I like learning – especially if I can have fun doing it.

I learned to identify trees by printing out 3×5-inch labeled tree photos I took, as well as those from the internet. The photos were alphabetized and boxed. As I learned to recognize trees, their photos went into another box.

I am having fun learning about geography, flags, and country emblems with the help of the GeoQuiz app. When I incorrectly identify a country, flag or emblem, those items are presented to me again at the end of the program.

I had fun learning about the weekly Torah portions, and about the lives of the major bible commentators by writing and editing papers on the computer, adding pictures, printing them out on glossy paper, and binding them in spiral-bound books.

This week I decided I wanted to be closer to the bible commentators. I wanted to remember about their lives so I could better relate to their ideas about the proverbs I hear in my Sunday class. The idea of making index card flashcards sounded tedious. I Googled “flashcards” and discovered flashcard magic.

I reviewed several flashcard apps and, in the end, chose the most expensive one. It cost the same as a home movie rental – $3.99. The app, Flashcards Deluxe, has lots of bells and whistles. Here are some of my favorites:

I can input my flashcards’ front and back sides from my computer’s Word program or from my iPhone, use combinations of decks of cards for studying, indicate when I think I know the material and when I definitely know the material, add pictures and/or sounds to my flashcards. Best of all, I enjoy copying sections of interest from Wikipedia, then pasting them into the first and second sides of new flashcards. Afterward, it’s simply a matter of editing the text to the question-and-answer forms I desire.

I want to know who these guys are who are trying to explain what God has supposedly said. I am amazed at hearing explanations of ways to live a good life from these deep thinkers. I cannot do their genealogies on Ancestry.com. I can however, get to know them by learning with my flashcards about when, where, and how they lived, and what enduring words they have spoken. It feels like magic. Maybe it is.

Mr. Ebsen may be contacted at robertebsen@hotmail.com