the WRITE Balance: I Know It: A Math Practice Site Review

My son got a couple of new books of a series he's reading from the library and (as usual) ever since, all he wants to do is read. I'm not complaining about that, but it does make him even less motivated to dig in to math practice than normal. It's not that he can't do it, he's just not motivated. Thankfully, he loves trying new things so when we got the opportunity to try a new math practice site, the gap between his motivation and successful engagement was filled! I Know It is the newest thing from the creators of SuperTeacherWorksheets.com, a great printable website we reviewed last year. I Know It is an interactive supplemental math practice site for elementary ages K-5 that provides skill practice across grade levels.

How It Works
For this review we were given a family subscription that allows for 4 users, of which we used 2. As the parent/admin user, I choose what skills/assignments each student is to work on including how many problems and they can then complete them in whatever order they choose. This program is only a practice site and NOT a full math curriculum. Skills are not taught, but merely practiced. Each question does allow for a hint, but that is the extent of instruction. Since miss Z is still learning to read, that is sometimes a hindrance for her with online programs set up for K and older. However, each question was accompanied by an audio option that would read it to you.

When setting up each user you provide a grade level, but as the teacher I can assign practice skills across any grade. That feature is one I really appreciate and have not seen in previous math programs we have used. J really enjoys multiplication and division, but gets weary of multiple digit addition and subscription. It helps to start him with things he finds easy and work up from there. That covers 2nd grade AND 3rd grade.
Each user's homepage features their assignments, but also has access to all of their level topics if they want to explore or practice on their own as well. There is a Progress section that allows the parent to see the students' status in multiple ways, including Recent Activity, Individual Progress, and Assignment Progress. If, for example, a skill was completed but still not mastered, I can assign it again.

What We Thought

Overall, it was a win for us! Both kids were able to use it and enjoy it. During each practice session there is an animated character that reacts to successfully answered questions. As kids are known to do, they loved this part! One minor thing that caused frustration was that it would automatically sign us out after we stopped using it and would convert to a trial version, which lets you use it for so many questions or so much time. This would result in me having to log back in in the middle because their session would quit working. Not a big deal, but it took us a while to figure out what was going on.
Other than that, this is a great resource for boosting those math skills!

Interested in trying it out? Right now they are offering a free 60 day trial to homeschoolers and teachers.