My daughter Yuki is twelve and in her second year of learning English at school in Osaka. For the first year, English was her least favorite subject. She found vocabulary homework boring and would memorize words just long enough to pass the weekly test, only to forget them immediately. I could see her confidence dropping every time she struggled to recall a word she had "already studied."
As a parent, I wanted to help but I am not fluent in English myself. I tried buying workbooks and even hired a tutor for a while, but Yuki resisted anything that felt like more homework. She needed something that did not feel like a chore.
Discovering LexiMory Together
I found LexiMory while searching for vocabulary apps in the App Store. What convinced me to try it was that it was completely free — no surprise subscriptions — and the screenshots showed images and audio for each word. I thought the visual approach might appeal to Yuki since she loves drawing and is very visual.
The first thing she did was create a category called "Animals" and start adding every animal word she could think of. Then came "Food," then "Colors," then "Cool Words" — her own custom category for words she just found interesting, like "galaxy" and "avalanche." She was organizing her own learning without anyone asking her to.
Streaks Changed Everything
The moment Yuki discovered the streak tracker, everything shifted. She started opening the app every single day, determined not to break her streak. "Mom, I'm at fourteen days!" became a regular announcement at dinner. The competitive element — competing with herself — turned vocabulary practice into something she was genuinely proud of.
Her school test scores improved noticeably within a couple of months. But more importantly, her attitude changed. She now points out English words on signs and packaging when we are out shopping. She asks me what words mean. English went from her worst subject to something she is curious about.
If your child finds English vocabulary boring or frustrating, I would strongly suggest trying LexiMory. It does not feel like studying, and that is exactly why it works. Yuki has kept over 200 words in her vocabulary now, and she added every single one herself because she wanted to — not because she was told to.