IXL, created by IXL Learning, is a unique online program that provides a complete curriculum for Pre-K to 12th grade. I was provided an annual subscription in exchange for this review. This is the only program I’ve seen of its kind; and my son absolutely loves using it. Being a techie kid, he loves being able to push buttons for a while instead of using pencil and paper all of the time. It actually feels like a break for him, as he struggles with certain types of learning environments.

What Does IXL Offer?

What all does IXL have to offer? Basically anything you can imagine within the subjects of Math, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, and Spanish. You can purchase a monthly or annual membership, and you can also choose to only subscribe to the subjects you need. The variety of purchase options also make this a unique choice. It works by giving students questions to answer, and their “mastery” level percentage moves up or down depending on how well they answer the questions. Once a student reaches a score of 100, he/she has reached mastery level and can then move on to the next level. However, what again makes this even more unique, is that a student can actually work in ANY subcategory of ANY category. This gives you freedom to only use it for the areas where your student is struggling. The analytics are amazing… you can see your student’s stats based on just about any option you would like to check. This area of the website is SO thorough and valuable to me as a parent. It also gives a bit of accountability for students who may be a bit on the lazy side (maybe it’s just my kid). 😉

Website Organization

The website of IXL is so well-organized. It is incredibly easy to get to whatever area of the site you want to go to next. In the screenshots below, you can see the Math layout (and every other subject is similar). See the screenshots below for examples of how each grade level and category is broken down.

By category (not specific to grade level):

By category (in seventh grade):

 

Examples of Analytics:

Missed Questions:

Missed Questions by Type:

Breakdown of Scores by Category:

Current SmartScore (and Time Spent) in a Category:

Progress and Improvement:

How Did We Use This?

So far, Jeffrey (my seventh grader) and I have used the Math and Language Arts as a supplement to what we are learning. You can see some of that in the screenshots above. We have also touched on the Social Studies areas, but have not gotten into that very far yet. We have just begun using the Spanish program… and we are going to use this for our primary Spanish learning tool. So far, the Spanish piece is great! Although we have only done the section with the alphabet, it is obvious that history, word origin, and other “trivia” details are included along the way as students answer questions.

Final Thoughts

So what are my final thoughts? This is Jeffrey’s “go-to” program. If he needs a little break from reading, writing, or doing everything on pencil and paper, this is what he uses. It has become a great tool to help out, specifically on days when we are between topics. The biggest help I can see this being for all homeschool families is that of a supplement to what you’re already doing. If your student struggles in one area, he/she can jump on IXL and work specifically on that area. It is easy and well done. I hope that you will check it out at their website: www.IXL.com.

More IXL Reviews

To read MORE reviews of IXL, click on the image below. I’m sure my fellow crewmates chose to talk about different areas than I did, so you can get a better overall understanding of just how easy to use and thorough this program is.