What is IXL you ask? It's a Math and English supplemental program that allows your students to practice in a way that absolutely feels like fun.
What you'll find after log-in is a tabbed index, by grade. Click on the tab (grade) that you want to work with. This will take you to a coded main page, with sub-headings. For example, under 5th grade you will find Place Values and Number Sense, Geometry, Decimals, Addition and Subtraction, Multiplication, along with 18 other topics. The lists are huge and include over 2500 math and language arts skills from pre-k through Algebra.
Under each topic you'll find practice. Lots of practice. But don't think drill and kill. The screens are vibrant and colorful, the pace expectant but not pushy. The practice is timed, shows problems attempted, time elapsed and a score for the skill set practiced. This is a program that shows immediate feed-back. In addition, a weekly summary email will be sent, along with detailed reports and feed-back.
Along the way your kids can win "awards." Awards are given for time spent on the program and correct answers. Talk about a motivator!
Flower (5/6th grade) and Cub (8th) grade used this program. Both of them thought IXL.com was fun and easy to work with. Honestly, I've had my fair share of tech problems this year and was thrilled to encounter a program that WAS easy and straightforward. You sign-in, go to the area you want to work on and click away. Cub, my math-resistant child, was always up for IXL practice. While he doesn't often like timed math anything the timer kept track of HIS time, rather than pushing him so that he felt flustered. Cub is good at math but deliberate (think slow) and much more of a linguistic/visual than symbolic learner. The cool thing about this program is that it takes a symbolic subject and puts it into a visual setting so that it appeals to the visual student whether they think they are good at math or not. You kid is gaining mastery and confidence at the same time. Love that!
This is an excellent, supplemental, standards based math program that will solidify whatever math concepts your kids need to work on while promoting the idea that math is accessible and enjoyable.
While we had access to the Language Arts portion of IXL we did not review it because both of my kids were beyond what is currently offered in the Language Arts section. IXL will keep adding grades to this portion of their program, it's just as cool as the math, so be sure to check it out.
The cost of IXL is $9.95/month or $79/year. Each additional child is $2 more per month or $20 more per year. For more information or to sign up click here.
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