IXL is something that we have used previously, so when it came up for review with The Schoolhouse Review Crew. We jumped right on board.
They have math drill type website that you can access 20 questions daily for free.
Most kids I have seen don’t want to stop at the 20 questions. They want to keep going. They will want to earn the prizes (in digital sticker form), and ribbons (also in digital form).
About The Company:
IXL Learning is a company that has been around since 1998 with a website called Quia. In 2007, IXL was introduced. IXL began as just a math curriculum. It is a fairly comprehensive one with over 2500 math topics to explore for all ages, Pre-K to 12th grade. Questions are set up using an algorithmically, which means they are all unique. Your student won’t get a bunch of repeat problems. In 2013, they expanded even more by adding in Language Arts for 2nd through 4th grades. With future plans on expanding even more.
About The Product:
Can you imagine? Kids that actually want to do more math! Well it’s true. Let me explain what makes IXL so appealing to kids.
You begin by choosing a math topic in your grade level and then it goes right into asking you the question. That’s right, there is no lesson first.
Upon answering the question if you get the answer correct you get an accolades. There are goals to meet, such as;
- work for 5 minutes
- answer a certain number of questions
- cover a wide range of topics
- many more
See more about the awards offered here.
If you get the answer wrong, you are then taught/ shown how to do the problem correctly.
Here is a sample problem:
Uh oh, I got it wrong. Here is a review the problem and my answer as well as some tips on solving it.
Next it goes into detail on how to solve the particular problem.
Sometimes I choose to have my kids work for a minimum number of problems, or for a certain amount of time, or even until they earn a ribbon. There are 3 ribbons to earn.
Sometimes I say just work until you have earned your next reward.
They love having the variety of topics to choose from as well as the variety of how much work they are expected to do each day.
Here is a peek at Tyler’s award board from my parent screen.
They have a new section of IXL now. Which is the Language Arts Section. 
The Language Arts program is set up very similar to the math section.
Here is a question from the 3rd grade level.
Oops, I got it wrong. Here is the explanation about why.
The math program is available as a iPad app as well now. We got the app and that is the kids’ most favorite way to “play” on IXL.
IXL is priced at: $9.95 for the first child monthly and $79 yearly. Additional children are $2 per month/ $20 per year. This includes access to one subject. To add an additional subject is $6 per month per child / $50 per year per child.
The IXL app is included with any membership. You can even do the free daily questions on the app.
I highly recommend the free daily questions to give it a try.
A day/week in our life:
We used the app part of IXL quite a bit. I like that it will read the questions to my preschooler and read the answers to him as well. Up above I mentioned the different ways I told the kids how much they had to work on it. However I often found them all going over the requirements set by me.
Our thoughts and feelings:
My younger kids enjoyed IXL a lot due to the reward system that is in place. Emily, my older daughter enjoys it because she doesn’t have to relearn things she already knows. She feels like she can “test out” of a topic.
We are not the only ones who tried out IXL. To see what others think of it, click on the banner.
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