I didn't set out to build an app. I set out to survive homeschooling my son.
When we pulled Lincoln out of traditional school, the thing we weren't prepared for was how much the lack of structure would affect him. He has ADHD and autism so without a predictable routine, the anxiety and chaos was rough for all of us. We kept looking for something that would make the day feel manageable for a kid like him. I wanted something visual that made routine feel less like a chore and more like a game.
We couldn't find it. So I built it.
The first version was called Lincoln Ops, named after him and built entirely for him. It was definitely not perfect, but it was cool. He started moving through transitions easier. He got excited to earn XP for things he used to fight us on. He started looking forward to completing tasks and transitioning to his next schedule block.
That was the moment I knew I was on to something. Slowly but surely I would think of a new feature/improvement and find out how to make that happen.
I'm Alaina, a full-time business student, small business owner, and mom stumbling through life in the rural midwest with my wife and our son. I'm not a developer by trade. I've never built an app. I'm not a child psychologist. I'm a tired mom who figured something out and wanted other families to have access to it too.
Stackd is still built around Lincoln. I think of him for every feature and design decision. I run it through the question: would this actually work for a real kid on a hard day? If the answer is no, it doesn't make the cut.
If your kid thinks differently, I hope Stackd helps. That's really the whole point.
Stackd comes in two apps. Stackd Day for daily routines and Stackd School for homeschool sessions. Lincoln uses both.