Time4Learning.com gave us a free month of their online educational program in exchange for posting an honest review of the program at the end of the month.
Their curricula are organized by age. There is a separate login for Lower Level (Prek-3rd grade), Upper Level (4th-8th), and Parent Admin.
Positives:
Time4Learning.com has curricula for many different ages. I was able to use the same site for both our preschooler and our 1st grader. At the same time, the activities are geared toward very specific grade-level objectives. Our children each had a different set of activities to choose from, and in fact a different login from each other. The preschool activities were arranged according to theme and the 1st grade activities by subject matter, then the optimal order in which to do the activities.
As a parent, I loved the organization. You can log in and plan activities for your child for the whole year if you would like. You don't have to. If I had made Xander follow through on all the progressions of activities (which would take a full school year, but no one has to do all the activities if they are using Time4Learning as a supplement), I would have felt comfortable that he had mastered all the age-level material he needed to. On the computer, at least.
Nick, as a young preschooler, loved
Time4Learning.com. He did not know how to work the computer on his own when we started trying out Time4Learning a month ago. Within a few minutes of using Time4Learning, he had learned the basics of using a mouse to do the activities.
I have been enjoying using Time4Learning to keep Nick occupied when I am working with Xander. However, he still needs help sometimes, so it can be a bother even when he is keeping busy with it.
Time4Learning is an ad-free site I felt comfortable with. I did not worry about what the kids were doing when they were on the site, though I was generally in the room and overseeing their activities.
Possible Issues:
Xander wasn't quite as interested in the activities on Time4Learning, and he is the child I am most concerned about mastering particular material. Because we are homeschooling him, he needs to learn certain things one way or the other. He did enjoy some activities sometimes, but did not always want to do them.
That leads to another issue. I'm not sure how much of their learning time I want to take place on the computer. I am fully in support of using the computer and the Internet as a tool. We often watch PBS kids shows or the Nature program and they seem to be valuable parts of our kids' education. I am happy about the progress Nick has made on the computer. They have both learned at least a little in the one month we have used
Time4Learning.
Time4Learning can be used any way the family wants to use it. It can be used as a supplement, after school, during the summer, or during portions of a homeschool year. It can also be used as a full curriculum, so it is a very flexible program.
At the same time as trying Time4Learning, Xander asked to try out ABCmouse.com because of a commercial he saw. We were able to compare the experience between the two sites. As a parent, I liked Time4Learning better because I could see what learning objectives they were mastering, especially in the 1st grade curriculum. I could easily see the whole year's worth of academic subjects and topics. The ABCmouse site is super cute, though. As a preschooler, Nick liked Time4Learning a lot. He liked ABCmouse.com just as much. The kicker was ABCmouse's hamster area. Kids were able to take care of a cute virtual hamster in a cage. They could feed and water it to keep it happy. They earned tickets by doing learning activities which could then be used to buy accessories for their avatars or their hamsters or fish in an aquarium. Both Nick and Xander spent more time on the hamster than the activities. When they had enough tickets, that is. As a first grader, Xander loved ABCmouse very, very much, but the thing is that ABCmouse is solely a preschool/kindergarten site. I'm not that excited for him to work on kindergarten skills at the minimum level just to earn some tickets so he can play with the hamster again. That said, they loved being on the site, and they did do valuable learning activities there, albeit at a kindergarten level at the highest. The activities were attractive, pretty easy for kids to do from a mechanical/physical standpoint, and educational, but the hamster cage and aquarium sections were almost too exciting. Our kids were getting on in the hopes of spending the most amount of time playing with their hamsters.
I would not compare the two programs in terms of using them for homeschooling but only in terms of the fun of playing with each site. ABCmouse, again, is only for preschool and kindergarten material.
My Summary:
I think the
ABCmouse site is less expensive per month, but it's not really offering the same service as
Time4Learning. You could use Time4Learning as an almost complete curriculum for preschool through 8th grade. The only things you would need to add in are mechanical skills, outside time, social time, and hands-on subjects like art, drama, physical education, and musical instruments. It's priced pretty low for an all-in-one curriculum. I never liked the idea of having the kids' education based mostly on the computer, but things come up. I had to take on more paid work in the home, so I was looking for something to help me with the homeschooling part of our day. Time4Learning could help in situations like that, as supplemental learning, or in families of kids who do very well learning on the computer. Our kids enjoy computer games, videos, TV, Leapster games, Angry Birds, and the like, but they are not as into screen time as some other kids. It is not as important to them over the course of a full day. I could picture kids who love to be at the computer (and who will do their - fun - work before playing on it) doing really well with Time4Learning.
It will be interesting to see if they ever offer anything more for even higher grades (high school). I have seen several online programs offering high school courses. Often, they are free through state funding. This could be valuable as subjects get more complex and it becomes harder for a parent teacher to cover all homeschooling subjects.
There are online writing tutorials for elementary, middle, and high school students at
Time4Writing.com. We did not take a look at those.
At this time, I think we will not subscribe to either site we tried. I will continue to evaluate whether or how much we miss them. As long as I can continue to find time to homeschool as the teacher myself, I will try to use Charlotte Mason methods as well as some other helpful resources. Charlotte Mason education as laid out on the Charlotte Mason Help site appeals to me on a deep level.
One of the factors that makes a difference is our budget. We are striving to spend just about zero dollars on non-necessities, for the time being.
With all that said, summer is coming up. I might be looking for more educational activities online in a couple of months!
Time4Learning is something I will keep in mind during those super-hot summer months. Nick was very sad when I said we did not have access to Time4Learning yesterday.
These opinions are all my own, in my own words. I received a free month of Time4Learning for both kids in exchange for writing an unbiased review.
