I Know It: A TOS Crew Review

I'm always on the lookout for supplemental materials, especially for math. My daughters do well in math., but often feel frustrated with traditional teaching methods. I find traditional curricula to be the best way they learn after trying a few other ways, but still they need something to help them see the fun in math. I Know It has been an incredibly fun way to supplement our math lessons each day!

This program comes from the same people behind Super Teacher Worksheets. My daughters usually have daily drill practice for math facts which they enjoy, but they were pretty excited to try something different! You can use I Know It on either a computer or tablet, you just need to have access to a web browser. 

Once you as the parent are signed in you will be able to create accounts for each of your kids. They have adorable little character icons so each child can have a different picture. This is great for younger children, but even my kids enjoyed having a different animal represent them! You will also set a grade level for each child as well. This can change so if you find the first chosen level to be too easy or too hard. I really like this option. While homeschooling it is easier to pinpoint missed content which may need reviewed. 

Another fun feature allows you to assign specific tasks for each child. This again is a great way to make sure they are working on areas that need shoring up. One of my kids does very well in math...until she doesn't! She will spend hours working out problems she understands happily, but as soon as she stumbles, she doesn't want any part of it. With this online practice I have opportunity to guide exactly what skills she will focus on each day. I love that I can see their progress and they can track their progress as well! They can see what answers were wrong and track their improvement as well. Many online programs allow the teacher to see this, but not the student so I find this to be a unique and helpful tool. 

On this exercise Beth could see both correct and incorrect answers. I can down with her and see the same problem she saw, help her understand it, and allow her to try again! 

For the most part I allowed my daughters to choose what skills they wanted to practice each day. I did guide both Rose and Beth to choose word problems because that is a current area of trouble for them both. All three girls couldn't wait to work with this each day. They enjoyed using our iPad (2nd generation) instead of the computer and would often ask if they could do more than their assigned time to work! 

Rose wanted to make sure I included her thoughts in my review! She said this was one of the most enjoyable supplements she has worked with for math. She is in 8th grade, but worked with the 5th grade material. She is one who often has to review a concept multiple times before it sticks, so giving her an opportunity to succeed, even on a lower level, is incredibly valuable. It isn't a waste of time for her as she processes more simply worded problems because she can apply the same concepts to more complex problems. Both Grace and Beth also thoroughly enjoyed working with I Know It although I think Rose is the one who liked it best. 

We definitely intend to continue using this throughout the year and I think the price per child quite reasonable for a year's subscription. I see this as being valuable for students who are right on target and can use it to supplement their current work, wish to move ahead and learn new concepts as they quickly master what they are given, and as remediation for those who may have missed steps and concepts along the way. I really think this can be used by just about anyone no matter where your child stands with math. My only disappointment is that it ends with 5th grade math. I do hope they continue to create content which could be used up through middle school as I think they have done a quality job with what is available. 

If this sounds like a great program to you too, there is a free 60 day trial to interested homeschoolers and teachers!  The free trial page is here:
https://www.iknowit.com/sign-up.html

Check out what my Crewmates have to say!