Review: IXL

Practice makes perfect, and IXL makes math practice fun! IXL allows teachers and parents to monitor the progress of their students and motivate them through interactive games and practice questions. Widely recognized as the Web's most comprehensive math site, IXL offers a dynamic and enjoyable environment for children to practice math. Students who use IXL are succeeding like never before.

About IXL

IXL is comprehensive. With math practice for grades pre-K through 8, more than 1,000 skills and an unlimited number of problems, IXL has everything your students need to excel in math. And just to be sure, IXL's problems include a mix of styles, including multiple choice and fill-in-the blank, to ensure skill mastery.

IXL is easy to use. Designed with a clean, uncluttered interface, students won't be distracted from their math goals, and parents and teachers can monitor students with simple, yet powerful, tools.

IXL is exciting. Students tackle challenges and earn rewards for their accomplishments. Math problems become increasingly difficult as students progress to ensure full comprehension of each skill.

IXL is informative. Parents and teachers to track their students' progress using IXL's vast library of detailed reports. Select from multiple options within each report to customize the data to suit your needs.

IXL is standards-based. The skills in IXL are aligned to standards for each US state, as well as Washington DC and the Department of Defense Education Activity. You'll never be surprised by those test scores again. And when you know which skills are problems for your students you can give those areas extra attention.

Our Experience

It was very easy for me to set up and it was very easy for both of my girls to use. For the non-readers, there was a little button that they could click so that they could hear the problem or choices read out loud to them. It was easy for Kayleigh to use on her own.

Basically, this is a math drill program. It is not designed to teach your child new concepts but, rather, to give them practice with skills that they already know. This makes it very compatible with every math program. When the student does get a problem wrong, there is the option to get an explanation. This was very helpful to my older daughter.

I really like the program. I like that it's easy for the kids to use. I like that it explains mistakes. I like the multitude of reports available that help me track their progress and problem areas.

As for the girls, this was not something that they beg to play. As I mentioned, it is a very straightforward drill program. There is no story, adventure, or cutesy character to make you forget that you are doing math drill.

The rewards are very basic. You complete so many minutes/correct problems/master skills and you earn a "reward." The rewards are on a game board screen and you click on a particular square to reveal the "prize", which is just a picture of a toy that you will now see in that particular square.

My four year old would get a kick of revealing her "prize" but it wasn't enough of a motivator to get her to ask to play with it on her own. She only gets on it when I require it. As for my math-hating 11 year old, the reward system does not motivate her at all. She needs the "bling" that makes her forget that she's practicing math.

So while it doesn't meet the fun factor for my children, I feel that it does everything else that it claims and we will continue to use it.

F.Y.I.

Website: http://www.ixl.com/
Age Range: pre-k through eighth grade
Price: $9.95/month or $79/year Additional kids can be added at a huge discount.

Disclaimer: I received a free subscription to this program for review purposes. All opinions are my own or that of my children.