IXL.com: Review

 

What do my girls work hard for each day? Computer learning time! They know they must wait for my permission, but usually at some point during the day, unless they have lost the privilege, the girls get to play learning games on the computer. I am not a fan of a full computer-based curriculum for our studies, but I do like for them to have opportunities to learn on the computer. My girls have learned far more computer skills than I would have imagined at their age! I was eight when we got our first computer, an IBM, and I was one of the first in my grade-school class to turn in a typed assignment. Now children take computers for granted as part of learning, so I am always on the lookout for high quality programs.  

IXL.com is a website dedicated to enhancing math and language arts learning for students. Their math site is for pre-K through 12th grade and language arts is for 2nd-4th grade. We were blessed to review the math portion of the site. A subscription to IXL is $9.95 for math only, $9.95 for language arts only, or $15.95 a month for both. If you purchase a yearly subscription it is $79.00 for either math or language arts, and $129.00 a year for both subjects. Each additional child is only $2 per month, or $20 per year. 

Screen time has been a hot commodity since our family acquired an iPad. Rose really loves the IXL app and I love that she is able to further master certain skills like multiplication. I love having so many options of activities for her to choose from and that I am fully aware of what they are working on. Rose's goal was to get everything under her name checked off!

Grace also thoroughly enjoyed the app! She loved being able to sign in on her own. Each of the girls had their own unique symbol and they signed in with a password they would remember. The parent must be logged in first, but then the kids are able to access it on their own. 

A feature which is really nice, especially for preschoolers, is that each question can be read aloud. It took her a little while to figure out what some of the questions were asking, but she soon mastered many of the preschool skills. She has completed the most of any of the three girls. She has really enjoyed growing in her math skills. I appreciate that even though it is fun, it is still more traditional math practice rather than games. It checks their knowledge directly rather than using flashy pictures and cartoons which in my opinion can sometimes distract from the skill. While it is very colorful, unneeded background scenery and distracting music is blissfully absent. I never once had to ask any of the girls to turn the volume down because it was distracting to the others. 

I do hope that a language arts app is in the works. I have found that learning and play is much easier for the girls, especially Grace, on the iPad. She doesn't waste time and get frustrated with the mouse. I'm so glad IXL has this app available so she can have a better experience. Click below to see what my Crewmates had to say!