What is I Know It
This "comprehensive, interactive math practice site" is geared towards children in Kindergarten to fifth grade. It is great because it can be used by homeschooling families (like us) or by children who attend public or private school. In both cases, it is designed to assist students with independent practice "allowing them to work at their own level and pace towards mastery of concepts and skills aligned with common core."
I Know It is from the same team that built and operates SuperTeacherWorksheets.com. You can also use I Know It on a number of different platforms or devices such as laptops, Chromebooks, iPads, and desktop computers. Feature access might be limited if used on a mobile phone. Questions can also be read aloud to your children or student(s).
The program is customizable, which makes it easy to monitor individual progress with reports and emails to help you track where your child or student is in the program. The concepts are sorted by grade level, which makes it easy to find the skills your child might need to work on.
There are three different types of memberships one can purchase:
- Home/Family Membership (allows one family account for one parent & up to 4 children)
- Single Teacher Membership (allows one teacher account and up to 30 student accounts)
- School or District Membership (allows any number of teacher/student accounts to be set based upon needs of school)
The Home/Family Membership, which we are using, has one family login and only costs $90 per year. If you have more than four children, there is a small fee of $8 for each additional child.
Here is a brief overview of the topics covered in Kindergarten. Those our children have used at the time I wrote this review are blue:
- Numbers & Counting & Place Value
- Counting Objects to 5
- Counting Objects to 10
- Place Value (Up to 20)
- And more!
- Geometry & Shapes
- Flat Shapes
- Classifying Objects by Shape
- And more!
- Addition
- Addition to 5
- Basic Addition to 10
- Adding Zero within 10
- And more!
- Comparing Numbers
- Compare Objects to 5
- Compare Digits to 5
- Compare Objects to 10
- Compare Digits to 10
- Subtraction
- Basic Subtraction
- Subtraction Drills
- And more!
- Measurement
- Longer/Taller and Shorter
- Non-standard Units
- Heavier/Lighter
- Hot/Cold
- Time & Money
- Coin Identification and Values (USA)
- Coin Identification and Values (Canadian)
- Counting Different Denominations (Both USA & Canadian)
- Telling Time to the Hour
- Addition & Subtraction Mixed
- Addition and Subtraction to 5
- Adding and Subtracting Zero
- And more!
- Classifying Objects
- Patterns
- Graphing
- Reading Bar Graphs
Topics in other grades include:
- Numbers & Place Value
- Multiplication
- Division
- Basic Algebra
- Fractions
- Geometry
- Word Problems
- And more!
My dashboard as the parent lists more information and tabs than that of our children. For example, I can access my account, my children's accounts, the assignments for both of the children, and the progress for both of my children. Our children's accounts only provide them access with their homepage (which has their assignments and the topics available to practice), settings (if they wish to change the animation), and their own individual progress.
How We Are Using I Know It
As our five-year-old son is not using a formal math curriculum yet, we are using I Know It as a way to introduce and reinforce concepts with him. I set up several assignments I would like him to complete, but I have given him the freedom to select the kindergarten activities that he would like to do.
Our son has completed a number of lessons ranging from Counting Objects to 10 to Fractions: Equal Parts (Halves). In general, I think he has had more success than he thought he would as he tried the different topics.
Each activity seems to have a combination of typing and selecting the right answer. With each correct answer, there is an animated figure that celebrates the correct answer.
In the case of our three-year-old daughter, she is discovering how to use the laptop while she is reviewing her numbers. She has been completing mostly the Counting Objects to 10 and Flat Shapes lessons from the Kindergarten level. As is typical of most smaller children, she has started a number of assignments and not completed them. But that is okay...she is enjoying working with I Know It and learning more about numbers.
We receive a progress report via email so we know what our children are working on during the week. There are also progress reports online available to the student so they can review the problems. The report is broken down by lesson.
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| Report via email |
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| Progress report available for our son's viewing on his own account |
Recommendations
Even though the site mentions common core, I haven't found anything overtly pushing the idea of common core. If you click on the 'cc' next to lesson topic, it will bring up the common core standards associated with the questions.
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| When clicking on the 'cc' next to the lesson, you will find more detailed common core standards. |
I like that there are a variety of questions to help children master the skills along with cute graphics and animations that our son enjoys. The lessons are short which are great for a quick review of a topic. There are also a number of places from the Q & A to the Help Files, where you can look for answers to your questions about the site. I would recommend this for those interested in providing additional review for their children in mathematics whether your children are homeschooled or attend public/private school.
To learn more about I Know It, please visit the following:
To read more reviews, please visit the Homeschool Review Crew!
Glad to hear that your children have been enjoying the program. We've been, too! I like that it's simple enough for younger children to navigate through.
ReplyDeleteYes...I was amazed at how easily my daughter has found it. (She really hasn't used my laptop for much so far.)
Deletelooks like a simple program good for the kidlets.
ReplyDeleteYes...they are enjoying it.
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