Puddle Jumping: Homeschool Review Crew

review, #hsreviews, #ixl, #iloveixl, Adaptive Learning, Personalized Learning, Math, Language Arts

I was thrilled to get a chance to review IXL Learning online. I received a full annual membership for two students, in all IXL subjects which included:

Math
Language Arts
Science (Grades 2-8)
Social Studies (Grades 2-8)
Intro Spanish

I am always looking for new ways to engage my math-paralyzed-panicked 7th grader in learning aritmetic skills, and I thought it would be a great way to reinforce and learn skills for my High School Junior who is looking to take the ACT soon and is a bit worried about parts of the test.

There is also a Spanish option at https://es.ixl.com/

What is IXL Learning?

IXL Learning is a comprehensive online learning program designed to improve academic achievement by presenting math, language arts, science, social studies, and Spanish by engaging the student while providing informational reports for the parent or teacher that can be viewed online or also be printed.

It is set up through a monthly or annual membership access and includes subjects of:

Math
Language Arts
Science (Grades 2-8)
Social Studies (Grades 2-8)
Intro Spanish

All it takes is a computer, iPad, iPhone, or tablet and a reliable internet connection.

The way it works is to provide practice that feels like play to boost academic potential with learning that kids want to do for pre-school through 12th grade. The games are comparable to an extra 6 weeks of learning each year. The skills are mapped to your state's standards.

Here is how it looks from the student and parent's perspective:

In the upper right corner, you can choose from the Parent dashboard or each individual child's log-in. I was given access for two children, so I set up the icons appropriate for each personality.

At the first login, you are given the option of taking a lengthy diagnostic assessment test, which is where I chose to begin. After that, the site formulates personalized recommendations based on the results of that assessment. Each time your child logs on, he or she is presented with recommendations from which to choose.

There are two main areas within the site:

Learning

Analytics

The following screens are how my parent dashboard looks inside each tab option:

And, this is how it looks from my 7th grader's screen:

The next tab is the Diagnostic arena where you can see your child's levels. From the student's dashboard, the child enters here to answer questions and practice learning skills.

Click on the Analytics tab, and you will have the option of viewing charts and analysis information that reveals to you where your child is excelling and where any trouble spots may arise that they need to focus on to improve:

From the child's log-in, they are able to select which subject they want to work on:

The course work aligns to your individual state's standards:

The student logs in and begins:

There is a lot of encouragement when the student answers correctly, though the final challenges in each session gets more challenging as it begins to remove earned points if you start to get answers wrong, which means the student has to answer more questions until they achieve the challenge tokens they are trying to attain.

If you get an answer wrong, this is where the teaching/learning comes into play as the student receives immediate feedback as to why it was wrong and hints on how to improve and answer correctly.

At the end of the learning sessions, your child can view their certificates earned, and there are options to print:

I loved the idea that at the high school level in the Language Arts awards, they used book covers of real book titles. Though, my high school junior and I really wanted to click through and actually be able to open up the books to read them. After trying several different ways to open the books for actual reading, we determined that they must just be more like a sticker award than an actual interactive book you can read, unless maybe you have to fill up the entire award board before being able to open up the books. I don't know, but we both agree that this would have been an awesome idea. I did, however, search for the individual book titles outside of the IXL platform.

How Did We Use It?

I was given log-in access for two students, my 7th grader and my 11th grader. We were asked to use IXL for at least 3 times a week during the review. As soon as we received the log-in information, I was anxious to get my student accounts set up and try out the site. The set up process was very easy, so I decided to jump in with the diagnostic assessments first before continuing on with the daily sessions.

What Did We Think?

I think the site provides very thorough learning sessions that work best to reinforce skills already learned or to practice specific areas of learning to get really good in each area of academics. I found it to use the perfect balance and blend of serious academic skill practice with fun student engagement adding a hint of online game challenges.