The family guide

Accept a family invite

An emailed link — there is no way to reach it from inside the portal

This is the real way a family joins. Your studio creates the family and emails you a link.

1. 1Open the link from the studio’s email.
2. 2If you are not signed in, the card reads "Join the {family} family" or "Join {studio}". Fill in First name, Last name, Email (already filled in from the invite) and Password, then click "Create Account & Accept". If that email already has a Catomni account the button reads "Sign In & Accept" instead.
3. 3If you are already signed in with the right email, you get a short card and a single Accept Invite button.
4. 4Joining an existing family — as a second guardian — takes you straight to My Students.
5. 5Joining a brand-new family gives you one more card, "Add your first child", with the full add-child form. Fill it in, or click "I’ll do this later". Either way you land on My Students.

• An invite is tied to one email address. Signed in as somebody else, you get a "Wrong account" card telling you which address the invite was sent to, and a Log out button.
• An expired or already-used link shows "Invite not found" — "This invite is no longer valid — contact the studio for a new invite."

Find a studio yourself

Sidebar → Directory · /portal/directory

Use this when you do not have an invite yet. Signing in is required — it is not a public page. The heading reads "Studio Directory" if you already belong somewhere, and "Find your studio" if you do not.

1. 1Open Directory.
2. 2Search with "Search by studio, city, or discipline..." and narrow by state if you like — the filter starts on All states.
3. 3On a studio’s card, click Contact Now to open that studio’s own enquiry form, or Request to join to send them a request stamped with your account.
4. 4A sent request replaces the button with "Request sent — the studio will be in touch."

• Neither button enrols anyone. Both are ways of starting a conversation — the studio still creates your family and sends the invite.
• Already connected? The request is refused politely: "You already have an account with this studio."
• A studio that is not taking requests returns one deliberately vague line: "That studio is not accepting requests right now."
• Nothing to show yet reads "No studios here yet".

Add a child

Sidebar → My Students · /portal/children

1. 1Click Add Child. On an empty account the card reads "No children yet" with the same button.
2. 2If you guardian more than one family, the first field is "Which family is this for?" — options read as the family name with the studio in brackets. With exactly one family this field is hidden.
3. 3Optionally add a Photo with Upload Photo. The help text explains why: "PNG, JPG, or WebP up to 5 MB. Helps instructors recognize your child."
4. 4Fill in First Name and Last Name. Both are required.
5. 5Add Date of Birth if you have it — the picker will not accept a future date, and the age is calculated beneath it — and Gender.
6. 6Fill in the Emergency Contact section: Contact Name and Contact Phone.
7. 7Fill in "Medical & Allergy Information" and Allergies. These are the fields the studio relies on in a hurry, so be thorough.
8. 8Add anything else under Additional Notes.
9. 9Click Add Child.

• Adding a child emails the studio’s staff so they know to expect them.
• Adding a child does NOT enrol them in a class. The studio does that.
• Photo upload errors are specific: "Unsupported file type. Use PNG, JPG, or WebP." and "File too large. Maximum size is 5 MB."

Edit or remove a child

My Students → the ⋯ menu on a child’s card

1. 1Open the ⋯ menu on their card.
2. 2Choose Edit to open the same form under the heading "Edit Child". The submit button reads Save Changes.
3. 3Choose Remove to take them off the roster. The confirmation is "Remove {First Last}?" and explains: "This removes them from your family’s roster. Your studio can restore them later if this was a mistake."

• Removing a child emails the studio, and you cannot undo it yourself. If it was a mistake, ask them to restore.
• Cards show the child’s name and age, or "Age unknown" with no date of birth. The studio name is appended only when your families span more than one studio.

Tell the portal it is the same child at two studios

My Students → ⋯ → "Same child at another studio"

When you see thisThis menu item only appears when you have at least one child at a DIFFERENT studio. A single-studio family never sees it.

