Time4Learning

[Guest]

ANyone use this? Are your kids retaining and progressing? Are offline assignments included like for writing? Does the uniqueness wear off so that it becomes a struggle? Does it place a child where he is at and let him progress at his own pace? Would you use it again? What are its strengths and weaknesses? Thank you.

[pamjk]

Hi there,

 

We've been using Time4Learning since December and it's been great. The best part is that you can access one grade above and one grade below whatever grade your child is in. So if the unit on, let's say decimals, is too easy, you can bump up to the next level to get more in depth. Or if it's to hard, you can bump down a level to get more basic. Make sense?

 

My 8yo dd, using 2nd grade, has made good progress with the LA, especially the phonics and fluency lessons. She is good at math and loves the interactive lessons. She is definitely retaining most of what she learns with T4L.

 

11yo ds is using 4th grade now. We started with 5th and he was struggling. He is progessing in baby steps but the retention has not been what I hoped. He does have some learning issues so this may not apply to more typical learners. Most math units have printable sheets to supplement the lessons. There is a writing section with nice variety and good instruction to be done offline or with their Odyssey Writer program. Unfortunately, it's not enough instrucion for ds who has had very little writing up til now. It'd be plenty for a student who has a solid background in LA. Also there are wonderful book studies with integrated LA, including writing. We have not started these yet as ds is not ready but we may tackle one this month.

 

It has not become a struggle at all. In fact, my kiddos still love it and debate each day who gets to go first! (We now rotate days to avoid this argument :)) It's definitely self-paced, in that you choose which unit and what level. Lessons can be re-done or reviewed as many times as you want.

 

Strengths: interactive and fun lessons, comprehensive scope and sequence, flexible levels, lots of assessment, printable reports with grades, can be done independantly, many lessons are read aloud to student by computer

 

Weaknesses: upper level lessons have more reading to self (less by computer), similar to traditional school (maybe this is a strength to some people), harder for mastery-type learners, done almost completely online, cost- can't resell

 

I would continue to use this for dd who is a typical learner. It has been just right for her. However, I am looking to switch things for next year due to ds's learning issues. I'm still trying to find the right mix for him. He would probably be fine continuing T4L but I think I need to spend more one-on-one with him to recover lots of basics he's missed over the years. Unfortunately, since I try to teach them together as much as possible, that may mean that dd stops T4L also. She will do fine either way.

 

I'm so glad that we found T4L this year as it's really helped me get on track with scheduling, knowing what to expect from the kids, etc. I usually sit with each child for at least part of each lesson while they're working on T4L, and I've learned so much about how they learn best and how to present certain topics in that light.

 

I know this has been a long and sort of mixed review. Overall, I love T4L and so do my kids. If it was best for ds, I'd stay with T4L as our core indefinitely. Please feel free to ask more questions. I hope I've helped a little and not confused you further! :)

[Guest]

Nope that was perfect. My two boys are like your son so T4L isn't going to work, either. Thanks again.