Time4Learning is an online program that offers full curriculum for preschool through high school. Lessons are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from any device that has internet connection. The site uses cartoons and games that engage the student to teach the lessons in an order that makes it easy for kids to succeed. Subjects covered include math, language arts, science, social studies, phonics, as well as enrichment.
Students are also given access to the grade above and below what they are enrolled in. This allows students that may excel in one area but not another, to have a customized curriculum.
The programs are beneficial for summer school, homeschool, or after school. Tracking a student's progress is easy and all records are kept for the teacher or parent. Lessons are engaging and fun while still being straight to the point.
For this review, we were given a 6 month membership to the 1st grade level of the program. This also gave us access to the kindergarten and the 2nd grade programs.
How We Used It:
We were technically on a break from school when we were asked to do this review. After checking out the website, I decided that it looked like something I could pass as more of a game then a school activity.
Once a day, we logged in and Josie spent about 30 minutes doing two subjects. Some days I let her pick which subject she wanted to do and other days I picked. There was Language Arts, Reading, Math, Science, and Social Studies.
When I checked out the lesson plans, Josie was already beyond the first chapters. However, for the sake of simplicity, I had her go ahead and do each chapter in order.
In science, she learned about living and nonliving things and what the difference is. Of course, this was old news to her, but the story and sorting activity were fun for her.
In social studies, the video taught her the difference between needs and wants. It was funny to hear what she thought constituted a need at the start of the lesson and how she changed her mind once she knew the definition of needs.
The math portion was what really interested me.
Josie spent some time last year starting addition, but we didn't spend much time on it. Math is one subject that I have trouble knowing the best way to teach. The first lessons were very simple for her, but from there they got a little more difficult. I thought the program did a really good job of explaining how to do each part. I know that this is going to be a big help throughout the year for math.
I was also impressed with the reading part.
This section had a lot of chapters, each one teaching different sounds, letter teams, and other learning skills. Each chapter was a different theme and game. Josie loved this. It really helped keep her interested and wanting to play again.
After doing lessons for a set amount of time (we did 15 minutes), the student gets access to the arcade as a reward. This is a timed session that the parent sets. There were a ton of games to choose from in the arcade. Josie loved seeing that icon light up letting her know she'd done enough work to earn some game time.
My Opinion:
This is the first online program that I have really been impressed with and see the value of having a monthly subscription. The material was grade appropriate and actually taught the skills rather then just testing them. I could see this being useful for after school practice, but it could honestly be an entire curriculum. It is through and covers a ton of topics that would be covered in each grade.
I love that you have access to the grade above and below, making it easy to customize what your student needs. I also thought the lessons were taught very well. The cartoons that teach the material are short and to the point but still entertaining.
We weren't fans of the arcade. The games were too difficult for Josie or there were just too many choices. By the time her 10 minutes of free time was up, she had usually just started actually started playing a game. So we switched it up. After she finished a few of the lessons, I let her play on the iPad or an online game that we knew she could play. This was the same motivation for her and worked out really well for our family.
I think this is a really great program.
Product Details:
www.Time4Learning.com
$19.95/month
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