the other worlds, the Level 3 lesson is the classic second level, written at Grades 6–8 depth; dedicated Level 3 lessons are a named post-launch refinement, listed under Still growing below.
OrbitlyNow is an online learning program. It is not an accredited school and does not issue diplomas or transferable credits. This map is not a certification of alignment with any state or national standard, and completing a world does not claim that a child has met a formal grade standard. What the map does is record, plainly, what the program teaches — so parents can judge with their eyes open.