IXL- TOS Review

Days are busy.  Life is full.  And sometimes getting all of the school subjects in for the day is a challenge.  For us, that is when computer-based learning is valued more than ever.  That is also why we love IXL!

We had the opportunity to review IXL a year ago and had a good experience with it, but since then they have added a new subject and expanded and I was eager to try it again.  We were given a years access to IXL Math and IXL Language Arts to try with our three youngest.

IXL is a review based program.  While concepts are not taught per say, they are explained in pretty good detail if you get a problem incorrect.  No matter what grade level your child is at, once you sign up for IXL you have access to all grades.  For Math that covers grades Pre K through Pre-Calculus (12th grade).  For Language Arts that covers grades 2nd-8th.  I have found that the advantage of this is that you can easily identify strengths and weaknesses in your child's learning.  Let's face it, no math or grammar program is perfect and your child WILL be less proficient in some areas.  This is where I find IXL invaluable.  Once we identify an area of weakness, we are able to go directly to that area and have additional practice.  Once you choose a grade you want to work in, you simply access that menu and the skills are broken into categories that are well labeled for ease.  Because you can access any grade, we have also gone back a grade to work even more on a specific skill.

IXL is quite easy to navigate and therefore takes little if any supervision.  Because of that, there is a pretty extensive parental page.  From there you can access grades and progress, often in chart form, as well as see what areas your child is having a hard time with.  In addition, weekly updates are sent to your email so you can see how much time a child has spent on the program and in what areas.

How we used IXL-

Again, this is a review program, so we have used it as such several days a week.  Our 2nd grader has used it the most and prefers the math section over the Language Arts.  Some days we use it as simply a review and I require him to do at least 10-15 minutes of work.  Other days when life gets the best of us, it becomes our math and grammar for the day and he works at least 30 minutes.  When we first began he worked in the order of the menu, but he soon found areas he enjoyed more than others and would choose those first.  Measurement is one of his favorites!  One the right side of his screen a timer is displayed that shows how long he has been working.  That option can be turned off, but once he realized it was not a race, but simply an indicator of time spent and part of the things that earned him "prizes" he relaxed.  Also shown are the number of problems attempted, your score and ribbons earned. 

Combinations of time, sections completed, and number of problems completed earn the child "awards."  Once they earn awards they are able to access a screen that looks like a grid with question marks on it.  Certain stars are then revealed with "prizes."  Don't ask me why, but that is a HUGE incentive for my youngest son.  HUGE!  As a matter of fact, because the Language Arts is a newer program it does not have this feature yet and I realized that is why CJ does not like doing those activities as much.  You still earn ribbons, but for him- it is all about those picture prizes!  Whatever it takes, huh?

That, on the other hand, is exactly why my 7th grader did not enjoy the program as much.  While he does not mind the review, the prizes seem babyish to him and he would rather just avoid it all together.  His math skills are pretty strong so we found him to be spot on with his grade level and even beyond, but have seen a few more challenges with his Language Arts.  I intend to use IXL Language Arts this summer as part of his summer review- not only to bring him up to speed but also help fill in a few gaps that I have seen we have.

The whole point of me adding my 17 year old to the review was for ACT test review.  Because she is currently quite busy with online college classes she has not been able to spend much time on the site, but we have explored the areas extensively and are convinced it is a perfect way to review for tests required for college admittance.  Because of that, she will be spending the next few months doing 15-30 minutes a day.  Since so many of those tests cover several years worth of subject matter, gaining access to Algebra, Geometry, and Pre-Calculus is a huge advantage.  Instead of having to dig out all of her old books, the skills she needs to review are all in one place.

I am not always sold on online programs and especially do not gravitate towards game like ones with a million bells and whistles, but I really like IXL.  The review is strong, the detailed explanations when needed are good and the subject matter is extensive- over 4,000 skills are taught.  Whether your child needs some extra help and review or you are just looking for a supplemental program for those days when it is just hard for mom to sit down and teach, I think you will find IXL will meet your needs!

You can find IXL the following places-
https://www.facebook.com/IXL
https://twitter.com/IXLLearning
https://plus.google.com/+IXL

Pricing starts at $9.95 a month or $75 per year for one student.  Each additional child is $2 a month or $20 per year.  So two subjects for one child would cost $129.00.


   

CREW Review- Zoo Whiz

 

 

 

We recently had the opportunity to review ZooWhiz!  ZooWhiz is a "curriculum based, motivational learning" web site for kids ages 5 to 15 plus that allows kids to practice math, reading skills, punctuation and grammar.

From the website:
You’ll love learning with ZooWhiz

• The people who built the ZooWhiz activities already had lots of experience teaching kids so the educational activities are just right for you
• You can choose the level of the content you work on. This means that ZooWhiz need never be too easy or too hard for you.
• To stop you getting bored there’s lots of different types of activities, not just the one type
• As soon as you give your answer you’ll know how you have done and each time you get an activity right you’ll earn coins and add to your Educational Score
• We’ve built lots of jokes and puns into the activities just to keep you having fun

When you first enter the site this is what you see- a map of the zoo. 

From this screen you have several choices you can make of places to visit.

Learn and Earn-  This is where the learning takes place!  Your child can decide to practice reading, words, or math.   By answering the questions correctly they earn coins.  Once they complete 10 challenges they can move on to another subject or continue that same activity. 

 

Some examples of questions we experienced at the lower level-

Matching- shadows, objects and patterns

words- uppercase, lowercase

Which one if different?

