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IXL

IXL {Crew Review}

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IXL is one of our favorite websites to use for homeschooling.  IXL offers IXL Math and IXL Language Arts to it’s users.  This program is an educational supplement to be used as extra practice, not as a stand-alone curriculum.
We have been using IXL for years now and this is one vendor we are always excited to see on the Crew Vendor List.  Our membership to IXL has been such a blessing in our homeschooling.  My children enjoy using the website and learning with it.
My children that use IXL are ages 6, 11, and 13.  Each uses IXL at their own pace and can review the lessons they are learning as needed through the program since it is just simple, yet thorough, practice for them.  IXL provides a wonderful place to learn that they truly enjoy.
IXL isn’t a cutesy website.  This website is clean and to the point in lesson style. You won’t find a lot of distraction or over the top imaging on this site but you will find a great deal of learning that is intriguing and fun for your children.
Lesson answers are often multiple choice, making selections easy to make and understand.  Some lessons are easier to answer and complete than others, just as in a textbook.  How quickly and easily your child can use this website will depend on how well your child learns and your child’s maturity level in following directions educationally.
IXL Math covers all grade levels.  Lessons are provided by Letter from Level-A through Level-N.  Most lessons have over 200 skills to be taught through the program. Level-A begins with number concepts and understanding numbers, while Level-N teaches equations of cosign functions and graphing complex numbers.  You will find everything Math covered in IXL Math.
IXL Language Arts begins at Level D and takes you through Level-J skills.  This program begins around a 3rd-4th grade level for students.  IXL does plan to add more to this program over time and have been slowly working on that goal.  IXL Language Arts covers things like identifying plurals, correcting capitalization errors, how modifiers are used, using parallel structure and so much more.
Parents can try out the lessons as well to see what the student will cover.  Simply click the lesson and it will start.  This is a great way to know if this concept is the right one for your child.
Students don’t have to work on a certain grade level through this program either.  You can choose any level at any time and cover that concept or practice.  This is great for independent learners.  It also allows you to adapt the program to any curriculum you are learning through already.
A membership to IXL is available through their website.  A monthly membership for IXL Math or IXL Language Arts cost $9.95 a month.  A yearly membership for IXL Math or IXL Language Arts costs $79 a year.  A combined membership for both IXL Math and IXL Language Arts costs $129.  You may have multiple students use this program and it is designed for students in grades K-12.  There is an additional cost for multiple students of $2 monthly or $20 yearly.
There are also apps available for using this program on a tablet or other digital device.

You can find IXL in the following places online:
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Crew Disclaimer

IXL {Crew Review}

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IXL is a well-known name in Homeschooling and education.  What began as a Comprehensive Math program has expanded to include Language Arts as well.  This amazing program can be used to supplement any math or language program available.
IXL provides thorough instruction and practice of important skills in both Math and Language Arts.  The program is designed to be set up to meet State Standards but can also be used to simply supplement extra practice in subjects or units as needed.  Covering grades K-12 in Math instruction and grades 2-4 in Language Arts, with future plans to expand, this program provides just the right amount of supplementation at home.
The formatting of the program is set to basically allow children to read through the problem then choose an answer through A, B or C options.  This allows a child to process and answer quickly when using the program.  Children can work on, above or below grade level as needed and parent/teacher options allow this to be set per child as needed.
There is audio available for math skills in the younger grades, which is helpful for students who may struggle with reading skills.  An iPad app is available as well for extra math practice.  Students can work either by grade level or by topic as needed.  Working by topic allows the student to work strictly on Addition or Estimation or Algebra as needed, wherever the student needs the extra help.  
Language Arts is set up similarly to Math, allowing the student to work on grade level or by topic.  So if your student needs extra practice with Sentences or Nouns and Pronouns, you can simply choose that topic to start them on.
In parent mode, you can set up each child’s account through the Profiles and Settings options.  I was able to set up a parent account and one account for each of my older children.  I input their names and chose a picture to fit them so they can tell who is who.  These are fun little images to help them distinguish their personal accounts.  I can also opt to set a secret word for each of them to log in with or to leave the account without a word in this section.
Through my parent account, I can check the progress of each student.  I can print reports of their progress, as well.  I am able to view awards for each student’s progress to see how well they are doing in their work.  I can also view my state standards to see how well my children match up to their grade levels and their educational knowledge through the program.
We’ve used IXL for several years off and on now.  It’s a program that I have personally enjoyed though it’s not always been appealing to my children.  However, it’s a wonderful program to have them use as a go to just to cover review lessons quickly and gauge their personal progress.
The style and set up of the program lessons remind me of the Standardized Testing that I used to take yearly in public school.  It’s pretty much presented as a problem with fill in the blank answers, or online choices in the place of fill in the blank.  This isn’t necessarily a problem but it doesn’t completely mesh with our homeschooling style.  My children are extremely hands-on and prefer to watch a video on a math lesson or to actually work out a lesson using blocks or some kind of manipulative over choosing the correct answer from a group of answers.
This program would be amazing for students who are preparing for testing in their state.  In our state, testing is not mandatory, so it definitely doesn’t benefit us there.  It would also be a great program for a family who wishes to meet their state’s standards or to stay aligned with the public school’s standards for education.
My children enjoy being able to see their accomplishments through the Awards in the program.  They also enjoy seeing the information they’ve covered in lessons, and I enjoy that as well.  It’s also nice to be able to print off the areas they have covered and passed thoroughly so I can see what we need to work on next.  This allows me to bypass parts of lessons that my children aren’t struggling with and concentrate on those areas they are struggling with.
IXL is available by subscription for $9.95 for Math only, $9.95 for Language Arts only, or $15.95 monthly for both.  A years subscription of $79 is available for either Math or Language Arts or $129.00 for both subjects for the year.  Additional subscriptions for each child are $2 a month per child, or $20 per year per child.
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Our Year 2010-2011

