IXL Learning -- A New TOS Review!!

Did you know that IXL Learning has more then just math drills? I didn't, but I hadn't done much research into this company. However, when we were blessed with an annual subscription to IXL we found out that it includes math, languages arts, social studies, science, and even introductory Spanish! Plus you can get your subscription in Spanish if your household speaks Spanish as your primary language. We have been reviewing this program for that past several weeks and we are having a lot of fun using it.

What is IXL? It will not be your core curriculum, but a very thorough and full supplement to all your studies for both review and to gain mastery. The full annual subscription will include math and language arts for K - 12, social studies (history) and science for grades 2 - 8, and also Spanish!

It is a comprehensive online program that learns and adapts to each student individually. My three children (4th, 7th/8th, and 10th) were able to really focus on some areas they were needing extra practice and have continued to progress with motivation of awards, online stickers to add to their collection, as well as certificates when they have reached milestones.

At first you will set up your family account with a individual avatar and password for each student and one for parent access as well.

IXL is divided into two main sections - analytics and learning. Within analytics you can glance at each student's progress over time and once they have completed some (maybe not all since it is very comprehensive and long) of the diagnostic test there will be recomendations to help determine where your student should start. Or you could have them start in the grade level they are in and pick and choose from the plethora of skills and topics they want to learn or you want them to study. IXL is alligned to common core and also to your state standards, if this is something you are concerned about.

State Standards

As they go through lessons you can keep track of their progress by looking at the colorful graphs and charts, see their improvement, even check where your student might need additional help by looking at the questions log. As the parent of the account I get emails when my children have reached milestones (and can print the certificates straight from my email) and weekly about their progress the past week.

The second and predominant area of IXL is the Learning. As you see when you are are logged in as a student you will first see your recommendations. This is based on either the diagnostic testing or what skills and topics that your student has worked on. The next tab is the diagnostic testing. The more questions answered here the narrower the recommendations will be and the program will be able to pinpoint exactly where your student is in math and laguage arts skills, specifically by major areas within each subject. This is helpful to see where they might need extra practice and review as well as to know what areas they have completely mastered.

And since you have access to all the levels and grades you can choose whatever topics or skills in any order. So if your child struggles with language arts but is on grade level with math you can choose the skills they need more practice on or review from lower grade levels and help bolster their skills with practice until they master those topics.

The lessons are adaptive in that as the student progresses the program learns where your student needs more practice and then adapts by having them continue to answer similar questions in that area until the topic has been mastered. When a question is answered wrong they get immediate feedback and an explanation of why they question was wrong.

The award stickers, collections, and certificates makes learning fun and meaningful for the students. You can earn rewards for mastering skills, time spent learning, and for the number of questions they answer. Aren't they cute?

I asked my kiddos to chime in with what they thought of IXL Learning and these are some of their thoughts:

My eldest was using it primarily for learning Spanish and working on areas that she needed extra practice for in Geometry.  She says: "The Spanish helped her remember the words and numbers better then other programs she's used in the past for languages. She actually could remember the spelling and the way you say the words. There's a speaker button so you can hear the word said properly and be able to learn it. For Geometry the math seemed more for review and practice not for learning the skill or having it taught to you. But since I was reviewing some skills I needed extra practice for it worked well for me.
IXL turns learning into more of a game rather then just stale learning. It makes school more fun while you are reviewing skills."

My younger daughter (who's not really that young anymore) has really taken to using IXL. She did NOT like having to take the diagnostic, but we sat together while she did it so in case there were things she didn't understand she wouldn't worry about hitting the wrong buttons. That makes her nervous with tests of sorts. But last night she got a certificate for having done 500 problems! She's gotten a few other certificates also (so have the other two) but she was very pleased with all her work.

She has been using a mixture of recommended courses and then picking something she wanted to learn about either in math or language arts. Since she is slightly behind in some areas we used it to help get extra practice especially for fractions in math. Her diagnostic level isn't fully narrowed down, but she really doesn't like taking those (as I mentioned) so every few days I have her take about 15 minutes to answer a few more of the diagnostic so that we can get a firm level of where she is in math and language arts across the board. However, the diagnostic does not really focus on history or science even though you can choose those subjects as well in the grades.

My son was not happy at the length of the diagnostic (which seems to go on forever), but we did enough to get some recommendations for him. It seemed to also land him in roughly his grade (about 4th) but some things were way higher in his math skills. He says: "I think IXL is fun because you get to do a bunch of different subjects in what they recommend for you. And once you do all the problems you can get a prize sticker that matches the subject you do your work in. That is cool, because we get opportunities to look at what you've earned and see how much more you need to work on to get more rewards."

With all that  IXL has to offer you will want to be sure to checek it out for yourself. You can also reach IXL on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and You Tube.  And don't forget to read all the other Crew reviews since  IXL Learning covers PreK through 12th grade, just by clicking the link below!