I hate to break it to you but.....Kanji is required to know/use or the Japanese sentences would be monstrously long! Some words are only written in Hiragana but some words that sound the same need to be differentiated with Kanji, as well. Keep in mind, however, if you were able to learn the Hiragana syllabary, Kanji is not THAT hard (and you're on iTalki for help!) がんばってねください!