TOS Review: Time4Learning

I don’t know about you, but I enjoy having a variety of resources I can dip into to assist me in our homeschool endeavors. Sometimes I just can’t be all things…So I take advantage of the expertise of grandparents, friends, other homeschoolers and yes, companies that provide excellent resources. I think Time4Learning is going to be one of those resources I can depend on. 

Josiah and I recently had a chance to review Time4Learning. This is a well-known company in homeschooling circles. I was blessed to receive a 6 month subscription to try it out. 

What I Received

Time4Learning is a computer based online curriculum that align with state education standards. It can be used as a Complete Core curriculum or as a supplemental for math, language arts, science and social studies. Time4Learning is not just for homeschoolers. It is a great resource for after school assistance for those of you whose kiddos just need some extra help. 

Time4Learning is $19.95 a month for the first child, $14.95 for additional children (PreK-8) or $30.00 for High School. Levels are available from PreK-12 grade. Most lessons are taught online with interactive animated video lessons. There are also printable worksheets available for those of you who want to reinforce any content.  

Josiah received the 6^th grade curriculum. However, Time4Learning is pretty flexible. You are able to have access to any subject one grade above or below your child’s grade level. 

To use the curriculum you obviously need a working computer with an Internet connection. 

How We Used It

I decided I would use Time4Learning as a supplement for our Language Arts 3-4 times a week. I also wanted to use the Math activities as needed.  I also took advantage of a few of the Language Arts Extension activities available. 

The Parent Administration features are really great. You are able to preview lessons and you have complete control over planning. There is a preplanned schedule available if you wish to use Time4Learning as your core curriculum. 

You can see in the picture below how it is set up. 

Your student can view their lessons each day according to what has been assigned to them.  I personally didn’t use the student planner. Josiah needs all his information in one place at this point and I included his Time4Learning activities in his daily schedule. I can see, however, that this is something I will appreciate on down the road. 

 This picture shows you the steps you take to generate your student's schedule. 

Time4Learning also keeps excellent records. For those of you who live in states with more stringent record keeping rules I know this is a great feature!

While I enjoyed all of the Administration tools, my favorite (hands down) are the lessons themselves. Josiah is a very visual learner. He also needs to be able to interact (some of you might have one of those kiddos in your house). He is also like most boys his age in the fact that he enjoys a good video game. 

I want to take you through a typical lesson. In fact, Josiah was so proud of himself he would like me to tell you that he made 100% on his final quiz for this lesson. This is big stuff for a dyslexic kid working with 6^th grade language arts. This means he is working at grade level…yay!

I have used my handy dandy screen shot feature and I've circled (in yellow) what particular section we were working through. This time around it is Vocabulary Skills. The arrow to the left is to help your student follow through the lessons if they are using the preplanned schedule. 

Within the Language Skills, I have circled Homophones. You can see from the check marks above that Josiah had already completed those sections. A terrific feature is that you can go back and repeat these lessons as necessary.

The first activity in the Homophone section is a Guided Interactive Lesson.

These lessons are fun and completely user friendly.

And they are just plain fun. There is humor infused with every lesson.That went a long way in making each lesson  more enjoyable.

This picture is from one of the quizzes. I have to tell you that the narrator for the Quizzes sounds like Columbo. Not that Josiah got the reference...

 You can see that for a boy who is dyslexic that this would be an easier format to follow. In fact, any time there is a longer paragraph to read the student is given an option to have it read to him or her before answering the quiz questions. I loved that. Josiah read through everything himself, but having that reinforcement available to him made him feel more confident.

There is so much available on with Time4Learning! I can’t even begin to talk about it all. Another great feature is the Playground. This is a section on the website that is filled with games, puzzles and activities. The beauty of the Playground is that you are able to set a time limit. If Josiah completed a lesson he earned Playground time.

I mentioned earlier that you have access to the grade level above and below what you have registered for. I did request access to 5^th grade math for Josiah.  I felt he would benefit from the review. The whole process was easy peasy.

This was a great experience for Josiah, overall. I am so thankful to have Time4Learning as a resource for the time being. I love that he is learning independently! And he is having a good time doing it. I don’t feel like I have to sit on top of him. 

If I have a complaint it is that I do wish that all the Science and Social Studies lessons for 6th grade were as interactive as the Language Arts and Math lessons. I think they are for the younger grades, but I could be mistaken. 

Overall, our experience with Time4Learning has been a great one!

Take a “look see” for yourself with this lesson demo.

You can read more Time4Learning reviews at the Schoolhouse Review Crew!