Why I Built a Spelling App for My Homeschool Daughter

I'm a software engineer. I left a career in Silicon Valley to homeschool my daughter, and I have zero regrets about that. But I also came in with a lot of assumptions about how organized and systematic I'd be.

I was not as organized and systematic as I thought.

The Curriculum Problem

We tried structured spelling programs. The instruction itself was good. Solid phonics foundations, logical word sequencing. My daughter learned the rules.

But every week I was supposed to grade her tests, track which words she missed, decide which ones to bring back, and figure out when she'd practiced a word enough times to call it done. And then do it again next week. And the week after.

The tracking was the part that broke me. I'd fall behind, lose the thread, and suddenly we hadn't done spelling in three weeks because I couldn't face the backlog.

That was a systems failure dressed up as a parenting one. The curriculum handed me a job it never offered to help with.

What I Actually Wanted

I wanted to sit across from my daughter and read words to her. I wanted to watch her think, catch her little face when she figured one out, and celebrate when something clicked. I wanted to be present, not buried in a gradebook.

I wanted someone else, or something else, to handle the rest.

So I Built It

I'm an engineer. When something doesn't exist, that's just a problem waiting to be solved.

I built Spellexi for us first. My daughter actually helped. She had opinions about the logo, about what felt encouraging vs. stressful, about what made practice feel like a big deal in a good way. That shaped the product more than any research paper did.

The core idea was simple: take a photo of her writing, let the app figure out what happened, and tell me what to practice next. Keep her off screens. Keep me out of the spreadsheet. Keep us both in the room together.

What I Learned Building It

When I started mapping out how spelling actually works (the research on spaced repetition, mastery-based learning, how kids with dyslexia process spelling differently), it became clear that the gap in the market wasn't a better curriculum.

It was the practice layer. The thing that happens between instruction and genuine retention. The part every program assumes you'll handle yourself.

Nobody was building that. So that's what Spellexi is.

Who This Is For

If you've tried two or three spelling programs and your kid still struggles, I'd gently suggest the programs might not be the problem. The practice infrastructure probably is.

If you're a parent who wants to be present and connected during learning time, not administrative, this was built for you.

If your child has dyslexia, dysgraphia, or just needs more repetitions than a typical learner, Spellexi tracks that without judgment and without extra work on your end.

I'm still my daughter's primary user. She still has opinions. I still listen to them.

That's not going to change.

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Want to be part of what we're building? Try the Spellexi homeschool spelling app or reach out directly. I'm still personally responding to every message.