My son is 6 and in a half-day K program. To this point, he's been all about reading (taught himself to read at 4 and is currently reading on 4th grade level). He's been showing interest in math over the last couple of months. I always did well in math but I will admit that it's not an area that I feel particularly confident in. I was always a reader/writer-type. Anyway, I started doing Bedtime Math with him a couple of months ago and he LOVES it. He was home sick last week (sick enough to be out of school but well enough to drive me crazy) and wanted to do math and in an impulsive moment I signed up for a month of ixl. He is loving it and has completed 20% of first grade math with no help from me. My questions: 1, How accurate is ixl with regard to math/grade? 2, is there something he might like more that he can do relatively independently? Thanks in advance!!

We tried ixl last year and liked it. The grades seemed fair with what I've read about the common core milestones, but we're not in the public system yet so I don't know for sure. We just got our first tablet and I'm trying to research some apps that might be more fun in a game-ish way. We just got dragonbox. DS4 seems to like it so far. I'll be watching this thread for ideas.

There a number of past threads with a wide range of online math systems. My son's school uses IXL for acceleration and specific backing of skills. It aligns pretty tightly with their curriculum.

We're un/homeschooling Kindergarten at the moment (started right after thanksgiving) and for math we're doing Dreambox learning. My only requirement for math every day is that DS5.7 gets 3 rewards in Dreambox learning ... it's up to him to choose whatever activity in there that he wants to do. We just started being more serious about it maybe 5 or 6 weeks ago and he's now doing early 2nd grade work. I just let him work at his own speed in there and unless he asks me to explain thing, I let him figure everything in there on his own. It also tells you the requirements that he's already completed (might be helpful for your portfolio ... I read your other thread about what you need to keep to show the state).

Thank you all so much!

KTPie, Ixl aligns nicely with common core and our public school district uses it starting at k level. I used that site for dd4.5 6 months ago and she started at 1st grade and completed it fairly quickly. Then she went to 2nd grade and got real bored with the repetition. Plus she really enjoys using math to solve problems instead of just doing the operations. So we stopped. Now we use Singapore math workbooks and Flash kids workbook for gifted kids and for most parts she can work independently. Unlike your kid, dd is not advanced in reading so I still have to read her some of the problems. So if you are okay with paper math instead of online, this might work.

Thank you, lovemydd! I'll check those out

FYI: Go to njctl.org and click on courses --> common core math and you will find presentations, classwork and homework, and projects all for free and matched to common core at each grade level.

Thank you!

Khan Academy seems to have added much more content in the Common Core area of the site.

We have a DS6 who loves Khan Academy. We like it since it helps to assess what he already grasps and focuses in on areas that need more attention. We also like that it isn't just math, but a platform for many other disciplines. So, since he is used to the system for math, it's easy to cross over into history and other subjects. IXL drove us up a wall with it's repetitive tasks that paid no heed to his ability.

We augment Khan academy with some workbooks and other online videos.

Last weekend my 8yo son, after using Khan Academy for math, watched a video on the Korean War . I joined him. I'm glad he is taking an interest in history, and we both learned something.

Here is something I wonder about, though. Salman Khan has degrees in electrical engineering and computer science and an MBA. He is an amateur when it comes to history, as most of us are. Ideally there would be a free set of short history videos recorded by (or least reviewed by) historians specializing in the topics. They probably exist on the Internet, but I suspect many people view what is on Khan Academy out of convenience. So a general question, which has been discussed in the context of textbooks, is how important is it for instructional materials to be prepared by subject matter experts?

To paraphrase:

Who would you like to teach your kids?
[ ]An expert.
[ ]Some random guy on the internet.

I know what I pick.

(This has been a complaint about the coverage/approach of Khan for some more advanced math topics, actually-- we found Khan singularly unhelpful for some trig topics, for example, and nearly so for some in college algebra.)

Just a note that IXL can exacerbate perfectionist tendenciea. Their smart scoring drove my daughter to distraction. Even when she knew the material, the thought that one wrong answer at the very end would drop her score 10 points or more made her nervous enough to make errors.

Your mileage will obviously vary.

This happened with my kids as well and I was worried they would give up.

We did a trial of dreambox last year (maybe just DS? I don't remember) and I thought the version for his age was kind of dumb, but now that he's on more advanced grade I like it more. It has some glitches and is not perfect, but one thing I like about it is that is very visual, and lays all the concepts out in pictures. It continually assesses to find the right level for a kid, though I made the mistake of putting DS in third grade level. Some of it is fine but I had to go through and do all multiplication and division sections on my own to get it past that, so he wouldn't have to suffer through it endlessly. The pace can be kind of slow for gifted kids, even if they pass material in the pre-testing. But it has been more successful with DS than any of the other online programs. We will probably go through Khan Academy just as a review or to cover missed or unclear topics.

DD9 was assigned IXL for homework last year, and my understanding is that it is "review-focused" and does no teaching. I am not sure how close to grade level it is - DD asked to, and was allowed to work above grade level.

DD doesn't seem to be a perfectionist, so we haven't had problems there (but DS might be, so I'm making a mental note of the comments of others - so helpful!).