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I’m sitting in my dining/class room at 1:25 AM because I just can’t sleep.  It often takes me a while to wind down at night but tonight seems to be taking longer than usual so I thought I’d use this time to update.

We officially began school this week.  Though we are usually always doing school-type stuff, this week we began actual studies, like normal homeschoolers.  We are stepping back into things very slowly and are only doing a portion of our intended yearly studies.  Next week we will add in another subject or two and the week after we will hopefully begin all our planned subjects for this year.

That said, our subjects this year include, but are not limited to:

Reading great books like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Winnie the Pooh (the fully written text of the story), Understood Betsy, The Whipping Boy and many others.  These books will be read together for our Literature studies. We will also do subject studies, study guides and lapbooks on different things dealing with each book, such as a study on Chocolate for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and learning about Winnie the Bear when we read about Winnie the Pooh.  These will be fun extentions to use throughout the year.

Reading skills also include completing a phonics review, working through our Skills books, playing various reading games on the computer and getting out there, reading every book we can manage on each child’s grade level.  My daughter is right on track in reading but my son is behind in his reading and this years goal is to have them both reading thoroughly and with little help by the end of the year.

History finds us using the Story of the World Volume 1, along with the wonderful activity guide provided to us by an extraordinary lady from The Homeschool Lounge, the Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History, and many other interesting history related books to go along with our SOTW curriculum.  We will also be using activity guides and History Pockets: Ancient Civilations to further our study, along with lapbooking and/or notebooking on each subject portion furthering our study even more.  History is gonna be a good thing this year!!

History also incorparates geography by discussing things that happen in different places throughout the world and providing map skills for those places.  We will work on these skills in depth as we go through our curriculum for the year.

For Spelling we will be working through the Dolch Lists and also using our Instant Spelling Words for Writing workbooks.  I will be including spelling words for each subject learned as well as writing exercises to encourage word recognition and spelling.

Grammar is from Scott Foresman.  We began this last year and we will finish what we started and move on through the next levels for this year too.  The kids really enjoy this Grammar curriculum.

We will also be using Scott Foresman for Math, along with the IXL website, to build our math skills.  The beginning of the year brings a quick assessment on previous learned skills to see what they really know and move from there, building upon that knowledge.

We will be working the Book of Virtues unit study this year too.  You can find this unit study at Shiver Academy.  We will do the various activities included in the study and expand on the sections that apply to us the most.  We will also read more of the Book of Virtues than is required by the unit study.

We will continue our daily devotionals with Keys for Kids online.  We will use the daily verse as copy work and do provided activities to encourage our relationship with God.  We will also pray daily for whatever is on our hearts at the time.

At some point this year we will cover various Health topics, using both our Health curriculums and various information from other areas, online and in print.

We will be doing a study on Manners using Manners Made Easy.  I am waiting on this book to arrive and will divulge more on this at a later date. 

Science this year is Apologia’s Botany course.  We will begin this next week, provided I remember to pick up the necessary items I keep forgetting!  For now, we’ve been discussing the Fall weather, going by the pond to see nature up close and at it’s best, discussing various habitats and various animals that are now out and about getting ready for Winter.  We’re also supplementing by watching nature shows to learn even more about animals and plants in their natural environments.  At this point though we are ready to move on to the solid stuff and Botany will be a wonderful experience for us.

Handwriting is built through various writing activities throughout our curriculum, including daily copywork for most studies, as well as writing out words, definitions and various things in lapbook, notebooks and elsewhere.  This leads to writing which will also be provided through various activities throughout the curriculum, such as book reviews, letters, creative stories and much more.

For Home Skills, we will be working on perfecting new skills: cleaning, dishes, learning to do the laundry properly, cooking and much more.  Household skills are important for all children to learn so they can take care of themselves once they are grown.  Also, we will be learning how to use routines and schedules to better stay on track.  Even though the kids have used these things for years, this year will bring the instruction to why we do the things we do.

Our language studies this year will include Sign Language and French.  These will be added in later on once the main subjects are underway.

Per request of my artistic daughter I will be including Art to our curriculum this year, though I am still in search of an appropriate, yet afforadable curriculum.  For now we will do Arts and Crafts based upon activities that go along with our educational studies, as well as Holidays and times of the year. 

Looking at the list, it seems we have a LOT to do but I know it’s going to go by so very fast, especially since we homeschool year round, pretty much daily, even on holidays.  We will take off school as needed but at this time there are no real planned breaks other than Christmas and birthdays, which will also be filled with fun activities. 

I think this year should bring forth a lot of learning and fun experiences for us and I am as excited about it all as my children are!   I truly LOVE homeschooling!!

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