Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Time4Learning: A TOS Crew Review

Time4Learning

Time4Learning

From their website:
"Time4Learning is student-paced online educational tool covering preschool through high school. It is popular as a homeschool curriculum, an afterschool alternative to tutoring, and for summer skill building.  It uses fun, multimedia activities to teach standards- based lessons that closely follow public school curricula. Does your child have different achievement levels in different subjects? No problem! Each subject can be set at any grade level. Alternative explanations are provided, so if a student answers a question incorrectly, the activity explains it in a different way. Tools such as the activity finder help students hone in on specific areas of study and find reinforcement activities." 

This page offers an overview of what's available from Time4Learning -  preschool to kindergarten curriculum, elementary to middle school curriculum, and high school courses.
Take a peek at their interactive lesson demos.
Cost: For PreK – 8th grade, Time4Learning offers one low price of $19.95/student per month.
 Additional students can be added for $14.95 each per month, and all students have 24/7 unlimited access. There are no contracts, no hidden costs, and members can quit at any time. Plus, if for any reason a customer is not satisfied,Time4Learning offers a 14-day money back guarantee.
It's been a tough summer at Bentz Test Laboratory,  a full-detail blog post will be coming soon.  But, suffice it to say,  one of my testers need some major help catching up in some basic skills.
Time4Learning showed up "just in time".  My fiesty, never-sits-still, 3rd grade tester needed someone with more energy than me to help her brush up on some core subjects - math, language arts, science, and more.
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As you can see - plenty of activities are included.  Additionally, your student can access one level above and one level below the level you select. 


We focused on brushing up on a Math skill and a "student's choice" skill each day.  I like letting her be rewarded with her choice, after she completes the subject that is giving her more struggles.  Learning seems more like a treat that way!

The math and language arts lessons are taught with animation in this level (grade 3).  Questions, reviews and quizzes are all included along the way.  Printable worksheets are a feature you can access as well. Science and Social Studies lessons are text to read to them, and include offline suggestions to try too.  The "Playground" is an option available to play games, etc. once lessons are completed, and you as the parent can set the timer.  My wiggly girl would rather be done and outside... maybe this reward feature works better when the weather isn't so nice. :-)

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What we liked most - this was independent work for her.  Both of us needed a break, and this was one way she could continue to work at her own pace, and develop some much-needed independence.  Plus, I got a bit of a reprieve from lesson planning.  It helped her review some core subjects, and get ready to move forward.

As each lesson is completed, you can easily track progress.  I like that we could immediately see where she left off, and what to work on next. The parent administration panel gives you access to their progress, as well as the ability to change their levels, print worksheets, spelling and reading lists and more.

Overall,  I think this is a very comprehensive, well-planned learning tool.  However, it truly functions best as additional practice and review for subjects and not as core curriculum.  My tester did not want to spend large amounts of time sitting in front of the computer, and frequently tired of this type of learning.  

I truly appreciated the extra help that Time4Learning gave us during a difficult season for our family.  However, I do find it a bit spendy for the larger-than-average homeschool family budget (8 kiddos would be $124.60 per month!)  But, for a short time, as needed - this could be a valuable sanity saver for you and your child!

Click to read more reviews from the Schoolhouse Review Crew
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