I am forever on the prowl for extra help when it comes to school for the kids. This time not only have I found a program that is just that added help the kids need, but they absolutely love it too! A wonderful Win-Win!
IXL offers up two programs in one for our review this time, IXL Math and IXL Language Arts. The Math starts at Pre-K and goes through grade 12 and the Language Arts starts are 2nd grade and goes through grade 8. Another added bonus, “there’s an app for that”.
For the Apps, it is available as follows:
- iPad (iOS 7.0 or later)
- Math for K-12 and Language Arts 2-8
- Andriod Market (Google Play 7″ or larger & 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich or higher)
- Math for K-6
- Kindle Fire (3rd Generation Fire and above)
- Math K-6
- Chrome Web Store
For the Parents, the admin section has a ton of reports and information available
Reports Home
- Status Update
- overview
- proficiency assessment
- news flash
- report card
- Usage
- problems
- skills practiced
- usage log
- Performance
- by category
- by skill
- Trouble Spots
- Progress
- State Standards
I set up accounts for all three of my kiddos. Here is a little about how the program worked for each and what they worked on.
I will start with Joseph. He is 6 years old (almost 7) and there are many days that school is still in the basics for us. But once I got his account setup in IXL he has become a little math master! First and foremost, there is this AH-mazing portion of the program that will read the problems out loud for the student. The questions as well as each answer (if it is worded). Brilliant!! (This feature goes through 5th Grade, if it is needed.)
He has zipped his way through the Pre-K sections of the program in a very short amount of time. I had him start in the Pre-K portion so that he could get a good feel for the how the program worked without too much added pressure to get everything correct right out the door. He can get to the site, a sibling or I can login for him, he selects his account icon, he gets to work. He can work independently for a while. Which frees up some time for me to help a sibling with some other school work.
I am pleased as punch to say that Joseph has completed a large portion of the Pre-K, some Kindergarten, and he has even completed a few sections in First Grade and a few problems in Second Grade! YAY!
Joseph has used the IXL iPad App the most around here. It is so super easy for him to use! It is set up slightly different from the computer model, but it is still incredibly easy and fun for him to use.
Also, according to the IXL site, the program will work on any tablet’s browser, the only portion that will not work is the reports portion.
Next kiddo, is Ana. She is 10 years old and seriously, she has rocked IXL! I get emails from the company almost daily in regards to her progress. (Which is a really nice perk that the program offers. They send out “certificates of accomplishment” for each student enrolled as well as a weekly update on all students enrolled.)
There have been countless mornings that I come out of the bedroom and she will already be working on IXL. She absolutely thinks that this program is more fun than it is schoolwork!
Since this is more practice than new curriculum learning, I have given her free reign over what portions of the program she works on. So far she has worked more diligently in the First grade math but she has tested PreK to 2nd Grade. And when I say diligently, she has completed well over 2400 questions and mastered over 79 skills in the short span of time we have been reviewing! Amazing!
Since Ana is older, I also have her practicing her Language Arts in the program. She is working on sentence structure, verb tenses, and the basics that consist of noun, verb, pronoun, etc… and punctuation. She has been able to rack up some awards in LA as well as Math; she couldn’t be more pleased with herself.
The awards section is an exciting part of the program for both Joseph and Ana. Since they are still young, the instant rewards are so helpful to keep them going. They both have collected quite a few awards due to how much they use IXL.
Last kiddo to use the program is Isaiah. He is 13 years old and has so much on his plate that I really had to push him to review the program for me. That being said, he used both the Math portion and the Language Arts portion. Since he is a bit older (teenager motivation is different) the awards didn’t excite him as much but he did appreciate the fact of immediately seeing his progress.
Isaiah popped into the 8th Grade Math and did some problems as well as checked into the Language Arts for me. He spent most of his time in the LA section brushing up on his basics as well as checking into things like redundancies and figurative language.
Again, IXL is more of a practice resource than it is to be used for the structured learning from your base curriculum. It is a very nice add-on that is fun, easy to use, and has wonderful parent (teacher) record keeping.
A note, this program is setup to follow the Common Core standards for each state. I personally am not overly enthused about that, but it did not seem to matter to the kids as much as it mattered to me. So, if following the CC standards is something you are looking for, IXL does just that.
The cost for family usage, which is what we reviewed, is $9.95 a month for one student/one class or $79.00 a year for one student/one class. Here is the breakdown for my family (and yours if you have more than one kiddo).
Cost Breakdown for My Family:
If we choose to do monthly payments my monthly cost would be $9.95 for one student + $2.00 for second student + $2.00 for third student for a monthly total of $13.95. FOR JUST ONE CLASS.
- For me to choose just Math, $13.95 a month for all three kids.
- For me to choose just Language Arts, $13.95 a month for all three kids.
- For me to choose BOTH Math and Language Arts, $19.95 a month for all three kids.
Or, if we choose to do yearly payments my yearly payment would be $79.00 for one student + $20.00 for second student + $20.00 for third student for a yearly total of $119.00. FOR JUST ONE CLASS.
- For me to choose just Math, $119.00 a year for all three kids.
- For me to choose just Language Arts, $119.00 a year for all three kids.
- For me to choose BOTH Math and Language Arts, $169.00 a year for all three kids.
As we have used and are currently using other online programs for Math and Language Arts, I do have to say that Joseph and Ana like IXL better than any other resource we have gotten involved with.
There have countless times that I have actually had to tell my kids that they have had more than enough computer time for school and had to make them head outside! YES! The program is that much fun for my kids…seriously incredible!
There were a lot of homeschool mamas like me that had their kiddos review this program too, so go see what they had to say and check out how IXL worked for them!
If you would like to follow IXL on Social Media, follow these links:
https://www.facebook.com/IXL
https://twitter.com/IXLLearning
https://plus.google.com/+IXL
I hope you enjoyed the latest review and come back soon to see what else we can get ourselves into! See you next time!
In His Grace.
Callie
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