I’ll admit that I’m pretty skeptical of primarily online learning resources. We try to limit the amount of “screen time” our kids get. Because they obviously want to do fun stuff like movies and video games for their screen time, I shy away from using a lot of screen things for teaching. Maybe I’m overreacting and shouldn’t count learning screen time as screen time…thoughts?
Anyway, back to Time4Learning.
As per their website, Time4Learning is:
- Automated
- Student-focused
- Convenient & flexible
They claim it can be used as a complete curriculum or just to supplement.
PROS
- The kids love it because they think they are getting away with more screen time.
- It can be used with non-readers as long as they are proficient with a mouse.
- The activities cover a broad range of topics in social studies, science, math, and language arts.
- There is minimal planning and lots of support via parent forums.
CONS
- That whole screen time thing.
- It takes multiple clicks to load and a new browser window opens each time. Annoying.
- Subject matter is chosen based on grade so there won’t always be an activity in the topic you’re on for the level your child needs if you are just using it as a supplement. For example, earth science appears in grade 2 which won’t help you too much if you want to supplement your 5th grader in earth science.
In the end, I don’t think this is a good option for our family at this time. It does not fit very well with our classical style especially since every grade in our house does the same science and social studies content at the same time. I could see this being useful if you were more into unschooling but needed something for your portfolio review that was more “formal” or if you needed something to keep everyone busy in a stage of life where you couldn’t put time and effort into how you would really like to school. It’s much more affordable than enrolling in a online academy.
I know a lot of folks who have loved this so I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Disclosure: While the thoughts above represent my opinion, I was compensated with a free month subscription at Time4Learning.com.
We tried Time4Learning this year with my 6 and 5 year olds. My intent was to sit one of them down to do something ‘educational’ while I worked solo with the other – hoping to get some good one-on-one time with each child. It turned into spending one-on-one time with the child in front of the screen. Although the content is good, some of the information was new to them so they didn’t feel comfortable enough to do it on their own. They also started really getting nervous and disliking the tests and quizzes at the end because they were scared they were going to get an answer wrong. It was so frustrating for all of us that we ended up stopping. It turned into more work that it was worth. I know some families that really enjoy it but unfortunately it wasn’t for us.
ps – we are fellow CCers in NC!
My son loved the video games too. Time4Learning.com has fit our family at different times in our lives and different subject. As you said you about your family, every family should give it a chance but know that the whole program might not fit the whole family.
Lil’ Momma
Living with a hard working husband, 1 toddler, 1 preschooler and 1 middle schooler who are Five in Training for HIM