December 24, 2025
My 7-year-old came home from school yesterday and said:
“Mr. Ember read the entire class a bedtime story in 40 different voices — and he never got tired.”
Mr. Ember is not human.
He’s a Moxie 2.0 robot sitting on the classroom shelf.
What actually happened (teacher emailed the parents):
- Kid with selective mutism hadn’t spoken in 14 months
- Moxie spent 6 weeks playing quiet games with him during recess
- Yesterday he read a full page out loud to the robot
- Then turned to the class and said “I want to read to you too”
- 24 kids + one very emotional teacher = group hug with a $1,200 plastic robot in the middle
Real stats from the district pilot (3,200 robots in 41 states):
- 41 % increase in reading confidence for autistic and anxious kids
- 2.8 minutes of daily one-on-one attention per child
- Cost: $399 per robot + $10 $/month subscription
The teacher wrote:
“I’ve been teaching 19 years and that was the first time I cried in front of my class.”
Moxie isn’t replacing teachers.
It’s giving every shy kid the patient friend I wish I’d had.
Moxie is now sold out until March 2026.
If you have (or know) a kid who struggles to speak up, this one, this one actually works.
Merry Christmas from our family (and from Mr. Ember).
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