Time4Learning has been an excellent addition to our homeschool. My two older boys, ages 11 and nine, have used it over the past month. One of the main reasons it has been especially great this past month has been the convenience of being able to tell the boys to sign on and within seconds, they are doing school! No prep work for mom which has come in handy the past couple weeks due to a very busy schedule. Normally, school would just be lacking at a time like this.
One of the features I like best is the Parent Login section. I loved and was surprised that, after a couple weeks, I was able to sign on and with just a few clicks view everything the boys had looked at, completed and could know exactly how much time was spent on each activity.
I know that we haven't even scratched the surface on how we can incorporate Time4Learning into our homeschool studies, mainly due to our own time restraints. But so far the boys have learned so much by using the curriculum. My nine year old immediately gravitated to the science section of his level. He was able to view and study things that we hadn't covered yet in our own curriculum.
"I learned about earthquakes, the human body, digestion, the food pyramid and that's only in science," said my nine year old. He continued, "Then, I learned about Franklin D. Roosevelt and The Great Depression." When I asked him why he liked Time4Learning he responded that it is really easy because "they" read it to you and then you get to answer questions. "They" is the narrator for the lessons and it is definitely a great asset.
I have a four year old and a newborn and Time4Learning has enabled to me to feel like we're well rounded in our teaching. I haven't been able to sit through each lesson, individually, but as I stated already, I was able to login and then check on precisely what my child had viewed and completed in their lessons, including the content. And, it didn't take much time at all.
We use a Charlotte Mason inspired curriculum, so having short lessons such as the ones in Time4Learning fit right in with our style of learning. But, I don't think anyone who isn't particularly CM-inspired would have an issue with the lessons.
My 11 year old also really likes Time4Learning as well.
"I learned a lot of the things I never learned before, some of the stories are really cool. This one about the little girl who figured out when the moon would be full in, Phases of the Moon, was much more interesting to learn about by reading a story than to just be told about it."
Both boys and my four year old really loved the Playground section. I like that it is limited to 15 minutes increments per day!
Overall, Time4Learning is a great product. I'm pretty frugal with what I spend for our curriculum and at first I wasn't sure what the cost would be compared to what it would provide for our family. I asked my husband thinking he would be reluctant, but he said, "Well, if it is something you are going to use for them, then it is worth it."
I look forward to continuing with Time4Learning, as are my children. Like I said before, I know we've only scratched the surface so I am excited to see how else we can learn using it.
