Time 4 Learning - A New TOS Review!!

Sometimes we find that our children need either extra practice on a subject, or we parents need something we can depend on to still be able to teach our children while we go through a particular stage in life (new baby, sickness, moving, etc.), or we want to make sure we are 'hitting the mark' in our teaching so we want a supplemental program.  Then maybe Time 4 Learning would be exactly what you have been looking for.

The Product:
The girls were given a 30 day Free membership to Time 4 Learning for us to check it all out.  There are two levels the lower level (pre-K-3rd) and the upper level (4th - 8th) as well as a parent forum area.  Also as a parent you have access to set up assignments and view reports of your child's progress.   They even average all the quizzes and tests for you.  That's a plus for many. ;)

When you sign up for Time 4 Learning you can be using it for your core homeschool curriculum, supplemental, summer school, or as an after school program. Your membership will include:

• Online curriculum for grades Pre-K through 8th

• More than 1,000 interactive animated lessons

• Self paced lessons that kids will enjoy working on

• Math & algebra tutorials & printable worksheets

• Language arts, phonics & grammar lessons

• Interactive, project-based reading activities

• Science (grades 1st - 6th) & social studies (grades 2nd - 7th)

• Detailed reporting for easy record keeping

• Extensive lesson plans & teaching tools for parents

• and much more...

Time 4 Learning has either 4 areas (Language Arts Extensions, Language Arts, Math, and Science) for those in the younger grades (1st - 6th) or 5 areas (which adds Social Studies to the other four areas) for the older grades (2nd - 8th).  Each area is broken down in to several skill sections which are then broken down even more.

For instance, in Language Arts they have an area called Comprehension. Once you click on that 'skill area' you are then brought to a new area which has Comprehension broken down into several parts or skills.  One of those is Summarizing.  When you click on that the lessons are broken down and include quizzes.  Once the child completes all of the lessons and quizzes for Summarizing they will receive a green check mark and then can move to the next 'skill' to be taught for Comprehension.  Here's a picture of one of the 3rd grade questions for Language Arts.

You can check it our for yourselves by viewing the lesson demos or sample lesson plans to decide whether you think that Time 4 Learning will fit your family.  If you decide that this is something you could or will need then the cost will be $19.95 for the first child and $14.95 for each additional child.  They also have a 100% satisfaction guarantee, so if you are not completely happy with it you can cancel within the first 14 days for a full refund.  You can sign up for the program if this is something you have been searching for.

Our Experience:
We have had fun exploring all that Time 4 Learning has to offer.  Arianna seems to really enjoy the lessons.  I did not 'set up assignments' but I just told her to do 1 section in each area whenever she was working on the program.  Because she's in the 3rd grade level I let her do it mostly on her own.  She reinforced some learning on the Vikings which we had previously covered.  I feel that her knowledge of that time period has been greatly increased because of the time she spent reading and doing quizzes.

Audrie on the other hand does not get free reign on the computer, so she had less time to explore on her own.  I also like to be there with her during her learning time because of her age.  She was very excited to use the program and it was quite entertaining.  Because of her grade level (1st) the computer would "talk" to her and read the questions to her.  That was very helpful considering we are still in the process of learning to read.

My Thoughts:
I love the ability to use this as either a supplemental program or as your core.  I found that using it to reinforce certain skills or lessons we were learning has really helped those ideas be cemented into their memories.

Since this is an online program we had little trouble with it, even though I run a LINUX system which is good.  I do however have to check the box to 'open in troubleshooting mode' in order for the screen size to look correct.  That being said, it did not seem to have any other issues or problems.

I am on the fence with the pricing.  On one hand the price of less then $20 for your core curriculum sounds great.  But as homeschoolers, many have larger families so the additional price per child is where it becomes difficult ... at least for my family.  I do also think that if they had a separate pricing for each area that might help bring in more customers.  Say $5 per month per section.  That way if you were having a hard time with math or science you knew that Time 4 Learning had a way to help you too.

All in all I thought this was a solid program.  I don't think our 30 day free membership was enough time to really get all we could out of the program.  I still feel like we are exploring it.  If you want to read more about the program please head on over to the Homeschool Crew site and check out what my other Crew members are saying about the program.

*** I am a member of The Old Schoolhouse 2011-2012 Crew and receive free products and services in exchange for a thorough and honest review. Though I am compensated with free products, I am not compensated in the form of money for any of my reviews. My reviews will always reflect my honest opinions, findings, beliefs and experiences with the products and services that I receive.***