1. 1Open the ⋯ menu and choose "Same child at another studio".
2. 2Pick the matching child from the list. The list is not matched for you — it offers every one of your children at a different studio, siblings included, because the portal has no way to tell which of them is the same person. Read the names before you pick.
3. 3They now show as one child in your portal, with both studios listed underneath.
4. 4To undo it, use ⋯ → "Not the same child".

• Linking is an identity statement and nothing more. The dialog is explicit: "Each studio keeps its own records, classes and check-in card — including a separate QR code, which each studio’s scanner needs. Linking only tells us they’re the same child."
• Nothing merges — separate enrollments, separate attendance, separate milestones.

Switch which child you are looking at

The block labelled Viewing, above the nav

1. 1Click the Viewing block on desktop, or the small avatar button in the header on a phone.
2. 2The dropdown is headed "Switch child". Pick one.
3. 3A child linked across studios shows as one name with the studios indented underneath — picking the studio row is what selects the record.

• With only one child the block is not clickable at all, and no dropdown opens.
• This switcher governs Schedule (in single-child mode), Progress, Homework and Class Reports. It does nothing to Dashboard, My Students, Billing, Messages or the directories, which show everything at once.

Choose which studio the portal opens on

The block labelled Studio, above the nav

When you see thisOnly rendered when you belong to more than one studio.

1. 1Click the Studio block. The dropdown is headed "Open the portal on", with a tick against your current default.
2. 2Pick a studio. The choice is saved and the page refreshes.

• This is a landing point, not a filter. Billing still lists every studio, and Schedule in "All children" mode still spans studios.
• If the studio you saved is one you have since left, the portal quietly falls back to another one.

Check your child in

Sidebar → Dashboard · /portal/dashboard

Check-in is on the Dashboard, not on the Schedule page. Look for today’s session card.

1. 1Open Dashboard and find the session card for the class. It shows the class name, the time, the classroom and the instructor.
2. 2Click "Check In {name}" beside your child.
3. 3The button is replaced by "Checked in".

• The window opens 30 minutes before class. Too early and the button is disabled with "Check-in opens 30 minutes before class"; afterwards it reads "Check-in window closed".
• A cancelled session offers no check-in at all.
• Your studio can also check students in at the front desk — it lands in the same attendance record either way, so there is no need to do both.

See the week

Sidebar → Schedule · /portal/schedule

1. 1Open Schedule. The header shows the week range with ‹ and › arrows, plus a Today button once you have moved off this week.
2. 2With more than one child — or more than one studio — a two-button toggle appears: your selected child’s first name, and All children.
3. 3Each card shows the class name, the time range, the classroom, the instructor and the day’s note if the class has one.

• Attendance shows on each card: Enrolled for anything today or later, then Attended, Late or Missed once it has passed. A cancelled session is dimmed, struck through and badged Cancelled.
• Late means checked in more than ten minutes after the class started.
• There is no check-in button here — it is on the Dashboard.
• Only active and trial enrollments produce sessions. An empty week reads "No classes scheduled this week."
• Times are the studio’s local clock. In All children mode, days are grouped in YOUR local day, so a late class at a studio in another timezone can appear on the next day over.

Follow their progress

Sidebar → Progress · /portal/progress

• The heading carries the selected child’s name, and their current rank as a badge if the studio has set one.
• Three tiles: Classes Attended, Attendance Rate and Current Streak.
• A bar chart, "Attendance (Last 6 Months)", sits below them.
• A Homework button at the top right takes you to this week’s homework.
• Use the Viewing switcher to change which child this page is about.

Add or update your card

Sidebar → Billing · /portal/billing

1. 1Find the Payment Method card for the studio you want. It shows your card brand and last four digits and its expiry, or "No card on file".
2. 2Click Update Payment Method, or Add Card if there is nothing on file. With more than one studio the buttons name the studio — "Update card for {studio}".
3. 3Stripe’s own billing portal opens in a new tab. Make the change there.

