Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by IXL Learning. I was compensated for my honest opinion.
Our family has really enjoyed reviewing the annual membership from
IXL Learning and using it in our homeschool.
IXL is an Educational Website Your Kids Will Enjoy
It wasn’t long after I logged my son, Haydn, into his account that I heard him exclaim, “This is really fun!” He then tells his sister, Ellawyn, “You have to try this.” My oldest daughter, Raena, overheard him from the other room and came in asking, “We have a membership to IXL? I’ve been using their free site to practice my geometry. Can I have an account too?”
My kids were excited to get started with their IXL Learning membership.
Get Personalized Learning with IXL in Your Homeschool
Raena was most interested in the personalized learning that is offered with a membership. She looked forward to having her progress tracked as she used the site to practice additional geometry problems in tandem with her current math curriculum.
IXL offers personalized learning in:
- Math
- Language Arts
- Science
- Social Studies and
- Spanish.
Not all grade levels offer all subjects, but Math and Language Arts are offered for all levels. I had Haydn and Ellawyn focus on Language Arts, but I know they both tried a few of the other areas as well.
Using IXL Learning in Your Homeschool
Once an account is created, your child can take the diagnostic test to narrow down their skill level and receive tailored questions. The diagnostic test is not timed and will go on for as long as they are willing to answer questions. The more questions they answer, the more tailored the recommendations become.
Throughout their learning, kids can earn certificates and awards for achieving certain milestones. Haydn, 8, was very motivated by this. He was determined to earn every award and would even spend his free time trying to get the next one.
In Language Arts the kids earned stickers. The stickers were different for each grade level. In Math, there was a grid where they could earn small pictures for answering questions. Completing the grid would earn them a virtual prize.
Every time a certificate was earned, I would receive an email letting me know. I could also access it from my main account. Certificates were earned for a variety of things, such as achieving excellence in a skill or answering a certain number of questions correctly.
Using the Parent Account on IXL Learning
From the parent account I could also find usage reports, diagnostic, trouble spots, scores, a list of the questions they answered and the correct answers, and their progress.
I liked that I could not only see what area they worked in and how well they did, but also how long they were spending. I also liked that each account had access to every grade level. Kids could work up or down as needed. This allowed Ellawyn to work on skills in 7th grade, even though her year is 5th.
I found the site easy to navigate and use and so did my kids. Depending on their age, different aspects of the site appealed to them. Younger students are going to be more motivated by the virtual awards than older students. Older students will care more about the ability to track progress.
If a student gets a problem wrong, they can scroll to see how to get the right answer, but there are no teaching videos that would introduce a concept. In my opinion, for subjects like math, this makes it a better supplement than stand alone curriculum. I do feel; however, that it is a really good supplemental program. Especially given that while types of problems may be repeated, specific problems are not.
Overall, I was pleased with the program and my kids all enjoyed using it.
How in the world do you think IXL is good? Have you done it yourself? You get one wrong, it takes away ten points at least!
As a supplement, I think it works well. I did watch as my kids used it and I do not remember points being deducted at all. When we reviewed it, kids needed to get a certain number of problems correct. Awards and such were based on progress (how many they got right or how long they practiced). I do not remember them being penalized for wrong answers at all. It’s possible they have made changes to the program since this review.