Looking for an App to Help My Child Understand Their Lessons

When your child looks at you with worry in their eyes

It usually happens at the kitchen table, around 6 p.m. Homework is spread out, pencils scattered, and your child is staring at their notebook as if it’s written in another language. You try to explain—again—but they shake their head. “I don’t get it.” You sigh, not because you're frustrated with them, but because you just don't know how to help anymore. You're not a teacher. You're tired, they're tired, and both of you are beginning to dread evenings that should be calm and connected.

Many parents find themselves right here: watching their confident, curious 8-year-old slowly start to believe they’re “just not good at school.” They might struggle with focus, have a hard time retaining information, or get overwhelmed easily. The truth is, it’s rarely about intelligence—and much more about how the information is presented to them.

Children learn differently—and we need tools that adapt to them

Some kids learn best through writing and repetition. Others, through diagrams or movement. But a huge number of kids between 6 and 12 understand their schoolwork best when they hear it. If reading a textbook or a lesson handout feels dry and forgettable, listening to that same content—especially in a fun format—can make it click.

This became obvious to me when I met Julia, a mom of three. Her middle child, Mathieu, was struggling with science and history. He couldn't sit still long enough to read a full page, and even when she read it to him, he would forget it the next day. One day in the car, desperate to help, she turned her phone’s voice recorder on and read Mathieu’s lesson into it. Later, they listened to it while driving to soccer practice. To her surprise, Mathieu started chiming in, even anticipating what came next. That’s when she realized something: he wasn’t a poor learner. He was an auditory learner.

Turning lessons into moments your child won’t forget

Understanding how your child learns is key. If your child struggles to retain what they read, consider weaving learning into their daily routine in a less formal way. One method that brings joy back into the process is storytelling. Kids remember stories. They connect with them, replay them in their minds, and internalize complex ideas when they’re wrapped in narrative.

That’s why one parent I spoke to started trying something different: she took her daughter’s lessons and turned them into small “audio adventures” during their bedtime routine. In these stories, her daughter was the hero—discovering ancient civilizations or solving mysteries using math formulas. She wasn’t just learning; she was living the lesson.

There are now tools that can help parents do just that. Some apps allow you to take your child’s school material and transform it not just into audio, but into personalized stories featuring your child’s own name—placing them at the center of the lesson. One such app, Skuli, does this beautifully. By turning a scanned lesson into a creative audio adventure, it captures a child's attention in a way that flat reading never could.

From overwhelmed to engaged: how one small shift changes everything

It’s not just about entertainment. This kind of intentional personalization can make a big difference in how well kids retain concepts. When children feel like the subject matter speaks directly to them, they tune in. They participate more actively in review, and they start to see learning as an experience—and not as a hurdle.

We’ve written more about why learning through play can help children take ownership of homework, and how you can leverage this approach even with children who say they “hate school.”

And if your child is one who struggles with attention, you might find this article on helping a 10-year-old focus on lessons eye-opening, especially if you’ve been trying to fight distraction with harder discipline—when what’s really needed is smarter engagement.

Practical ways to start today

You don’t need a full educational plan to turn things around. You just need consistency in small, thoughtful ways. Here are a few ideas to begin:

• Pick one subject your child struggles with, and transform tonight’s review into a story or audio. Ask your child to help you shape it.
• Record yourself reading parts of the lesson and play it during a car ride, or while brushing teeth. See if their recall improves.
• Use review tools that allow for brief quizzes based on the lessons, such as converting a picture of their homework into personalized questions. It’s bite-sized but effective.

And if you're wondering which review method works best for your child's age, we have a full guide on different methods by age group here.

Lastly, if your child reads something and promptly forgets it, know that you’re not alone—and that it's deeply common. But the solution isn’t to double the reading time. Instead, try these strategies to help them understand and remember better.

You're not failing your child—you’re growing alongside them

If you've been searching for an app because your child is struggling, it's not because you’re lazy or out of ideas. It’s because you care, enough to try something new. That makes you exactly the kind of parent your child needs. The journey to better understanding doesn’t happen overnight, but with the right tools—and some storytelling magic—it can start with tonight’s homework.