TOS Review: Big IQ Kids

Big IQ Kids is a supplemental online program geared to help children in math, spelling, vocabulary and state geography.  

The goal is to have your child do one lesson in each section per day.  You can customize each section to a point.  In spelling, you can use your own spelling list or just stick with the one provided by the Big IQ program.  The math section is geared towards basic math facts-addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. You may choose the number of problems your child has to do each time he does a lesson and choose which type of problems to focus on.  For example, you can have your child work on only multiplication problems.  The default is 50 problems per lesson but you can change that as well.  I set my kids to 25 and 30 problems.  If you have the premium program the program is set up to advance your child to do more difficult problems as they become proficient in what they are working on.  Vocabulary is the other area in which you can use your own words or use what the program has. 


After each lesson your child earns a coin.  The coin can be used in the games section for your child to play games.  Most of the games are one coin to play-some are two. There is a wide variety of games-from simple and quick games that require minimal thinking to games that require a bit more time and thought. 

You can use the program for free or upgrade to the premium program.  The main things you get when you pay for an upgrade are email alerts on how your child is doing, programs that automatically move your child up based on their proficiency, a game buddy and access to all the games, and pop quizzes.  Go here to see an explanation of their premium program.  You can click on the different sections at the bottom and see more specifics on what you get for a premium membership.



Our experience:

I had the kids work on Big IQ Kids at least four days per week.  Precise Prince loved the states program and achieved mastery in one of the sections within a week or two.  It was definitely his favorite section to work on.  He also liked the timed math quizzes, but I wondered why when the reports I was receiving were showing he was getting low percentages on them.  After I watched him, I figured out the problem.  He was trying to do too many problems in too short of a time and wasn't able to finish all the problems.  He was getting the problems he answered correct most of the time.  I told him to add an extra minute or two to his time.  He needed the extra time for the typing as it takes him longer to type the answers than it does for him to write them.  (For a child that would be too stressed out over timed quizzes, just skip them.  The regular math program has a time clock while working that you can turn off.  No need to even deal with the timed issue if you don't want to.)


Creative Princess did the minimum I required of her--one lesson each and sometimes she tried to get away without doing the math portion.  It wasn't at all too hard for her.  I think she just isn't as excited about doing school on a computer and overall prefers to write out her school work most of the time. 


Pros:

• No paper was needed for the math section.  There was a section where the kids could "write" on the computer using the mouse.  In addition, when the kids were working on borrowing and carrying, there was a place where they could put the numbers they would borrow or carry.
• The program is intuitive and advances your child as they reach mastery if you have the premium account.
• Math, vocabulary and spelling are customizable.  You can use your own spelling and vocabulary lists and in math, you can choose the problems your child needs to practice the most. 

Cons:

• The voices are computerized.  Due to this, there were times my kids had trouble understanding what was being said. (Actually, we laughed at the voices the first time we all sat down to use this program.  They are a bit funny.)
• Even with the paid premium account, some of the pages had ads on them.  Although the ads weren't objectionable, I feel that with a paid account, I shouldn't see any ads.
• Each child is given one log in.  There is no parent log in.  That means that if I want to change anything on their programs, I log in with their information.  The problem I see is that a child who is savvy and mischievous can make changes to the program themselves (for example, they can change the number of math problems to 5.)

Can be a pro or con, depending on your family:

Your child earns coins that allow them to play games after each lesson is complete. You do have the option to set it up so that coins are only able to be used on weekends or to set it up so that the games are never offered.  For us, the coins were more a pro than a con.  My daughter didn't care much about the coins and games after playing a few.  She isn't really a big computer game player.  My son found a few games he really enjoys and occasionally will play them after his lessons.  He actually has over 70 coins saved as of now so I'm not concerned that he is spending too much time on the games. Both kids were good about doing their lessons before spending their saved coins. 

The final verdict:

When we first started using this program, I wasn't sure we would continue with it after the review period.  As we continued using it, I found that I liked it.  The lessons are short and I am finding they are helping my kids.  My son really enjoys it-even some of the math sections.  He occasionally tells me what he is learning in the states section.  This isn't my daughter's favorite program but I can see that it is helping her with her math, at the least.  I plan to continue using Big IQ Kids for awhile.  I know it will be a good supplement for next year when we have a newborn and I won't have as much hands on school time with the older kids.

I recommend you try it out for a bit.  It's free to try the basic program.  A one month premium subscription is $19.99 for all four programs.  Purchasing a one year subscription for $99.99 will bring the cost down to $8.88 per month.  These prices are per child.  Other subscriptions available are subscriptions for only one section (math, spelling, vocabulary or state) and classroom subscriptions.  There is also an option to upgrade the free account to access all the games. Go here to see their extensive pricing list.

Go here to see what my fellow crewmates have to say about Big IQ Kids. 

(I was given a one year free premium account in exchange for my honest opinion.  No other compensation was received.)