Help Your Child Excel with IXL {IXL Review}

“Mama, can I do some more. I’m begging you!”

 

As a mom, isn’t it great when our young students enjoy learning, especially when they may struggle with that very subject? And as a mom to a very bright, unique little boy who struggles to communicate with us, watching his excitement and enthusiasm as he experienced IXL Math, a K-12 supplement through IXL, I felt nothing less than sheer elation. While my son isn’t old enough, we looked ahead at the IXL Language Arts portion and saw that I need practice, too!

 

 

The first night we introduced our Kindergartener to the program, he couldn’t get enough. He loved working through the activities and uncovering the prizes he earned. The icing on the cake was learning there was an app for the iPad!

 

While we use a traditional style math program, I’ve learned that my boys with special needs excel with computer-based programs. As for this specific child, he is very difficult to understand. His receptive language skills are strong, but his expressive speech makes communication hard. Being able to work independently and getting the immediate positive feedback of rewards boosted his confidence and he looked forward to completing the next task and level.

A few of the topics covered include:

• Counting, up to 100
• Skip counting by twos, fives, and tens
• Time and Seasons
• Sorting, Ordering, and Classifying
• Money
• Addition and Subtraction
• Geometry and more

While he was excited to begin, there was a learning curve. It didn’t take long for him to understand the instructions and was able to work through exercises independently. As he grew adept at following the instructions, I noticed his keyboarding skills were also getting stronger, which is fantastic since his fine motor skills need some strengthening, too. And at the end of the week, a progress report is sent directly to my inbox.

Another feature we liked was being able to click on the speaker icon to hear the instructions–a great perk for non-readers and emerging readers through the first grade level.

Within the parent portal, I can pull up reports and graphs to track progress, see weak areas, practice sessions, etc:

 

Working on a few exercises:

 

 

When answering a question incorrectly the correct answer, with an explanation, is shown:

 

 

Seeing that he earned a prize was his favorite screen of all!

 

 

Uncovering his prizes!

 

 

Portability is always a plus! Take learning with you as you attend appointments, run errands, or your student simply wants a quiet place to focus. My son often takes the iPad into our home office to work.

 

 

As I wrote earlier, IXL offers a Language Arts program for grades 2nd-8th. Topics include typical Language Arts components–capitalization, parts of speech, and sentence structure, moving into more complex topics such as context clues, analogies, synonyms, antonyms, parallel structure, and more. The Language Arts program doesn’t extend beyond 8th grade, but from my experience and after reviewing the 8th grade level, I think it provides excellent practice and review for those in high school. With its self-correcting and independent structure, IXL’s program may be worth a look to boost your high school curriculum.

 

Since IXL is a supplement and not a full curriculum, the exercises and games are perfect to keep skills sharp or to strengthen weak areas. Subscriptions begin at $9.95 a month or $79 for a year to access one subject for one student. Additional students will cost $2 a month or $20 a year to access the same subject. Visit their site to learn more about family plan options. Each student will have his or her own separate account so that individual needs are met and unique weaknesses are strengthened.

Offering supplemental material for Language Arts and Mathematics, including higher-level Algebra, Geometry, and Pre-calculus, I imagine IXL will become a regular staple in our home school, and I’ll continue to see my student’s skills improve and his confidence soar.

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