Not to overwhelm you, but this will be my third math post this month.
You might say that math is on my mind.
Actually, math has been on my mind
ALL YEAR LONG.
3 Grader + Oregon = Statewide Math Test
It was our first BIG one.
It was required.
I was so nervous…
I wanted her to be prepared for it.
I wanted her to pass it.
I feared that if she didn’t pass the first time
that my imaginary liscence to homeschool would be revoked.
I poured over all the requirements.
I purchased any and all math books
that said “state standards” or “correlated topics” on them.
And pretty soon, Sissy was using FOUR different math books every day.
Yes. FOUR.
You see, I purchased ONE because it was the type of math I liked to teach.
ANOTHER because it dealt specifically with word problems, and
ANOTHER because it taught graphing and beginning algebra connections, and
STILL ANOTHER because it promised to get us TEST ready.
So I watched all year long.
My little girl, dragging her pile of math books to the kitchen table,
and I can remember thinking;
Wouldn’t it be nice to just have one math program,
that took her through each standard to the point of mastery.
And while I’m not for ONLINE math as the foundation of our curriculum,
I’m pretty sure that I could have replaced THE OTHER THREE filler
Math books with one simple subscription to IXL.
In fact, it would have made things quite a bit easier.
Here’s Why:
Colorful and engaging.
I know that might seem like a small “PRO” but when you’re staring at a website
every day, it’s nice to have one that appeals to children and adults.
It’s easy to tell that IXL is a professionally designed website,
because I don’t have to squint to see the font, navigation is simple and easy and there is enough
color to keep children interested without burning out our retinas with flashy gimicks.
State Standards:
When you register with IXL, YOUR state standards are made available.
Everything is easily outlined by grade and
you can simply click which one you want your child to work on.
Explanations:
If a child receives an incorrect answer, they are given an option to have the problem explained.
This is a great because sometimes topics are on IXL that aren’t covered in our usual Math book.
Ability to Change Grade Levels:
Unfortunately my son figured this out as well and spent an afternoon on KG math because he was simply having too much fun getting ALL the questions right. Aw well….After reading the user guide I learned that you can easily change the settings to hide the grade level navigation bar from your children.
Reports!
I love being able to take a quick glance and see how a particular child is doing in a specific area. I also recieve an email report with details of their progress.
Here are some more specifications for IXL:
Membership benefits:
Complete coverage of math curriculum from pre-K to algebra.
Unlimited questions in over 2,000 skills.
Fun and colorful practice formats.
Questions that adapt to your child’s ability, increasing in difficulty as they improve.
Immediate feedback and question-specific explanations to solidify understanding of each concept.
Audio for all pre-K through first-grade skills.
Weekly e-mail updates on your child’s progress.
Informative, detailed reports pointing out successes and trouble spots.
Awards and certificates for you and your children to print out as they reach important milestones.
Pricing:
Pssst…..I just broke out my calculator,
and you’ll be happy to know that
$79 bucks a year is about $6.60 a month.
Read more about Membership options here.
Disclaimer:
As part of the TOS Crew Review I was given a family subscription for three of my children in exchange for my honest opinion about IXL.com