• Each studio has its own Stripe account, so there is one portal per studio. There is no combined card and no combined invoice.
• A card change comes back through Stripe, so it shows on the NEXT load of the billing page rather than instantly. Refresh if you do not see it.
• A family that has never had a subscription cannot add a card here: you get "Could not open billing portal" — "No payment information on file yet. Make a payment first to set up billing." If the studio has not finished its own Stripe setup you get told to contact them.
• There is no plan picker anywhere in the portal. Your studio assigns the plan; you manage the card.

Find a receipt

Billing → Payment History

• Payment History is one list across every studio, newest first.
• Each row shows what it was, the date, the amount and a status: Paid, Pending, Failed, Refunded or Partial Refund.
• Where Stripe supplied them, rows carry View Invoice and Download Receipt links, which open in a new tab.
• A past-due subscription puts a "Payment past due" banner at the top of that studio’s section with an Update card button.

Pause your membership

Billing → the pause card

There are two different controls here and which one you see depends on your studio’s settings. The card heading changes too — "Going away for a while?" when you have a plan, "Taking a break?" when you do not, and "Membership paused" once one is running.

1. 1If your studio allows self-service pausing and your membership is active, you get a Pause membership button. The dialog explains: "Billing stops while paused and resumes automatically at the end of the pause. You can resume sooner any time." Choose a length from the presets and confirm.
2. 2Otherwise — or as well — use Request a pause. Set "Pause from" and "Billing resumes", and watch the live line beneath showing the length, the maximum allowed, and how many pauses you have left this year.
3. 3If you have more than one child, choose in the For field whether this is the whole family or one student.
4. 4Add a Reason if you like, then click Send request. You get "Request sent" — "{studio} will review it and let you know."

• Send request stays disabled while there is a problem with the dates. The message tells you which: a missing date, a start in the past, an end before the start, or a length over your studio’s limit.
• While a request is live you get a status box — Pause requested, Pause scheduled or Pause in progress — with the dates, the studio’s note if they left one, and a Withdraw request button until it starts.
• You may have only one open request at a time. Where you cannot make another, the button is replaced by the reason.
• A family with no paid plan can still send one. Nothing changes in billing; it just puts on record that you will be away.
• Resuming: a Resume now button appears only if the pause was set by your family. If the studio put the hold on, the card reads "Contact {studio} to resume." instead.

Cancel your membership

Billing → Cancel membership

When you see thisThe Cancel membership button appears only when your studio allows families to cancel themselves. Otherwise the card reads "Contact {studio} to cancel your membership." The whole card is hidden when you have no plan.

1. 1Click Cancel membership.
2. 2Read the confirmation: "Your membership will end at the close of the current billing period — you keep access until then and won’t be charged again. You can undo this any time before it ends."
3. 3Confirm with Cancel membership, or back out with Keep membership.

• Once scheduled, the card becomes "Membership ending" with the end date and a "Keep my membership" button. Using it confirms "Membership kept".
• A membership that has already ended cannot be restarted from the portal — you will be asked to re-subscribe through your studio.

What is where

• The desktop sidebar carries Dashboard, My Students, Schedule, Billing, Progress, Messages, Class Reports, Homework, Directory, Events and "Join a studio".
• The phone tab bar carries only the first six: Dashboard, My Students, Schedule, Billing, Progress and Messages.
• On a phone, Class Reports, Homework and Studio Directory live in the account menu — the round avatar button in the header. Sign out is there too, at both sizes.
• The account menu only offers those three while one of your children is currently enrolled or on a trial. Waitlisted, completed and withdrawn do not count.
• Nav labels and page headings differ in a few places: "My Students" is at /portal/children, "Directory" is called "Studio Directory" in the account menu, and "Events" opens the Events Directory.
• If you belong to no studio at all, the portal is just two items — Directory and Events. That is a normal state, not an error.