Above and Beyond: 5 Online Resources for Extra Learning

Extra practice can go a long way in improving your child’s academic performance or even in helping them get ahead of their peers. Luckily, educational websites not only make this kind of extra practice accessible, they often make it fun, too. Check out five of Cardinal Education’s favorite learning-oriented websites to get additional practice below.

Quizlet

Subject(s): All subjects

Price: Most features are free, but students can pay for individual, advanced study guides.

How it works: If your student has an upcoming assessment or simply wants to solidify new material, Quizlet is a great resource. Essentially, Quizlet allows students to create their own virtual flashcards. Their design encourages users to repeatedly retrieve information from their memory, making them more likely to remember it long term. Students can save the sets of flashcards they make, play learning games, and even access study guides created by other users of the site.

Membean

Subject(s): Language Arts, Vocabulary

Price: Membean offers a 3 day free trial with a range of paid plans available for anytime from 1 to 12 months.

How it works: Membean makes learning vocabulary individualized and exciting with methods that benefit students regardless of their learning style. New users of Membean take a calibration test, which determines their starting level of vocabulary. Users can then study their assigned words in a variety of ways, from looking at similar words, word maps, or examples of the word in a sentence. For a more extensive review of just how crucial of a tool Membean can be for your student’s learning, check out our blog post on Membean and writing rhetoric. 

Prodigy

Subject(s): Mathematics (Grades 1-8)

Price: Students can access a basic plan for free, but there are also premium options available from $4.99 to $8.95 per month.

How it works: With Prodigy, students learn math through a world of fantasy, magic, and more! This game requires its users to win battles with spells that are acquired through solving math problems. As players improve their math skills, the game evolves with them, creating more challenging problems.

Art of Problem Solving

Subjects(s): Mathematics, Computer Science (Grades 5-12)

Price: Purchase individual courses with prices ranging from $115-$945

How it works: Art of Problem Solving (AoPS) offers countless, extensive online courses for students who want to improve their math or computer science abilities. The online classes generally meet weekly at a time outside of normal school hours, and students have homework assignments to complete for each week as well. Outside of their classes, AoPS offers several other resources like educational videos, handouts, and practice competitions.

Code Combat

Subjects(s): Coding, Computer Science

Price: All of the game’s core levels are free, but you can pay $9.99 per month to gain access to all levels and additional bonuses.

How it works: Computer Science is a rapidly expanding industry, and its foundations are making their way into many school’s curriculums. Now, students can get a comprehensive introduction to coding through the fun world of an RPG Adventure game. Students must generate functional code to move their avatar through dungeons and traps. As users progress further into the game, the traps (and coding) get more elaborate!

Websites like these do a seamless job of integrating study tools with excitement. Engaging in online resources is a great way to add variety to your learning, and to get some extra practice without it being a bore.