Follow the sound trail-sound recognition

same different

colors

Examples of upper levels -

multiplication and division

order of operations

reading comprehension

spelling

 

The Biodome-  Once your child has earned enough coins, you receive 100 every time you log in, they can head to one of two places- the Biodome or the Arcade.  The Biodome is where they will find a zoo shop and their own zoo.  They can purchase animals with their coins to add to their zoo collection, or they can look at and learn about the animals they already have.

The Arcade- The arcade is simply that!  A fun place to play games, while spending the coins you have earned.  Run out of coins?  Off to the Learn and Earn tab you go to get more.  This was our 10 years old's favorite place, of course!  Some games involved some learning, some are simply fun.

Milestones-  This is where you can see just how your child is doing.  A pretty simple layout, but with the premium account it goes into pretty good depth. 

What did we like about this program-
-It has great reinforcement!  With their cool Australian accents they say things like, "very cool", "fantastic" and my boys, favorite, "cracker jack"!  Sure beats mom's  "good'!
-There is wonderful information on each of the animals.  Now some are fictitious, but they do tell you that up front.  Regardless, they tell you about habitat, food, where they live and so forth.  A younger child could do a mini report on each of the animals he bought if you use unit studies and want to incorporate science!
-The arcade time is limited to 3 minutes!  LOVE THIS!  (sorry, boys!)  Yes, they can play until they run out of coins I suppose, but the limited game time is a huge plus in our family.  I like that the program rewarded the kids work, but did not allow them to solely focus on the game aspect for unlimited time.  While we monitor our children's computer time, let's be honest, sometimes we move away, get distracted and then realize our child has played the same game for an hour.  (or is that just me?)
-You as the parent can set the age settings for your child and change them when you need to from your parent account.  This is referred to as the age floor, and allows you to restrict your children from areas that may be too simple for them.

What we would like to see changed-
-For younger children, it would be nice if all the questions were read to the child.  CJ, our 5 year old, only reads simple words right now.  So for him to do the math or words activities I had to sit and read each question to him.  The reading section is read out loud for the younger ages. There are times when it would be nice if he could do this program independently, because he really liked it.  There are plenty of times he would have explored the animal facts on his own if they had been able to be read to him.
-Would love to see you not have to push the next button after each question answered.  Lazy, maybe, but for a 5 year old it is just one extra step he does not need.
-We found the levels a bit random.  There were times levels read 4-6 yrs. and the later 5-7.
-Both boys asked where their "zoo" was.  The 5 year old KEPT asking!  They really would have loved it if there was an actual zoo that you could maneuver your animals in, making it more interactive!  Just having the pictures did not engage them much.

So would we recommend this site?  Yes!  While I would not call ZooWhiz a full teaching curriculum, it does cover a lot of material and is a fantastic place for kids to review and reinforce what they are currently learning.  Because this program in still in its early stages, and they ask for input from parents,  I foresee great things ahead.  I have no doubt it will continue to grow and be a well rounded educational program.

You can register for your free keeper and get started right away with limited animals to buy and basic reporting information.  You can also upgrade to a premium membership  for $29.99 a year which will open lots more animals and games for your child for as well as more detailed reports of your child's work.  They are continuing to upgrade this program and even certificates will be available to print with the premium membership soon. 

UPDATE on Pricing- As of today, 10/8- Premium membership is now $19.95 and I hear will be  $14.95 soon!  Keep your eye out for this change- it is a GREAT deal!


 

Disclaimer- My family received a premium membership for a year in exchange for our honest review of this product.  All opinions are our own and were not influenced by the company in any way.

CREW Review- Math 911

 

Math 911 is straight forward way to learn math online, with no bells and whistles to entertain, just learning.  Professor Weissman believes in Learning Mastery, a "keep on trying" approach that encourages students to get it right without penalizing wrong answers.  Step by step solutions are available for each problem with the click of a button.


Once you access the math page, you can choose what level and course to begin with.  Nothing fancy, just the problems.  As a matter of fact, it reminds me of what the computer screen use to look like when I was younger.  My 14 year old's comment was, "What's with the colors?"  I, of course, did not notice anything funny about the colors which does sort of point out our age difference.

One thing that I really liked about this program was the downloaded pdf files.  Written directly to the student, these are fun teaching tools with some well laid out explanations.  Our one complaint is that they do not correspond to a particular lesson.  We also liked the fact that you could see via a chart how much of each level you had completed and how far you had worked through the program.  You also have a way to access your grades through the introductory screen.  If you change levels, however, it will close Math911 and you will have to reopen, a small but slightly annoying feature.

Our biggest complaint- if my daughter had not already had a year of Algebra we would have been lost, I am afraid.  While there are explanations of each individual problem, which I believe is good for practice, there is not a real teaching tool involved.  If you did not semi know how to do a certain type of problem, I am not real sure how you would figure it out, other than by trial and error.  I glanced at the higher levels and was overwhelmed by the information presented with no initial explanation. For that reason, this was not a great fit for our family for a complete math curriculum.  I would, however, recommend it if your child needs additional practice.  I wish I had been able to have my oldest use it as a review when she was studying for the ACT.

A downloadable version of Math 911 is free and gives you access to the complete Introductory Algebra course.  An upgrade is available which will give you access to additional courses such as Intermediate Algebra, Statistics, Trigonometry and pre-calculus.  There are regular updates that you can easily access from the website.

Algebra in a flash , normally $49.95, is on sale now for only $9.95 using the promotion homeschool.




Yes, there really is a Professor Weissman!  And can I just say that his customer service and commitment to helping you is amazing?  He is quick to respond to any questions you have and committed to trying to help you make this program work for you and your family.  If you have any questions, the best place to start is with an email to him!

To see what other CREW members had to say about Math911, click on the banner below.

  Disclaimer- Our family received a free subscription to Math 911 in exchange for our honest review of the product.  All opinions stated are our own .