I think for a bright kid, the early "grades" in math in many of these programs are just too simple.

For example, DS6 uses Dreambox for enrichment at home. He flew through K-2 ridiculously quickly. He complained a great deal when he got to "3rd grade" on Dreambox, because the format changes (it is less "cutesy," probably because many of the kids using it are older), but he is working through it. Dreambox seems to have a teaching component - it is not just testing the kids.

EPGY has lectures - I sometimes cringe a bit when listening to DD use it in the other room, because they DO sometimes sound awfully dry. I have not tried DS6 with EPGY yet, because of the "lecture-style" - seems focused on a slightly older set IMO, because of this. DYS DD9, uses EPGY for enrichment at home, and recently asked if she could try algebra - it is nice that EPGY has all of that (we use OE). Since DD's recent MAP test scores suggest she could be ready, I let her play around with algebra (apparently, it starts kind of slow, too, because DD grew frustrated with it and started telling the EPGY lecture - "I already KNOW this - blah, blah, blah!!!" Um, patience is not her strong suit...). If your DC can handle the lecture-style, EPGY provides a great deal of learning, although I'd definitely try the OE route - MUCH more reasonably-priced and FINE for how we use it.

Loy58 (and any others). Any thoughts on how EPGY OE would be as a stand alone program?

I thank you all for your responses. To update, we stopped ixl after our first month. The perfectionist in him couldn't take it. We dabbled in Khan for a bit and then started EGPY at the very end of June. He grew frustrated after about a week, at which point I realized that he wasn't on the gifted setting. We fixed that and he is enjoying it quite a bit, even though I find it pretty dry.

KTPie, could you tell me how you changed the setting in EPGY OE to the gifted setting? We are trying the OE version again (subscription from last fall) and I don't know how to change the setting.

I need to see if it would work for my son use at school as a math acceleration program. I don't know how often he will actually get to use it, so would rather not pay for the full version if the OE version will work. However, he found it really boring in the fall, and I only recently realized that there is a "gifted" setting, but I don't know how to change it.

We just got it. (DCs haven't started using it yet.)

The SSA can change the setting to "gifted" (this applies to K-7 Math only, not LA/Wr or Alg).

But another setting that I'm guessing will speed things up is (for each subject) in "Session Settings" have "Review exercises* (0-15)" set to 0, so you don't have to start each session with a bunch of review exercises (unless you want to). The "Math races" are optional. You can set (session) "Duration* (10-300)" to 300.

Sorry! Just seeing this. I emailed the admin.

I'm not sure exactly what the "Review exercises* (0-15)" setting does. I think maybe it mixes in some review exercises (from an earlier topic, not the current one) randomly with the current topic exercises. So this setting adjust how much that happens.

Since the original topic addresses a 6 y.o. and I was responding with my personal experience regarding my 6 y.o. I think that Khan Academy is a fine, free resource to introduce topics to kids. I especially like that it isn't just exercises, but also instruction. And so far, through 4th grade math, it has been quite helpful.

I don't necessarily have "experts" at my disposal, but as my son progresses, I hope to find better access to more knowledgeable people. Part of the reason we decided to home school is that public school teachers are rarely experts in the various fields they are asked to teach. For now, I find it useful to have introductions to topics to suss out his interests. Then we can find the resources for the deeper dives.

I'm curious about EPGY since they don't offer a demo or free-trial (that I can find). Other than it being a bit dry, does the material seem thorough and well-plotted? Are there better, more rigorous resources out there for history and other topics?

Yes, EPGY OE Math K-7 is very 'thorough and well-plotted' (which is rare), and somewhat 'dry' (no 'dancing bears'), which worked just fine for our DC. The only piece of entertainment is 'computational races' at the beginning of every lesson (which may be skipped). The lectures used to be read by an older gentleman, a Stanford professor, the creator of EPGY.

The 'gifted' setting reduces the repetition noticeably, and switching it on helped at the time.

I was not aware of the 'review exercises control'; your SSA should know about this.

You may move your child's grade placement by 1/2 grade up or down at any time (without asking SSA). This is particularly useful. (EPGY's guideline is that ideally your child should be getting about 70-80% problems correct. This has been discussed on this forum earlier as related to counteracting perfectionism.)

We tried several other well-known online math programs at the time - none were particularly useful. (DC was about 7, but had decent math skills.) DC uses AOPS now and the plan is to use all that AOPS has to offer.

Thanks! I emailed them myself last week and they helped me.

glad to hear that EPGY is working for your son. Just wanted to add my voice to the Dreambox vote - both my older boys are enjoying it. Nathan just "graduated" to the big kid setting and was so excited that he spent most of today doing Dreambox. He loved the old setting too - loved the adventures. But he likes that he is working in the same way as his big brother.

I love that Dreambox gives such clear reporting - making it easy for me to keep a portfolio of completed work for in case we ever get asked to show this for homeschooling.

I think from here we will most likely go to AOPS as/when we need more. EPGY is just too expensive for us (silly exchange rate!)

Thanks, arlen1. I hadn't heard of AOPS before, but looks interesting.