Debbie Chikousky is an agricultural columnist that has combined her love of farming with her love of homeschooling.  Her writing allows her to be a stay at home farm mom with four children ages 20,19,17 and 15.  Although the two oldest went through public school, homeschooling has always been her preferred method of education.  Combining homeschooling with a busy day of farm chores and teenage life can be a challenge but it is always fun.   She utilizes free tools as much as possible in her endeavors to keep learning connected to life.

Link to Product/Website: http://www.studystack.com

Description of Product: “StudyStack.com strives to help people learn what they want to learn. The StudyStack concept was designed to help people memorize information about various subjects. Using the StudyStack web site, you use your computer to display a stack of “virtual cards” which contain information about a certain subject. Just like flashcards, you can review the information at your own pace discarding the cards you’ve learned and keeping the ones you still need to review. However, unlike traditional flash cards, each card can show multiple pieces of information; and the whole stack can be automatically sorted by any one of the pieces of information. Also, when you enter the data for a studystack, the same data can automatically be displayed as flashcards, a matching game, a word search puzzle, and a hangman game. You can also export the data to your cellphone or PDA so you can review it when you are away from the computer.”

Debbie’s Description of Product: Finding new and exciting ways to learn vocabulary lists is always a pleasant experience.  The unique gaming aspects of Study Stack are what peaked my interest in this site.  There aren’t very many children that don’t like playing games, even old fashioned crosswords, that involve computers.  There are many study options.  The student/teacher can play with vocabulary online with flashcards, hangman, crossword puzzles, matching, search or word scramble games.  It is also possible to export your flash cards to a cell phone, PDA or iPod if desired.

For those families that are interested in adding some social aspects to their learning there is also a share option.  If you float your cursor over the share button on the top right hand corner of your flashcard page, a list of services that you can share your database with will appear.  There is also an option of adding your own button.  If a member only wants to share with the Study Stack community this is also an option with the wall that can be located on the bottom of the homepage.

Homeschool Uses: This site can be used to teach vocabulary in most topics and grade levels.  You can use supplied lists or make your own.  The program can generate ten different games using the words that you choose.  This option makes Study Stack a huge time saving device for the homeschool teacher!  Siblings could also challenge each other to a game and learn from each other while having fun.  Some of the best learning experiences our family has had was when the children didn’t realize I was trying to teach them something!

Study Stack Categories

Debbie’s Experience Using the Product: Once our account was established, I clicked on the My Study Stacks button and followed the directions on the Help screen to make my first batch of flashcards.  Once you save your information, your data will be saved to the Study Stack server and you’re ready to play.  There are ten different games aside from the regular flashcards.  The children and I experimented with all of them and depending on what subject we used, some games were easier than others.  The information-packed help screens are especially helpful.

We also experimented with a previously generated list on Cosmetology and found this option user friendly.  (Note from Editor Jennifer K Gray:  As I was editing Debbie’s review, I was confused by the term “Cosmetology”.  Word lists for hair and make-up items?  Definitely not!  See if you know these Cosmetology terms and definitions.)

The pre-generated lists will be a time saving device for me as we study different topics.  Instead of taking the time to type all my data in or import it from Excel, I can use other members lists.  Most of the study tools do not require good typing skills.  This is important in our house because most of my children use the hunt and peck method of typing.  This also makes the site usable for younger children that need to use the mouse more than typing.

Summary: When we embarked on our homeschooling adventure I vowed that I would try to make learning fun.  I use other vocabulary sites such as Quizlet to help achieve this goal and I will be happy to add Study Stack to my homeschooling arsenal this year.