Monday, December 27, 2010

Time 4 Learning: A Review

I was given the opportunity to retry Time4Learning.com. Time4Learning offered our family a free month trial if we would agree to share our experience on my blog. Since Paperboy had fond memories of using this program a few years ago, I jumped at it. He had especially enjoyed the Economics lessons. This time he choose some history lessons. 



Time4Learning is best suited for children in 8th grade or below. Because Paperboy is in ninth grade, the lessons were easy for him. I wasn't opposed to the idea of a course geared for younger students because I don't believe the minute a person jumps a grade, the content has be presented in a more challenging manner. He studied the Cold War, he was not familiar with this period of history. He felt it is the best program of it's kind. He had tried other computer-based learning, but this is the only one he still asks for. He thought it is valuable way to brush up on a topic or learn something quickly. Basically he loved it. Mom's note: It is not getting him any high school credits.


Here are the things that I liked about the program:

  • It has so many choices on topics to study. This is great for families who prefer child led learning. Since Paperboy already has a social studies program for this term, I was comfortable letting him choose what he was going to study.
  • Parent involvement is not needed after the initial set up. They offer progress reports and you can even print up reports for your record keeping.
  • The amount of choices was incredible. In our one month trial, we could not possibly have sampled all of the topics. 
  • Since it is internet based, it can be done anywhere you have wi-fi.
  • If your family is crunched for time or needs a different approach, this may be the solution.
  • You could use this program for math, language arts, science, and social studies for a small monthly fee.

This lists the #'s of available lesson plans.

The only drawback I could see about this program is: For families homeschooling multiple children, the monthly fees could really add up. They do offer many pricing options, depending on how you pay for it. If you want to try time4learning for your self, they do offer a 14-day money back guarantee.


I received this product for free in exchange for my honest opinion. Honestly, I wish I had found this when Paperboy was younger

I welcome reader comments with open arms. I also understand if you aren't the commenting or hugging type of person, you can drop me an email at accidentallyhomeschooling@gmail.com.

6 comments:

Jessica said...

Interesting. So only 8th grade and under? Maybe in a few years when I feel a bit more comfortable letting my son touch a computer I will try this out.

Unknown said...

I thought that too Jessica with my son but,after watching him sit next to his big sister in awww watching her do her lessons. I relised that even thou I would have to monitor him (I value my Pc as well lol) That I would start him on the Pre-K level. Now since he was a few months shy of 3 yrs it has taken him longer to work thru all the lessons for Pre-K but now at age 4yrs he is entering Kindergarten level and is now a wiz on the computer when it comes to the T4l site. "Knock on wood" He has not harmed my coputer yet. I think just watching them and taking the time to exsplain how to touch and not touch will ensure that they wont break it ;-)
Here is the link to thier Pre-k page if your interested ~>
http://www.time4learning.com/preschool-games.shtml

BTW Nice post really informative :')
Keri

Sennie said...

Thanks for your tweet and link to this!!

Have you tried AOP's Switched-On-Schoolhouse or Monarch? We did SOS for 5th grade & are using Monarch for 6th. I'm very curious to see how the programs compare. AOP's material is fantastic, very high quality. 1-2 of my students do struggle though with the read the lesson & complete problems part. It takes one of them a long time to finish the school day.

I'm also looking for a Kindergarten program for my youngest. She loves starfall.com and playing on the computer, so this might be a good fit for her.

TerriG said...

Random(8th) is using SOS History and has used the health course in the past. I am actually praying about Monarch or SOS for most of his classes next year. I do wonder about retention when it is all done by computer. He will take the Stanford achievement test again this year and I will see if he has made progress.

Sennie said...

TerriG, I think both SOS & Monarch are awesome.

We prefer Monarch - easier being online based instead of all the networking & discs. And AOP has been working on getting bugs fixed. We might just continue with Monarch for the big kids next year too, but if we do, I really need to make sure I'm available for my son D during school hours. But we'll keep checking out T4L & it might be the perfect fit for my little one for Kindergarten.

Thanks so much for your help!!

LM said...

They are adding High School Aug 2013