Does anyone have any links to any good free math sites, similar to xtramath.com, but that don't involve timers? I thought DS would like that site, and he was really excited, until the timer started going and he got really anxious, then it showed the results and he got upset that he didn't get the 'smiley face' on all of them. I might just have to shell out for Aleks...

Khan Academy's practice math has no timer. You can win asteroids and stuff from being fast, but it's not obvious how fast you'd need to be to win one, or even that you missed out on winning anything if you weren't that fast.

ALEKS uses a timer in quicktables, it can be set for up to 10 seconds per response, but the timer couldn't be turned off. That's for math facts.

There's no timer in Khan Academy, though there are bonuses if you do a lot of problems quickly. It's pretty clunky, though.

What's your goal?

Cool, thank you guys! I'll try Khan academy.

My goal is to allow him to learn as much as he wants this summer! Now that we know he is going into a school that has the procedures in place to allow him to work ahead (gasp!) I want him to be able to learn whatever he wants. Not that I've prevented him in the past, but, I haven't really helped him get ahead, either.

Honestly, if that's your goal, I'd pick up a copy of Challenge Math or something similar and skip or dramatically reduce the use of the online format.

I'll probably do that as well, he really likes work books, but I also wanted to give him something to do on the computer that wasn't minecraft!

My DD5 didn't like xtramath either because of the "time pressure."
We've found that www.fun4thebrain.com is a free site that has a number of fun no-pressure games for practicing basic math facts. She especially likes the games with the MURB monsters: http://www.fun4thebrain.com/murb/murb.html
It doesn't track your progress, but you can choose what you want to practice. It has fun music and graphics, and best of all, there's no pressure.

Thanks, jeimey, we'll it!

My ds6's gifted school insists on using xtramath.com too - while I keep insisting that the timed pressure part of it is not fostering his love of math.

At school they use dreambox.com - I'm not thrilled with it - not to mention the closed, proprietary aspects of it.

I've seen better math resources for younger kids at:
http://www.goodsitesforkids.org - tons of stuff there

Try Know Watch Learn as an alternative to Khan. More there for younger ages.

You might also try www.oercommons.org - for open resources.

Forgot to mention - I refuse to pay a penny for educational content/materials when there is plenty of free/source resources today. There is no end to quality free material online today.

http://www.watchknowlearn.org/default.aspx - Know Watch Learn.

You can also find resources or post them on www.livebinders.com

IXL is pretty cheap and you can turn off the timer.