How involved are you with your kids’ homework. I think my own school experience and arguing with my mother taught me a great lesson – stay away from your kids and their homework. It’s their turn to suffer! I also felt that if I don’t hover over them while they do their homework, they will be more independent and do their schoolwork better.
This brilliant plan blew up in my face with a bang when I tested my son last summer and learned that his language skills are two years behind in his grade level. Why didn’t I know and how come school didn’t stay on top of it? Our elementary school is top 10% in the state. What happened? The answer might have something to do with 20+ kids in a class, my child’s ADHD, and his participation in a bi-lingual program.
It’s the beginning of the fifth area and we have a situation on our hands. In my long search of affordable tools I came across an app I have used before – IXL. In the past, I had a hard time making sure my kids did the program with some sort of consistency. And since we travel a lot, that makes learning even more challenging
Why IXL?
Full transparency, this is a sponsored post and two of my kids have access to the program. However, prior to partnering with the folks at IXL, I paid for my own subscription. I wanted to make sure the tool would work for our situation. I considered a number of programs, read reviews, and accessibility. I checked out most of the Google search results looking for something effective. Finally, I considered the price – IXL and its advances over the years just made sense.
How to make IXL work for you
IXL Diagnostic
I might’ve misunderstood the diagnostic tool when it first came out. However, I am a fan now. A complete diagnostic takes a couple of hours and might seem excessively long for both adults and kids, but it does what it promises – it identifies out your child’s strengths and weaknesses as well as suggests the skills they need to work on.
For my son, grammar showed the most challenging. IXL’s initial diagnostics placed his grammar ability somewhere around the end of second grade. However, this graph shows where he is at now – two months later.
Test Weekly
IXL’s suggestion is to test weekly and since I started this experiment, I have seen an amazing progress my son in about every area. It truly gave me hope that I can change things around. Weekly tests only consist of a few questions before it adjusts diagnostic graphs and suggests new practice skills.
I am looking forward to Sunday – a testing day established with kids so I can see their progress. I take a screenshot of their result and compare it to the one from last week. Moreover, kids love seeing how they advance!
Practice whenever
Ideally, I like kids use laptops for their practices. However, being a parent means we have to roll with the punches and get the most out of any time we have. IXL apps for iPhone and Android are great on-the-go solutions. They don’t have full functionality of the website, but they give you anything you need for daily practice.
For example, the diagnostic tool isn’t available on the mobile app and if this is what you need to do, you will have to open the website in the browser of your device. However, if your kids have ten minutes while commuting or waiting for a practice to start, they can spend this time practicing IXL.
Know What They are Doing
I absolutely love the parent panel that comes with the IXL program. Every time I hear my daughter giggle while she is supposedly working on her Math skills, I check the panel to see if she is actually active in the program. Yes, I can see that she isn’t active! Let’s face it, math could be fun but I’ve never seen a fun math question that made me giggle
How to Start with IXL (and how to afford it)
When it comes to membership, you have options. If you want to give it a try and buy monthly access to see if it works for you and your lifestyle. 30 days is enough time to figure out if it is a fit and if it is – save some money by buying an annual membership!
IXL membership also offers a variety of options. You can start by getting a membership with one subject – Math, Language or Spanish for $9.95/month or $79/year. If that works or consider getting Combo Package with Math and Language for $15.95/month ($129/year). Want more? Check out Core Subject Membership with Math, Language, Science, and Social Studies for $19.95 a month ($159/year).
