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I just signed my daughter up for IXL Math, an online math application.

Ads for it are everywhere but that’s only because it’s a little expensive ($10 a month) and because the people that run the website are smart enough to let affiliates market it for them.

First of all, my 8.25 year old son can’t do it as IXL doesn’t have higher level math – though I’m sure they’ll add it as fast as they can.

But my 6.67 year old daughter needs more math reps. Workbooks get exhausted quickly and I simply haven’t created enough materials on my own to keep her busy, yet.

The best thing about these websites and math software – if designed properly – is that the kids can do the work INDEPENDENTLY.

Other attributes include instant feedback and super-easy parental monitoring. Like Khan Academy, there are very clear benchmarks, time logs, and parents even get emailed daily reports on what their child has done that particular day. This is probably a weakness of Khan, i.e. the lack of parental updating.

Recall we’ve done mostly Kumon workbooks but I like the concept of using multiple curricula so the kids learn to adapt to different styles of problem-posing. Too many people stick with a single publisher for all their math.

The inherent problem with such a policy….is that no one curriculum has ENOUGH questions for your kids. If they aren’t exhausting what’s in front of them….then they quite frankly need to be doing MORE MATH.

Remember, the faster and harder you go, the easier it gets!

We only started IXL a few days ago. I’ll certainly let you know how it goes. But so far, so good.

Also….if you want your kid to crush math….check out my online math academy here.