The single biggest difference from every other flashcard app is that your child never writes the cards. The tutor does, at the end of the lesson, from the conversation they just had. Everything else — the schedule, the three buttons, the ending — follows from that one decision.
At a glance
| How it works here | |
|---|---|
| Who writes the cards | The tutor, from the lesson just taught |
| When they appear | At the end of a session, offered — never forced |
| What a card holds | One fact. Multi-fact cards are rejected before they are made |
| How the schedule works | SM-2 spaced repetition: 1 → 6 → 15 → 38 → 90 days |
| Longest gap | 90 days, so every live card is seen at least once a term |
| Daily limit | 20 cards, always finishable |
| When your child gets one wrong | Back to the start, seen again in the same session, then tomorrow |
| When a card is genuinely learned | It can be locked in and leave the queue for good |
| Can a card be deleted? | Never. Nothing is destroyed |
Why the tutor writes them
Ask an adult why their flashcard app went unused and the answer is almost always the same: making the cards was the work. Anki, Mochi and RemNote are all superb at scheduling cards and completely silent on where the cards come from. For a motivated medical student that is fine. For a Year 8 student on a Tuesday evening it is the end of the road.
So the card-making sits with the tutor. When a session covers, say, simplifying fractions, the tutor offers to turn what was just discussed into a handful of cards. Your child taps once. The cards carry the lesson's phrasing, not a textbook's, because the dialogue that produced them is the source.
That also means the cards inherit something a typed deck cannot: the tutor knows which part your child hesitated on, and writes the card about that.
One card, one fact
A card that asks two things at once cannot be graded honestly — your child half-knows it, and there is no button for half. So a card holds exactly one fact, and cards that try to hold more are rejected at the moment they are made.
This is not our invention. It is the oldest rule in the field, set out in SuperMemo's twenty rules of formulating knowledge, and it is the difference between a deck that works and a deck that feels like a chore. We wrote more about it in why a flashcard should hold one fact.
The schedule, in actual numbers
Most apps describe spaced repetition vaguely. Here is ours exactly, for a card your child keeps getting right:
| Review | Next gap | Days since the first review |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1 day | day 1 |
| 2nd | 6 days | day 7 |
| 3rd | 15 days | day 22 |
| 4th | 38 days | day 60 |
| 5th | 90 days | day 150 |
| after that | 90 days | once a term |
The gaps widen because that is what memory research says works — see the spacing effect. The 90-day ceiling is ours, and it is deliberate: a KS3 child is assessed each term, so a card whose next appearance is four years away is not serving them, however good that gap is for pure retention.
Three buttons, and nothing else
After your child sees the answer they choose one of three: Tricky, Got it, Too easy. That is the whole instrument, and we are strict about it — no fourth button, no "skip", no "delete this". The reason is covered in what the three buttons actually do, but the short version is that the review is asking one question — how did that go? — and anything else asked at that moment is a different question wearing the same clothes.
If your child mis-taps, the card can be un-graded straight away. That matters more than it sounds, because grading also works by swiping.
Cards have an ending
This is the part no other flashcard app really has. In Anki, a card you know cold never finishes — the gap simply stretches, and Anki's default maximum is one hundred years. The card recedes rather than ends.
For an adult revising for decades that is correct. For a child, a pile of cards that can only grow is a debt. So a card here can reach one of two endings:
- Locked in — your child has genuinely learned it. It leaves the review queue, keeps its star, and still counts as theirs.
- Put away — it is not useful any more. It leaves quietly and can be brought back at any time.
The two are deliberately different, because learning something and giving up on something must never feel the same. More in mastered vs put away.
What you as a parent will see
Very little day to day, on purpose. The dashboard shows how many cards exist and when they were last reviewed. You will not get a stream of scores, because a review is practice, not a test — and turning it into a reported metric is the fastest way to make a child stop being honest with the Tricky button.
FAQ
Who writes my child's flashcards?
The tutor does, at the end of a lesson, from the conversation they just had. Your child never faces a blank card to fill in — which is the point at which most flashcard apps lose a twelve-year-old.
How often does a card come back?
1 day after the first review, then 6 days, 15, 38, and then every 90 days. Getting one wrong sends it back to the start of that ladder, and it returns tomorrow.
Can a card ever be finished?
Yes. A card your child has genuinely learned can be locked in — it leaves the review queue for good but keeps its star. Most flashcard apps have no concept of a finished card.