IXL.com Math and English Practice: A Schoolhouse Review
We’re in the midst of reviewing IXL.com for the Schoolhouse Review Crew. Normally by now I say we just finished a review but with IXL.com I say in the midst because this has become a staple in our homeschool curriculum.
We’re still getting to know it and use it but read on to find out about this great product for homeschoolers.
What Is It?
IXL.com is an online practice portal for math and recently english studies for grades Kindergarten through 12th grade.
You know the saying “Practice makes perfect.” or “Practice makes progress”? Well IXL has put this idea into a product and offers a membership site with hundreds of practice skills in both Language Arts and Math.
The cost for one student for IXL is $9.95 a month or $79 for a year of access for one subject or $129 a year for access to both Math and Language Arts.
For more children add $2 a month or ad $20 to the $79 price.
Since we only used the Math side of IXL.com I’ll talk about that portion.
How Does It Work?
For each grade several math skills are covered. For kindergarten there are 127 math skills covered and for 3rd Grade which we used there are 230 math skills covered. Grade 9-12 are not listed by the actual grade and instead there are Geometry Skills, Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 skills.
In each grade the skills are broken down by topic. And under each topic there are skills listed in order of difficulty. If you hover over a skill it will give you an example of the questions to be asked.
When your child starts to work on a skill a time lapse timer starts and the program keeps track how many questions were tried and how many were right or wrong. If your child gets the answer wrong then a small refresher pops up on the screen.And after reading and clicking the “Got It!” button your child can then move on to the next question.
Parents can log in and see their child’s progress, where they might have had some problems, how many problems they tried, a graph of what particular skills were worked on, how much time was spent, and any medals they have earned. Oh yes they earn medals when they master a skill or get them all right. You can also see how your child is doing in relation to your state standards.
How We Used It
We are using IXL.com in conjunction with our current math curriculum. On days when we have a lot of writing in other subjects we forgo the math work texts and get our practice with IXL.com. Since IXL.com has a timer going and hands out ribbons this makes things a challenge and more fun for our daughter.
IXL.com also has an iPad app. It’s free to download but you will need an IXL.com membership to use it. I do wish they had a kindle one. We’ve attempted to use IXL in our browser on the kindle but the screen is too small to use it effectively so it makes it difficult to use like that.
Another thing that would be nice is a little online scratch pad for math that might take a little bit more thought. Word problems take much thought and writing down for our little third grader. Sure she can write it down on a piece of paper but working it out online within the program was something she thought would be nice and I agree.
We subscribed to IXL last year. My son had to work hard to earn its prizes. He didn’t like IXL’s punishment system. In just one month, he refused to use it. I searched many reviews online and finally chose Beestar for him. Beestar is another home learning site offering many core subject programs. Now he’s been using Beestar for nearly a year. I would say it’s worth recommending.
Beestar is easy to use. Its math program is always free. It sends very high-quality practice every week. Many of the questions are based on real life to help children better understand abstract math knowledge. The reward system of Beestar is motivational. My son likes to win its weekly ribbons.
His teacher told me he becomes much more confident in math than last year. I feel happy for him.
I agree with Melody! IXL was a bit harsh in terms of how they graded everything and the kids were really struggling in finding motivation to do the work. IXL can be useful and I really wished that it had helped the kids more than it had! We switched to Beestar and it was a lot more suitable for the kids. They really enjoyed it and they’ve built up a lot more confidence in themselves compared to before!
Thank you for sharing Melody. It’s important to find the right product for your child. You can find Beestar at https://www.beestar.org My daughter also enjoys Khan Academy for online help. https://www.khanacademy.org
Thanks for sharing!